Tag: Taiwan

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Color & Light, Revisited

The Taiwan Lantern Festival, most fully realized in Taipei (and boy, is it ever!) is a grand, amazing, two-week long celebration of color and light! And my brain and I were lucky enough to see it in person last month. I’m still marveling.

I adore bright colors and lights. Creativity. Humor. My biggest goal with art is to bring joy through color. So the Festival was right up my alley. Plus, this year the Festival honored the Lunar Year of the Rabbit, my Chinese zodiac sign. Rabbits all over the place! Rabbits, tigers, dragons, dogs, birds, people, Minions, Alice in Wonderland, the Coronavirus–all rendered in fabric and framing–lit up the Festival night after night, to my own and everyone else’s delight.

One whole big area of the Festival was mostly just lights, on the ground, in the trees, beamed onto buildings, and dangling overhead as hoops and orbs. Taipei 101, the huge tower that looms over the city, was lit up, too, with colorful projected images, both still and video.

I went three times. Twice at night and once on a cloudy day, when the lantern sculptures were still amazing and beautiful.

But do color and light make us happy, as I like to think? I’ve done a tiny bit of research on this.

Researchers have determined that there are non-visual effects of color on the brain. Red light raises heart rate, while blue light lowers it. In Tokyo, blue lights were installed at the ends of railway platforms to reduce suicides. The suicide rate at those stations fell by 74%! Clearly, something important is happening. They concluded, “It is clear that light, and colour specifically, can affect us in ways that go far beyond regular colour vision.” The call is for more research to discover the effects of color and light on sleep, mood, and well-being, among other things.

I could almost say that the vivid colors and lights of the Lantern Festival had a long-range effect on my mood. I love looking back at my photos of the entries by children in middle school and above, inmates of prisons and detention facilities, and by businesses and even other countries. I can easily go back there in my mind. I just know that I feel very lucky that I was able to see it and I will never forget it. My eyes and brain had a feast.

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” ― alice walker, The Color Purple

“I don’t fancy colors of the face, I’m always attracted to colors of the brain.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson

“After a lifetime of darkness, I want to leave something behind that is made of light.” ― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.”― John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. ”― Oscar Wilde

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Beautiful Isle

Why in the world did a Portugese ship travel past Taiwan, back in the 15th century??

The ship captain’s log aptly named Taiwan “Ilha Formosa,” meaning “Beautiful Isle.” Well, it certainly is a gorgeous land. Wow. On my recent trip there, I was stunned by the many, many ways in which Taiwan is so very beautiful. Long, pristine pebble beaches line the East shore, the water of which can be every bit as bright a turquoise as the Caribbean or as dark and wild as the Pacific gets. And somehow, the clouds above were especially voluptuous, making combined vistas that were just amazing. How many hours could I spend there, just looking? To borrow from Joni Mitchell, “I could drink a case of you, darling, and I would still be on my feet.”

Oh, then there are the forests and woodlands, the trees, so very many trees, almost all of which you don’t see here in the Midwest. Around 58% of Taiwan is covered with trees or bamboo! Palm trees with coconuts, acacias, camphor, red and yellow cypress. I especially loved the remarkable banyan trees that conjured up a song my mother taught us kids, “We’ll Build a Bungalow,” which I then sang over and over again as I rode my bike along those Taiwan roads. Okay, it now appears that the bungalow is “underneath a bamboo tree,” rather than banyan, as I thought, but I had fun singing, anyway. Besides, banyan makes more sense. Bamboo is not even a tree! I like my version better.

Then there’s all the tropical jungle vegetation, almost all of which I could not name. Bananas! Bananas grow right by the road, along with other fruits and all sorts of things I did not recognize. I saw orchids growing on the trunks of trees! We passed tea and coffee plantations on our bikes, and so many shimmering rice paddies. I felt like 90% of what I saw on that trip was new to me and that, alone, was enchanting. It was so green there that I’ve been guilty of begrudging our trees their bareness, since I’m home. Soon, I tell myself, soon . . .

Taiwan is nearly two thirds mountains. Mountains, mostly covered with trees, rise up next to or not far from the beaches, clouds resting contentedly on them much of the time we were there.

I had no idea that Taiwan was such a beautiful, beautiful country. Is it me or do we just not hear that much about its natural beauty? We hardly saw any other Westerners on our entire trip. Why are we not beckoned to visit lovely Taiwan, I wonder? Everyone and their monkey goes to Thailand and Vietnam, it seems. Taiwan doesn’t seem to be a destination for us Westerners. I would love to go back. I’d like to see more of the stunning Taroko Gorge and visit lovely Sun Moon Lake and get all the way down to the southern tip and see what’s there. So much gorgeousness in such a small place!

