July 31, 2008 by Dianne.

The state of Michigan consists of two peninsulas - the northern and the southern.  A peninsula is a body of land that is connected to land on only one of its four sides.  Three of the five great lakes (Michigan, Superior, and Huron)  lie next to the state.  We were on the western coast of the lower peninsula, so the water you see in the background is Lake Michigan.

I don’t know whether there are sand dunes along all the coastal areas, but there certainly are in this area.  The government has gone to great lengths to preserve them.  At one time people were allowed to drive dune buggies and other vehicles over them, and they were all being eroded, but that is no longer the case.

The little black dots you see in the middle of the third photo are people who traveled all the way down to the edge of the water. Then, of course, they had to climb all the way back up.  I saw how worn out those people were and was not temped to try it.

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July 28, 2008 by Dianne.

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You have already seen some of Ann and Brendan’s home. To give you a little idea of what the restaurant and art gallery look like, you can look as these pictures.  The first, of course, is the interior of the restaurant. You can see how cozy and welcoming it is.  The food is delicious, too. The second features one of the very beautiful paintings the gallery has for sale.  This one was done by a Japanese painter.

Now look at the final one.  Do you see anything that looks a little strange?  It’s just a picture of Dianne standing by a tree - correct?  Well, yes, except that Dianne is standing INSIDE the gallery. When they built the gallery, there were three full grown trees in the way.  Rather than cut them all down, they built around them so that the trees come up through the floor and then exit through the roof.  They have carefully covered the openings so that neither the trees nor the art works will be damaged.

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July 25, 2008 by Dianne.

Ann and her husband are such friendly people.  They invited  us to visit them at their home one afternoon.  Above are  some shots I took there.  It is not a large home or a very fancy one.  Rather, it is a warm, cozy place that makes anyone who enters feel very comfortable and welcome.  It sits on a small lake, and the view out their back window is beautiful.

In the top photo is the view from their kitchen and living room windows.

The second photo is of one of their living room walls, which is covered with some very beautiful works of art.

In the third picture is their rather strange looking dog (it looks more like a sheep with its short, curly hair.)

The final picture may not look unusual at all.  It appears to be just another cat.  However, this cat is both deaf and blind. Nevertheless, it has learned to make its way around the house, find its food, etc.  The animals get along very well and both are given very loving care by their owners.

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July 23, 2008 by Dianne.

From June 28 through July 1, 2008 I made a trip with my sister and two friends to an area in the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. My sister Dorris flew into Detroit from Arizona, and I drove there, where we met with two friends - also sisters (Jane and Terry).

When Jane retired this past winter after more than 30 years as a teacher and social worker in a suburban Detroit school district, her many colleagues gave her as a retirement gift two nights paid stay at a lovely inn called Blackstar Inn in a town located about six hours north of Detroit.  When she found out that by paying a little extra money, she could get  larger room with two bedrooms, she invited her sister and Dorris and me to go along.

They then decided to spend two nights at a motel in another nice vacation  spot that is located only about an hour away from that inn.  Jane has a longtime friend (since junior middle school) - Ann -who with her husband runs a restaurant, an ice cream stand, and an art gallery.

In the above photo from left to right are Dorris, Terry, Ann, and Jane.

During the days we were there I took many photos so that I could share the experience with you.  They will appear on the next several postings.

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July 23, 2008 by Dianne.

My sister Dorris was here for nine days. Because she has been here so often over the years, she knows many of my friends, and we often try to get together with them when she is in town. This lady (Mary Eror) is the wife of the man that was Dean of the Engineering College at the Univ. of Pgh during some of the years my husband worked there.

When my husband died, she was so very thoughtful. I had not known her well before then, but we became friends. Although I do not get to see her often, she is a lovely lady and is always trying to help people is any way she can.

By the way, have you noticed that most of my friends here in America are taller than I am?  When I was in China, I did not feel short, but here I do. :>)

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July 19, 2008 by Dianne.

I was so saddened to hear the news that one of the teachers at our college - He Haoyu - died suddenly of a heart attack during the second week of July. She was only 38 years old and leaves behind a husband and twelve year old son.

I met Ms. He the first year I was teaching at SISU, but did not have many occasions to speak with her or get to know her well. Then, in subsequent years we would occasionally see each other at faculty gatherings or on the bus to and from SongJiang.

The final year I was teaching, however, she was acting as the librarian in the little library at Songjiang, and we would see each other more often, as my office was just a few doors down from the library. Sometimes we would stop into each other’s office to share vacation photos or just to chat.

The last time I saw her was about a month before I left Shanghai. I was talking with someone else outside my office, and she came up with a wide smile and put her arm around my shoulder. I remember thinking that it was the happiest I had ever seen her. I will keep that picture in my mind when I think of her.

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July 18, 2008 by Dianne.

Following the dinner, we came back to my house where Veronique, Dorris, LinLin, and I talked.  Just before they left we went outside and lit some sparklers. It was a couple of days late for our National Day (July 4), but we had fun.  It is not called National Day, however, but, rather Independence Day, as that was the day that the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.

You will notice that there are none of the big fireworks that one sees in China.  In the U.S. it is illegal to buy any of that kind in most places.  Therefore, we just have little things like what is shown in the photos.

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July 17, 2008 by Dianne.

On the evening of July 6 I invited a friend of mine (Veronique), who is originally from Belgium but has lived in the U.S. for many years. We both worked as computer programmers at the Univ. of Pittsburgh for several years. She eventually moved to another place of employment from which she retired late in June.

