Taiwan, Day 3: Flying Lanterns.

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We left Taipei today and headed into the mountains. Shifen is the only place in Taiwan where sky lanterns are allowed to be released. I wasn’t expecting much from this, but it ended up being unexpectedly moving.

I saw this sign outside a shop as we walked into town.

I was expecting the lanterns to be small, but boy, was I wrong. They’re huge! Four people paint their wishes onto the four sides of the lantern. Cindy told us on the bus ride going up the mountain to take some time to think about what we wanted to write on our lantern.
I sat there and realised that, for the moment at least, my life was almost perfect. I messaged Georgia31 to ask what she wanted to wish for herself. I was going to give the lantern-luck to her. She’s a bit stuck and could do with a bit of luck to come her way.

She asked for longevity and good health. I added a couple of extra things because why not?

In between trains, the lanterns are carried out onto the railroad tracks and set alight.

I watched it fly up, up, until it was just a speck in the sky. I hoped it was a good sign for Georgia’s wishes.
We saw one lantern catch fire and flame out two seconds after they let it go. I’m tipping their wishes aren’t looking good.

After wandering around the town for a bit, we caught the train along the Pingxi Branch Line.

Much to her delight, Blogless Sandy remembered that she still had a banana and chocolate brownie from yesterday’s lunch.

There was some beautiful scenery along the way.

The town of Zhou tong is famous for its cats, Cindy said. Apparently, people come from all over the place just to hang out with the town’s cats.

After the train, we hopped on the bus again and headed to Jiufen, which has stunning views of the East China Sea.

We had an hour and a half to walk around Old Street, which was full of interesting little shops.

Also a cute baby.

And a cool dog.

And a chic cat.

It had mysterious laneways.

Then it was back on the bus, heading down the coast. We saw rice paddies, and I remembered how last year I was holding rice seedlings by a rice paddy in Vietnam.

Now we were driving beside the Pacific Ocean. Over the horizon lies America.

Here are some fun facts that we learned on the bus:

Firecracker festivals.

In one, firecrackers are aimed at you. If they hit you, it’s good luck. People have to wear helmets and cover themselves all over to avoid getting hurt.

In another one, a volunteer rides on a cart, topless, wearing red shorts and carrying a “fan” ( a branch and leaves in reality) to knock aside the fireworks people are aiming at him. A French guy did it two years running, even though the guy always gets burned.

Housing here is expensive.

Remember when we used to measure housing in square metres? They charge 2.5 million Taiwanese dollars ($113,700 AUD) per square for the most expensive.

700,000 ($31,000 AUD / square metres) for the cheapest ones. I guess housing is expensive wherever you go.

Earthquakes happen every single day here, because they are formed by two tectonic plates. Most are micro, so no one feels them. The good thing about all of the earthquakes is that Taiwan has a lot of hot springs.

3/4 of the island is mountains.

The Portuguese named this island Formosa in the 14th century. I was excited… I have heard of Formosa but I never knew where it was.

We loved the mountains.

Our last stop for the day was the Hualien Night Market, where one clever stall holder trained her dog to help bring the punters in.

We got there right on 6 PM, so we scattered in search of an early dinner. We chose wild boar fried noodles, which were delicious, and only cost $150 NTD / $6.50 AUD.

Tomorrow? A way-famous gorge. ( I’ve never heard of it, but some people on the tour are psyched!)

Dad joke of the day:

Taiwan, day2: A Day in Taipei.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 2 Comments

Our first stop of the day was really interesting. It was the National Palace Museum, which houses over 60,000 Chinese antiquities that Chiangmai Kai-Shek “rescued” from the fighting that was around the Forbidden City as he fled China.

If you peer beside the magnifying glass, you can get an idea of how small the stone is, that the carvings are on. Cindy, our guide, said, “ The ancients seemed to spend a lot of time carving onto impossibly small things. They must have had a lot of time on their hands.”

The two things in the front were given to dying people to hold, in the belief that all of their money and their luck will pass to the next generation.
The same tradition is still done today, except that it is now red envelopes stuffed with money.

