Pat & Ron Rollins

Early winter, we did a lot of marveling at and rocking little baby Sammy to sleep. (Lucy’s decision to let him cry it out was several months away and an amazing story in itself) Having such a new life in the clan was very special.

In Marched we winged our way to sunny PG to help celebrate GGGrace’s 99th birthday. Connie and Pat and quick-study Rene whipped up some rocking hula and Hawaiian music for friends and residents at the Victorian Home. Even Toni contributed his unique extemporaneous hula style. We also worked in a few rounds of golf at the beautiful Carmel Valley course and the reasonable PG Municipal to start the season.

Back home, planning began in earnest for our big trip to Asia. We planned to spend one week in the ancient capital of Xian, China, and another week in the ancient capital of Kyoto, Japan. We would hook up with Annie for our week in China, overlapping her last week after studying Shadow Puppetry with a Master near Xian.

It was an amazing, educational trip. One of huge contrasts between the in-your-face, spitting, public Chinese, and the reserved, tidy and private Japanese cultures.

Spending time in Annie’s village, getting a taste of her experience and meeting her teachers and friends, was the most unforgettable part of the trip. To western eyes, it was a depressing place, with a living standard far below ours. But once you got over the drab cement block housing of the communist era, and the very primitive toilet facilities, the people were the most upbeat, hardworking and friendly you’d ever want to meet. They had very little material wealth but seemed optimistic about their lives and China’s future. The Szechuan food was to die for.

In the city of Xian we stayed in a hostel that was a restored hutong compound. We strolled through the parks and witnessed the famous group-exercise phenomena unique to the Chinese and visited the Muslim Quarter, a bustling market of street food and vendors that marked the beginning of the silk-road. Also visited the huge archeological site of the clay warriors of the emperor Qin.

Beijing was an eye-opener, too. A pre-olympic polish of glass and steel high rises, fronting the poor alleyways just behind them where merchants still throw their garbage on the street for the lowly street sweepers to pick up in the mornings. It’s a crazy place growing out of its skin. We spent the morning at the ancient 14th century Forbidden Palace Complex of the Ming Dynasty and the afternoon in the most ultra-modern 5 story mega mall a few blocks away. But everywhere, people were curious to learn about you, eager to practice their English. There is kind of a hunger, a buzz of energy about China.

Japan, on the other hand, was quiet, clean and manicured. The Japanese bring their aesthetic to their buildings, their food, their dress. Their forests look like zen gardens from the air, I kid you not. And most of their cabs have removable white seat covers and the cabbies wear white gloves! But once you got by their initial reserve, the people were also friendly and helpful.

My desire in Kyoto was to hunt down the old artisans that are still producing wares by hand, and thanks to the book “Old Kyoto”, I was able to find a few. I admit to spending more than I should have at Aizen Kobo, a 100-year old family run fabric workshop that is still dying tie-dyed Indigo vat by vat.

Admittance to the Katsura Palace is strictly controlled and we were lucky to have found out in time to get ourselves tickets. Phew. The place does not disappoint, and is more beautiful than any pictures can tell. The use of natural materials in their buildings and fences and bridges placed strategically around the lakes and stone paths is a work of art. I wonder, however, if our Katsura ancestors had any relationship to Prince Toshihito…because the palace was eventually renamed after the Katsura river nearby.

Anyway, we survived the oppressively hot weather, two languages, two monetary systems, and the maze-like train stations in small and large cities…which, at times, took all our combined intelligence and patience to get through.

The rest of the summer flew by with more fabulous golf, meeting Annie’s new love, Jay, babysitting Sam every Thursday, taking the gkids to swimming lessons, trips to the farm. We got to see Annie’s puppet workshop up in New York Mills and her first mainstage production at the U. , both amazing. We were also all caught up with the Presidential election and thrilled with the results.

Zaidee passed the bar and has been helping Ron set up their new firm of Rollins and Martin, P.A. which became official the 1st of November. I know Ron is really pleased with the arrangement and is re-energized by having a young mind to share his work with. They are really having a great time from what I can see.

Thankfully, it’s been a busy and productive year for everyone. I really look forward to celebrating the Holidays this year. In these uncertain times, spending quality time together seems more important than ever.

PKR