I invited her to come out to Murrysville for a dinner to celebrate her retirement. I asked her to bring along a young woman from China who has been renting a room in her house while she studies at the Univ. of Pgh. for a year. We ate at a restaurant that had outside tables, because the weather was wonderful.

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July 14, 2008 by Dianne.

During the third week of June two of my friends from out of town visited me. The first was Janet, a former employee of the University of Pittsburgh for many years. When I worked at Pitt as a computer programmer, my department would sometimes do projects for her department, and that is how we first became acquainted.

I did not get to know her well, however, until a couple of years before I left Pitt when we often were working on volunteer projects together. During that time I learned that she had taught in Shanghai with her husband on two occasions. The first was at SISU between 1979 and 1981, and the second was at Fudan in 1985 or 1986. They were among the first group of Americans to teach in Chinese universities when they went over in 1979.

When I was thinking of trying to go to China to teach, I consulted her to see whether she thought I would be a suitable candidate. She not only offered much encouragement but also introduced me to a Chinese friend of hers whom she met when she was at SISU. This lady and her husband later emigrated to the United States. She and Janet were responsible for my being able to go to SISU to teach. They quite literally changed the course of my life.

Janet retired to Virginia in 2006, but returns twice a year to attend to some personal and business matters. This past year, since I have been back in the U.S., she has stayed with me overnight both times. It gives us a chance to go out to dinner and to catch up on what is happening in each others’ lives. We also sometimes communicate via email, and she sometimes reads the blog. - - -

The second was a friend of mine whom I met when I was teaching at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh between 1958 and 1963. She worked in another area, but I got to know her because we had a female faculty volleyball team that used to play some students in a match every year just for fun.

When she left Pittsburgh, she and her husband moved to California. During the years since then we have only see each other four times - once in Los Angeles in 1967, twice here at my home when she and her husband came back to visit relatives, and once in Shanghai in 2005 or 2006 when she and her husband were on a tour of China with a group and were scheduled to spend two days in Shanghai.

That’s all - four face-to-face meetings, and yet we have been friends for almost 50 years. How did we do it? By staying in touch via letters and later emails. Whenever we get together, it is as if no time has passed. By staying in touch with messages and Christmas letters, we always knew where the other one lived and how to contact them.

I mention this because two graduating students have written me this past month mentioning that they were very sad that they would lose contact with most or all of their classmates

SO, what I am trying to stress is that it IS possible to stay in touch with some individuals throughout your lifetimes. You WILL lost touch with some of them, but there will be some to whom you are constantly drawn. They are what we call “kindred souls” - people who have a similar philosophy, shared interests, and outlook on life.

If your class has a website, I urge you to frequently visit it to see where classmates are and what they are doing, and, just as importantly, to leave information about your own activities. Try to meet for lunch or dinner from time to time with them. It IS possible, but it DOES require some effort. However, it is SSOOOO worth doing.

A student wrote recently that she had been reading the classmates comments that I used to have you write about each other as your Christmas gifts to your classmates. She said she treasured them and would keep them forever. Just re-reading such things or looking over photos you took during your college years can maintain a feeling of closeness.

Friends make life so rich. The time you spend cultivating and maintaining friendships will bring wonderful harvests.

I am sorry that I do not have a photo of my friend Janet, but below are photos of my friend Pat and me and of Pat and her husband Richard. She is about six years older than I am, and her husband is a couple of years younger than she is. They still maintain very active lives volunteering at a museum in Los Angeles, doing some traveling, and visiting with their children and grandchildren.

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July 11, 2008 by Dianne.

My first visitor this spring was a student from the graduating class of 2007 - Jing RuRu (Jasmine). She is in her second year of study at the Univ. of Illinois. She was here from May 12 through May 17.

Mason was also here for a few days. He spent all of the first couple of days (He had arrived on Mother’s Day) and then slept here for a few nights while he was doing his consulting job in a city about 40 miles away.

The three of us went to the Pittsburgh Aviary, which is also designated as the official National Aviary by the U.S. government. Not only were we able to see many colorful and interesting birds, but we were also able to attend some demonstrations they had scheduled that day as well as having a chance to actually feed some of the birds, which would swoop down and take a small fish out of your extended hand.

Unfortunatley, that was one of only two places I was able to take her as I was still having rather severe back spasms, which had been going on for several weeks. However. we did go to Pittsburgh (PGH) to have lunch with some of my former colleagues at the Univ. of Pgh. They enjoyed meeting Jasmine, and she also enjoyed herself.

The remainder of the time we spend in Murrysville. We went to a grocery store one morning for a couple of hours so that I could suggest some items that she might like to buy and cook when she got back to Illinois. She also took a walk in the neighborhood and we spent some time in the yard.

Jasmine was a great help. She insisted on clearing off the dishes after each meal and putting them into the dishwasher, carrying my purse when we were out, and helping in many other tasks, too.

We spent long hours talking at the table after meals and also sitting in the living room and chatting. I hope she enjoyed the visit as much as I did. In addition, she showed me many photos on her computer of her campus and her friends and classmates there.

When she left on Saturday, she was on her way to visit a couple that are friends of her mother. They live in New Jersey, but met her in Philadelphia and showed here many places of interest.

I am hoping that she will be able to visit me during the Christmas holidays as six different students did last year for a few days.

At the top of this posting is a photo of the two of us that was taken in my living room.

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