You pour the wine in the top, then tip it and pour it out through the droopy neck. It honestly doesn’t seem like a very efficient process to me.

These are ancient seals. I was surprised when Cindy told us that seals (she called them stamps) are still in use in Taiwan to this day. When people make big purchases, like a house or a car, they bring their personal seals to stamp onto the documents.

Another wine pouring vessel.

Loved this one. Her chubby cheeks!

This one was INSANE. The ball has 16 layers of ivory and it took 3 generations over a hundred years to complete.

Of course there were many more things that we saw. We spent an hour and a half and we barely scratched the surface. You could easily spend a whole day here.

Taipei 101, which was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010. We stopped here for lunch. Some of us decided to go to the observation deck on the 86th floor.

Remember recently, when I went to the Eureka sky deck in Melbourne with Scott for a Little Adventure? This one was far more interesting.

Taipei is ringed by mountains, so there was a lot of variety. It wasn’t just a city scape.

Plus, it’s the only building in the world that has its Tuned Mass Damper on display to the public.

This is the thing that stops skyscrapers from breaking apart during earthquakes and typhoons. It sways as a counterbalance to keep the building intact.

It is 5 stories tall and weighs 680 metric tonnes. I’m not usually drawn to hydraulics, but I found this interesting.

Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. It’s huge.

He died in 1975, and that’s when the government decided to build it.

Finished in 1980. Both his and his son’s bodies are not here, as they wanted to be buried in China. They are mummified, like Chairman Mao and the Kim family of North Korean. The hope is that one day China will allow them to be taken back, but I think there’s fat chance of that happening any time soon.

On the 4th level, there’s an enormous statue of him.

He looks benevolent, don’t you think?

It’s part of a large area, with the state theatre and library housed in the orange-roofed buildings. Blogless Sandy and I went for a walk outside, and I was passed by 3 school groups. They must’ve been learning English, because lots of them called out, “Hello!” “Hi!” as they went past.

Then it was back in the bus, on our way to a weird little temple.

The street view was as you’d expect. But the first courtyard?

It was as if Disney workers on crack designed their version of a Taiwanese temple. The place was crammed with statues like these, all made from wire and cloth. It was bizarre.

Longshan temple looked more normal once I moved in from the outer courtyard.

As you know, I’ve been to quite a few temples in the last few years. I couldn’t help noticing something I’ve never seen before.

Many people were tossing two red wooden chips on the ground, then picking them up and throwing them down again. Some people would only do it once or twice, but others would do it for a while. Then, they’d suddenly put the chips in a container, grab a long stick from a bin, stare at it, put it back and then race away.

I asked Cindy what was going on.
“Oh, we believe that

HOLY SHIT… I’m on the 6th floor and we just had a mini earthquake!!! My room was swaying and I could see the water level in Wanda moving.
WOW.

Anyway, what was I saying?

Cindy said, “ We believe that when we ask the god a question, we then toss the chips. If they both land the same way, then the answer is yes. But if you really want to be sure that the answer is correct, you throw them again. If they land the same again, then you can be sure it is certain. If they land differently than the first time, you have to ask the question again, but in a slightly different way.”

She laughed. “Sometimes I have been there for an hour!”

Our last stop before heading back to the hotel was a culinary one. Apparently, pineapple cakes are one of Taiwan’s way famous foods. We were going to make some for ourselves.

It wasn’t all that challenging. Basically, you wrap a biscuit dough around a pineapple and melon purée. Then they set us loose in the gift shop while our cakes were baked.

The packaging they chose to present them in was a little unfortunate, but the cakes were nice.

Blogless Sandy and I went back to the night market for dinner. This time, we had steamed pork dumplings and they were fabulous. We were served 10 for less than $5.

On the way home, we stopped at a shop across the road from the hotel and Blogless Sandy tried Bubble Tea. She liked it. ( I won’t try it because I can’t stand milk in my tea or coffee. )

Tomorrow, we leave the city and head out on our trek to circumnavigate the island.

Dad joke of the day:

Taiwan, day 1: getting our bearings.

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Despite leaving from the same city and being on the same tour, Sandy and I had different flights from Hong Kong to Taipei. We were both looking at the board to see which gate we had to go to, when Sandy saw her flight and said, “It’s gate 27,” and off we went.

