It's amazing, our master teacher, Shantien 'Tom' Chow demonstrated for us that a powerful energy is created when two people combine and together they create a powerful work of calligraphy. This 'Synergy' happens when Tom holds your hand and guides you through the...

"Not me" says the persistent little bird, determined to peck his way thru our glass window. Every morning and afternoon this little thing comes by and peck, peck, pecks away to no avail. We began to worry that he'd peck his little bird brains out so Charles had the...

Yuki, our 95 pound Japanese Akita has, after all these years, figured out how to extract 'cookies' from visitors. (She already has us nailed.) Here's the routine; when you come to the door, she will bark at you like crazy, follow you in and actually 'lead' you to the...

I want to be a Lion Dancer! WOW, what a party they bring. Saturday night we had a reunion for the China adventurers and although it's not even been two months, one would think we hadn't seen each other for a year. It was marvelous, what a harmonious group and what a...

Well, the second Wednesday of the month Calligraphy class met for the first time and as with the Saturday class, everyone was enthralled and did wonderfully. This is opening up a whole new world and we are all thrilled. If you've never watched a Calligraphy master do...

There is no doubt, judging by their Calligraphy, that the Chinese are brilliant! The images are so complex and really are word pictures. The simplest way to describe it is to say that the written language is created by mental pictures rather than definitions of...

We love to paint, it's empowering and joyful but where did Chinese Brush painting come from? Why Calligraphy? Considered to be an art form of the highest order in the East! In fact, two of the subjects, Bamboo and the Chinese Orchid were the first painted subjects and...

What is more addicting for a Chinese Brush painter than the collecting of Mood Seals. The wonderful shapes that enhance your work, the captivating sayings carved so skillfully into the stones. I've lost count on how many I now have but my lust is somewhat satiated by...

My most precious memory of China is of our sweet Ellie Lynn ministering to my poor feet. After hobbling thru the Forbidden City and then the trudge to Tiananmen Square, they were beyond any capacity for carrying me further. Ellie did her best to talk me thru the long...

By CharlesEnding our overnight trip to the top of the magic 'Yellow Mountain', we descended by stairs and then cable cars to make a bus trip to Hong Cun Village where 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' was filmed. On the way, we stopped to examine a roadside Water...