Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Hanging Flower

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Awesome Hat

This hat caught my attention while hurrying to catch up with the family.  Literally was walking while I snapped the photo.  Original pic below:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Tree Silhouette

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Iron Railing / Thelma Reid at East Main

Being a member of East Main in Nacogdoches was a treat because I got to interact with the members of the community apart from the college environment at SFA.  As stated in the post a few days ago, it was small, but steeped in the East Texas culture, as some of the families had been in the area for generations.  There were times of grief and times of joy as well at East Main, and memories of my associations with those good folks always brings a smile.

One occasion that I'll never forget was during a visit with Thelma Reid.  I'd stopped just to say hello one day when she began telling me stories of her childhood.  At the time she was well into her 80's, but remembered childhood events as if they'd occurred the day before.

It was during this visit that Sister Reid (as I called her) related something that happened to her when she was in the 10th grade in school.  This was 1979, so she would have been in the 10th grade about 1915 or so.  The class was gathered for a picture, and in those days taking a picture was no casual event.  Everyone wore their best to school on the day, and had to sit still for some time under the glare of lights and that huge flash they held up on a pan.  But first all eyes had to point to the lens.

Sister Reid was in the front row, and she looked down momentarily.  When the photographer scolded her, their teacher told him that she was so poor that she was looking for a dime on the floor.

All those years later Sister Reid still got teary-eyed when she told that story, and her voice became so soft as to be almost inaudible.  She was obviously still hurt by the teacher's crude remark.  I was in training as a teacher at that time, and took it to heart that even a seemingly off-hand remark - even told in jest - can put a permanent stain on the hearts of our charges in the classroom...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Carnation-like Flower with Glowing Edges

Sure don't know the names of any of these flowers, but fortunately that's not necessary to capture their beauty.  As it turns out, this one rendered pretty well in Glowing Edges:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Red and Purple Flowers

The tropical beauty and variety of Taiwan is stunning.  And every region offers something different.  Caught these guys in passing while keeping the family in the corner of my eye so as not to lose them.

Closer-up shot below:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Bamboo Stalk / Charles Westbrook at East Main

This is the story about an interesting fellow I met while attending the East Main Church of Christ in Nacogdoches, Texas.  As stated in this post, I switched from the Lutheran Church to the Church of Christ in the summer of 1978.  So upon returning to Nacogdoches I began searching for a church home.  Not being one to fit very well in the mainstream congregations such as North Street, which focused on the student population with its Yellow House, or Mound Street, which was also large but a bit hung up on doctrinal fine hairs, I hit the phone book and called the smallish, more rural congregations dotting the countryside.  The preacher at East Main seemed to be excited that I called, so there I went and never looked back.  One of those times in life where it felt good to be in the right place at the right time.

In those days there were probably 35-40 in attendance on a given Sunday morning, with the usual decreases on Sunday evening and especially Wednesday night (which I rarely attended).  Names that come to mind are Kurth and Jackie Booker, Inez Campbell, Marie Lundsford, Daisy Chancellor, Thelma Reid, Kennie and Donie Sanford, and of course Charles Westbrook. Those were the older members, with whom I got along best, but there were a few other families of varying ages.  These were all town folks not associated with the university or college population in any way, with the exception of Kurth Booker who worked in the chemistry lab.

Charles Westbrook was singled out in the list above because there are a few things that stand out about Charles:  he never sang, he always had a tickle in his throat that caused him to lightly cough every few seconds, and he was a mortician.  His mother, who was probably in her late 80's or early 90's, lived in an apartment he'd set up next to his in town.  Being a mortician, it was no surprise to anyone that when he discovered her dead in her bed one morning he simply wrapped her body up in a blanket, plunked her in the back of his old green pickup, and drove her to the funeral home to be processed.

But what I remember most about Charles is what happened during a visit to his apartment one day very soon after joining East Main.  I'd stopped just to say hello and found him sitting outside his door whittling on a piece of wood.  We chatted a minute or so and someone he knew stopped by.  Who was this young whippersnapper?  Charles introduced me as a college student that was going to East Main, and was a "hard worker" for the church.  Wow.  I wasn't really doing much for them at the time so hearing that was a surprise.  But it's the little things that stand out, and the affirmation felt good, confirming that it might have been the right decision to hook up with these folks...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Bamboo Snack

This is one of the delicacies made from bamboo shoots - harvested, prepared and sold right there next to the bridge.  Really a treat, as they don't sell it like this anywhere else (that I've seen).

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Bamboo Stalk

Ah, bamboo.  The fastest-growing grass in the world.  If the tip of this shoot were at eye level you could stand next to it and literally see it rising as it reaches skyward.  It's an excellent food, too, an example of which you'll see in tomorrow's post...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Fog Shot from Underneath

This is it for the fog shots of the bridge itself.  Thought there'd be five, maybe six blogworthy pictures when I first went back into all of the pics captured here, but was surprised at how many ended up being keepers.  Some of the photos that continue this series do make use of the fog, but in a much more subtle way.  Some were kept due to cultural interest, and some were snapped haphazardly as we were walking along.  Goes to show you that during post-capture there's a lot that can be extracted while sitting quietly at home on a desktop...