I did think it was strange that she was looking further to the left than the 9:30 AM flights, but hey. She saw the gate, so after stopping her from taking an escalator down to the train line, we went to gate 27. It was miles away.

They were finalising boarding as we got there at 8:30. She was ushered straight on board, while my boarding pass wasn’t being accepted.

Of course not. It was for a different flight, leaving shortly on the other side of the airport. I set off at a run and made it, but Sandy was on her plane, not knowing what had happened to me. I knew she’d be freaking out.

Here I am, waiting for boarding, looking at the seat where she should have been sitting in.

We’ve checked the flights for the way home. Both are the same, though we only have an hour and 5 minutes between flights at Hong Kong airport. We’re worried that even with only having carryon, it might be cutting it too fine…

But all’s well that ends well, and we’re now in Taipei!

We were dropped off at the hotel at 1, which was a couple of hours before being able to check-in , so after finding an ATM to get some Taiwanese dollars, we decided to explore the streets around the hotel.

Taipei is reminding me of a cross between Japan and China, with the amount of motorcycles throwing in a hint of Vietnam for good measure.

My hotel room has a Japanese bidet! I’m so happy.

We stopped for coffee and carrot cake at a funky little café across the road from the hotel. An Americano was $70 Taiwanese. I nearly had a heart attack until I used the currency converter on my phone and realised that it was $3 AUD.

James from Ireland messaged me as we were walking, so I sent him this as proof that I was here. Nothing says Taiwan more than Homer Simpson, that’s what I always say.

There was a little park, with many sculptures.

We were walking to see where the night market was. Maybe we’ll go there for dinner.

Sandy wanted to check out the 7-11 stores, to see if they were similar to those that are in Japan. To my great satisfaction, they sell sushi and salads, so lunches on the run are sorted.

Coriander gin, anyone?

This manhole cover has fish and trees.

As you can see, Wanda the water bottle is still with me. She and I have been to seven continents together.

Sometimes when you travel, you see little things that suddenly remind you that life is different in other places in the world.

Remember last year, when I was taking photos of the beautiful doors in Stone Town, Zanzibar?

We were walking to see one of the oldest shopping streets in Taipei.

You’ve never seen so many dried foods in your life. Heaps of shops were selling bags of huge dried mushrooms that were bigger than my suitcase.

We browsed in a gorgeous pottery store.

I liked this old decoration around a very high-up window. It looks like parsnips.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we were having fun.

On the way back to our hotel, this little building nestled at the end of the street caught our eyes.

How funny! We couldn’t find the night market’s location earlier in the day, even though Google Maps was telling us we were there. But when we came back at 6pm, the answer was obvious. The street had closed down and there were stalls set up on the road.

That’s the back of Sandy’s head as we wandered around seeing what the options were for dinner. Somehow, I didn’t fancy the boneless chicken feet or the small intestines inside large intestines. We ended up choosing fried rice.

Tomorrow I might get these.

Pretty.

Sandy found herself drawn back to a stall that was selling peanut butter ice cream.

This is a massive chunk of peanuts and toffee. The guy grates along the top…

… lays out a thin crêpe, puts the peanut shavings on it with two scoops of ice cream and a little fresh coriander (not pictured), then wraps it all up like a burrito.

Look how happy she is!

Tomorrow we have an 8 AM start. Let’s see how punctual this group is.

Dad joke of the day:

Skinflint Sunday.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 2 Comments

A few days ago, there was a blood moon. All day, Melbourne was covered by clouds, but at around 10 PM, just after I’d brushed my teeth and put on my pjs, I decided to poke my head out the door and see if there was any chance of seeing it.

And there, right above the house across the street, there was a gap in the clouds, and there she was. Fortunate Frogdaner strikes again.

I grabbed my phone, crossed the street to my neighbour’s driveway to cut out as much of the street light as I could, and I watched it. As it finished, the clouds rolled back in. I felt very lucky.

I finished the St Kilda baby quilt top. Hazel and Scout are doing a magnificent job of keeping it anchored to the ground.