I have looked for quotes about Taiwan and almost everything I’ve found is political, rather than about the beauty of the place. Astounding.

“The world is simple and beautiful.” – Female Taiwanese Pew Research Center respondent, age 72 (asked what makes life meaningful)

“This wasn’t a strange place; it was a new one.” ― Paolo Coehlo

“Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.” ― Lovelle Drachman

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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. . . and I Am Brave

I am home from all my travels, home from California, home from Taiwan. I could tell and tell about it but in some ways, I haven’t the words.

I wrote before I left about my fears around this trip. I had many. I was afraid the long flight would be awful and that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I wasn’t. I was afraid I wasn’t in shape enough for the bike trip. I was! I was afraid something dreadful would happen, in a country where I had zero ability to speak or read the language. It didn’t.

So when we came upon this sculpture, with this title, during our first amazing day of the bike journey, I was enchanted. “I am brave.” I hadn’t been feeling brave. I had balked at riding city bikes in the busy streets of Taipei and Taichung, with throngs of scooters, cars, trucks, and people. I did not feel brave, but I did it. I had moments of “I can’t do it” when we picked up our rental bikes and I found my “extra small” e-bike too big to get comfortably on and off of. I was afraid of falling in traffic or anywhere, and breaking a hip, like an old lady. And then I panicked when I read a couple of comments online about how scary the coastal route–our route–could be.

But I knew I could trust my son. He had made all the plans. He is a skilled traveler and cyclist. He was my guide. We set off, in this gorgeous land where all those drivers of scooters, cars and trucks really do watch out for cyclists, where there are miles and miles of beautiful dedicated bikeways, where bike lanes accompany practically every street and highway, where the many bicycle routes for traversing Taiwan are well-marked, where cyclists are warmly welcomed nearly everywhere. Bicycling is the national pastime in Taiwan and that is very apparent.

I would like to write more about the country and the trip in my next letter. It has been so much for me to absorb. I’ll let this one express my gratitude that my son made this happen for me and gave me the chance to be brave. This was much more than travel for me. It was transformative. I’ve learned that I can be fearful of a thing–anxious, worried, even envisioning terrible things–and yet still go ahead and do it, ultimately finding it utterly exhilarating. I once was better friends with that concept than I have been of late. It has been wonderful for me to revisit it.

Thank you, Cole.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

“Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.” – Ovid

“In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential.” – Suze Orman

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Open Open Open

One morning not too long ago I was walking my dogs up the street and there, on the curb, was a smudged piece of paper with the words OPEN OPEN OPEN on them. Well! I picked it up, of course. It had to be meant for me and it had to be a sign. I’m always saying I want to stay open–to people, places, things, and ideas–so I took this as the universe saying, “Here. Stick this on your wall and do it!”

Turning it over, I saw that it was a sheet of sandpaper. ? Odd, but beside the point. I brought it home and set it down somewhere here in my studio with all the other scraps of paper and pieces of thing that I need to do something with, i.e. it’s not on the wall–yet. Also beside the point. The point is, I took it as a sign.

Found it!

Possibly as you’re reading this, I am on my way to or already in Taiwan. Whoa! My son invited me to go, I took a breath (many breaths, really) and said YES. He wants me to go enough to have bought me a ticket! And he wants us to rent bikes and ride the coast. As I said, I took many breaths. But I thought, If I don’t do a thing like this now, at 71, when would I? And even though just the fact that he asked is enough in itself to make me feel very much loved and happy, the actual going will have to be even more amazing. I can just imagine the opening that will happen, with so many new experiences.

So I will fly to California and visit siblings and their kids and then, from there, fly for 14 hours to Taipei. (Many many breaths.) In Taipei, the Taiwan Lantern Festival will be taking place. Whoa. My eyeballs will be filled with the wonder of it all. The theme of the Festival is “Light Up the Future.” It is a celebration of blessings, ushering in the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. It is all about hope, light, and reaching new heights. I feel that it fits right in with that scrap of paper commanding me to “Open! Open! Open!”

I will report back upon my return.

“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox . . . . ” ― Tony Schwartz

“That’s the funny thing about life. Extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people like you and me, but only if we open ourselves up enough to let them.” ― Mike Gayle, All the Lonely People

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”