Scout is looking older now. She’ll be 10 in August. It’s funny – after Poppy and Jeff died, she seemed to become taller and, in our heads at least, was the size of a normal dog.

She was going bald in patches, probably due to anxiety after her pack died and I kept disapppearing. Now that Hazel is here, the hair looks as if it may be starting to grow back.

Now that Hazel is 6 months old, Scout has shrunk.

By the way, Hazel is the sunniest-tempered animal imaginable. It’s unfortunate that she has a grumpy expression whenever her picture is taken. In this one, she looks as if she’s judging you and is slightly appalled by what she’s seeing.

In Mum news, we found out that she has a lesion on her left kidney. She’s far too frail to have surgery, so in her own words – “I think we should let nature take its course.”

It was picked up on a scan where they were investigating something else. The good news is that if you have to get cancer, the kidney sort seems to be the one to go for. They’re extremely slow-growing, and people who have it usually end up dying of something else entirely. Still, no one likes to hear the C word.

Stay tuned for travel posts! Blogless Sandy and I leave for Taiwan in 3 days.

Dad joke of the day:

Skinflint Sunday.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 3 Comments

A quilt top finished for Sophie, Tom33’s girlfriend.

Hazel is helpfully holding it down on the floor. She’s convinced that’s her job.

I finally finished the Seaglass quilt. I brought it into my last sewing class with its designer, so she could see it. I’ve bought the backing and binding fabric, so now it’s just a matter of time before this bad boy gets done.

I’m also working on a baby quilt for one of Tom33’s best mates. He’s a massive St Kilda fan, hence the red, white and black.

Now that Georgia31 has left home, it seems that there is no one else to mow the lawn. Here’ is the first lawn I’ve mowed in over 20 years!

This was looking very unsightly, so I grabbed one of the power tools that Tom33 and Sophie gave me for Christmas.

Done!

Dad joke of the day:

This is for the Melbournians.

Baby boy quilt.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 2 Comments

The teddy bear quilt pattern came out again, this time for Marcus, who has been Georgia31’s best friend since kindergarten.

Definitely a quilt-worthy recipient!

This time, I added the border to make it a bit bigger.

The baby is currently a week overdue, but I hope he’ll like to snuggle under this quilt when he finally decides to make his appearance.

Dad joke of the day:

The quilt finds a home.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 2 Comments

Two days ago I went to see Lesley and her beautiful family. I think they liked the quilt.

How lovely to see a student again after 16-odd years!

Lesley and her husband are also very keen gardeners, so I had a nice little walk around their veggie patch, and left with some apricots and sweet pea seeds.

No rest for the wicked. Georgia’s best friend since kindergarten is expecting a baby in a couple of weeks. Another teddy bear quilt is on the go – this one in blue.

Dad Joke of the Day:

Teddy Bear Quilt.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 2 Comments

This is a sweet little quilt I made for an ex-student called Leslie.

Yes, I’ve reached the ripe old age where ex-students are now having children of their own…

The quilt measures 44 cms X 50 cms.

It has Hazel’s seal of approval. This was taken before I popped the quilt into the washing machine.

Yesterday I finally took the cover off my new sewing machine and relearned some of what I was taught at the handover. Thank goodness for Youtube videos!

The teddy bear fabric is from my stash, while the backing and binding fabrics are from the quilt I made for Evan29, back when he was Evan23. It’s a good thing that fabric doesn’t go off!

The backing was fabric that I’ve had in the stash since the kids were small. Leslie loves her garden, so the strip on the side is a nod to that.

I bought the pattern online, so I’ll probably make a couple more of them, just to get my money’s worth, haha! Georgia’s best friend since kindergarten is expecting a baby in a couple of weeks, so he might get a blue teddy bear quilt soon.

Dad joke of the day:

Happy New Year.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 3 Comments

Here’s one of the best things to happen in 2025. Hazel is now 4 months old, is almost twice the size of Scout and she’s a joy and a delight. Such an easy puppy, with a delightful meld of Poppy’s intelligence (well… for a Cavalier…) and Jeff’s sweetness.

A few weeks ago, I found a smelly ‘present’ on the back room rug, right near the doggy door. I told her off in a very stern voice and put her outside. When I went back to the front of the house, she came back through the doggy door, went into Georgia’s room and whimpered, telling her all about it. She’s such a confident, outgoing little puppy that it’s hard to remember how soft her temperament is.

She was a big hit at Christmas, which was at my place this year.

I looked at the forecast for Christmas Day, saw that it would be in the mid twenties, which is perfect weather for eating outside under the verandah. I went to the nursery and bought these VERY expensive paper daisies for a festive theme. A few days later, the weather bureau changed its mind and said that it would be a chilly 16°C/61F, so we ended up eating indoors.

Damn.

It was a strange Christmas, the first in my whole life without Mum and Dad being there. Mum is still more or less bedridden after her fall a few weeks ago, so she stayed at Bonbeach, and we all popped in throughout the day to visit her. Kate had organised bottles of Chandon for her to give everyone, all wrapped up in red bows, and she ended up having a good day.

Action shot of Evan29 and Hazel. They’re both hairy beasts.

Evan29 has moved back with me, but in the new year, he and Georgia will be moving into Mum’s house to keep it occupied and for Georgia to gain some much-needed independence. Georgia is beginning work in myotherapy in Hampton in a couple of weeks, which is less than 10 minutes from the house, so it’s perfect.

This will be the first time IN MY LIFE that I will be living alone.

I’ve been the only adult in the house since 1997, when I left my then-husband, but since then I’ve always had at least one of the kids living with me. I look at Mum, who has always shared a room with someone for her entire life, until Dad died in May. My sister too, has never lived totally alone. When you think about it, few people have. Most people move from childhood with their family, to share houses/uni dorms, to marriage.

My friend Cathy from high school has lived alone since her husband died in 2018. “Once you get used to it, it’s fantastic!” she said to me. “There are NO RULES. If you feel like a grilled cheese sandwich at 10 PM, you can do it. Sleep in? Absolutely.”

Who knows? It could be quite nice.

I didn’t plant all that much in the veggie garden this spring, as I’m travelling again in March onwards. The zucchini have already started to produce, and this is the first haul I’ve packaged for the freezer. Now that I’ll be living alone, this may supply me for most of the year – and this is only the beginning of the growing season! The beans have started, while the tomatoes are more leaf than fruit so far, although I’ll get some.

The garlic I planted before I went to Iceland has all died. I think thrips or something may have sucked the life out of them. This is the 3rd year I’ve tried growing garlic, and I don’t think I’ll bother again. Melbourne’s climate doesn’t seem to like it.

However, it DOES seem to like potatoes.

When I first put in the wicking beds, I planted some seed potatoes from Aldi as a first crop in one of the beds. Since then, I have dug for the occasional spud, but they’ve pretty much overtaken the entire bed. I decided to let this particular wicking bed lie fallow this summer, so I pulled out what was growing there – mainly self-seeded silver beet and celery – and I unintentionally harvested all of these! Who knows how many more are lurking just beneath the surface.

This fed us for a few meals, and of course it’s my favourite flavour. Free.

Whenever I harvest some of my potatoes, I always think of the meal in Warrnambool I shared at Loretta’s house. Her husband grows potatoes, and the home-grown spuds were part of the meal. 🙂

In order to use up some zucchini, I made a zucchini slice and had the bright idea to pull up one of the beetroot I’m growing and grate it up to add to it. This is the mixture before I put it into the oven. It looked disgusting, but oh well. I thought we could always eat it with our eyes closed!

But look what happened when I pulled it from the oven an hour later:

I have no idea what happened, but it was a Christmas miracle. All of the colour went back into the beetroot pieces and dinner was saved. The added beetroot was delicious.

In the background of this photo, you can see the new project I’m working on. Cotton washcloths for the kids’ new place. There’s no way any child of mine is going to move away without having some washcloths with them! I’m knitting one a day, with cotton bought from Spotlight at a measly $7 a ball. I tried using bamboo a couple of years ago, but I think that cotton is better, so I’ve switched back.

I surpassed myself this year.

I kept my goal the same as 2024, thinking that I probably wouldn’t reach it due to all the travel and the extra time blogging every day. However, I didn’t factor in all the time spent hanging around at airports, or the time on planes when there wasn’t a movie I wanted to watch. I’ve read some cracking books this year.

When James flew in to join us in Iceland, he brought some Irish gin with him. We had gin and tonics on Diamond Beach in Iceland, which is a wonderful memory. I tracked down the gin in Australia and bought 3 bottles of the stuff, as a celebration of wonderful friendships and amazing memories.

WHAT a year I’ve had!

It’s been a weird mix of absolutely outstanding fun, mixed in with the most challenging times I’ve had since the kids were small. I’m so very glad I booked all the travel I did this year before Dad had his fall. I was able to see the most stunning things and see so much, which was absolutely needed. Looking after a little old lady takes up SO MUCH TIME and mental bandwidth. I had no idea until Mum and Dad’s world fell apart.

Mum’s actually very lucky to have 2 such different daughters who are both active in her care. Kate and I balance each other out. She’s very good at the day-to-day stuff, whereas I’m better at the more long-term decisions and the financial admin stuff. Together, Mum has pretty good ‘staff.’

Next year Kate and I both have travel booked, so there’ll be a bit of juggling going on. Mum’s overall mobility is becoming an issue, as she may end up being bedridden for life after this fall, if she can’t get her legs working properly. Anyway, that’s an issue for Future Frogdancer to deal with, if it comes to that.

Anyway, that’s a round-up of what I’ve been doing since returning from all the travel. I haven’t even touched my very expensive new sewing machine, but in the new year I’ll hop on and learn how to drive it. I owe a few people some baby quilts. And yes, Scott – I haven’t forgotten your quilt.

I hope 2026 is a year for us all to remember- for all the right reasons.

Happy New Year!

Dad joke of the day:

Skinflint Sunday: Marketplace Day.

/ Frogdancer Jones / 4 Comments

Today I’m staying home, ready to meet people who are coming over to buy some things that I’ve put up for sale from Mum’s house – and a couple of things from mine, while I’m at it. We’ve done so many op shop runs, but every now and then I’d find something that looked as if it should be sold, rather than donated.

I bought this chair 10 years ago from Marketplace, when I moved into The Best House in Melbourne and realised the master bedroom was HUGE. Now, I’ve inherited my great-aunt’s bedroom chair, so I’m releasing this one back into the wild. So far, for $100 I’ve had no offers. I might slash the price just to get rid of it.

Yesterday I had a conversation with an upper arm surgeon about Mum’s case. If she had an operation, it would run from 4 – 6 hours, and would necessitate opening up not just her humerus, but her shoulder as well. This shoulder is pinned together from when she had a fall a decade or so ago. They would have to take all of the hardware out, replace it with bigger hardware, then try and pin the splintered humerus back together.

“With your mother’s underlying health issues, her age and frailty, the chances of heart attack or stroke are huge,” he said.

Personally, I can’t see her surviving 6 hours on an operating table. So we’re going for a brace, hoing that the bones will re-knit into a new shape that will give her at least limited mobility.

It was a stressful conversation. There’s no good alternative, but just shitty alternatives that have more or less risk associated with them. She’ll be going back to Bonbeach today or tomorrow, where she’ll lie in her bed for weeks. At the moment she can’t even scratch her nose by herself, because the other arm muscles are torn.

“How are you feeling, in yourself?” I asked Mum yesterday.

She looked at me for a second, then said, “Well… I’ve been happier!”

“I bloody well hope so!” I said, and we both laughed. She’s putting on a brave face, but her future is pretty bleak. She knows that better than anyone.

In happier news, Miss Hazel is now a gangly teenager, all arms and legs. She’s a clever little thing, with a chattiness that I haven’t seen before in a cavalier. Already, the level of her back is as tall as Scout’s head. I never realise how tiny my little snag is, until I measure her against other dogs.

Hmmm… I really need to get my deck painted, don’t I?

I just realised that it’s only 1.5 weeks before Christmas. I’m hosting.

Yikes!

Dad joke of the Day: