H: The lighthouse on the rocks is so tall. One fine day, I'll return once more!

         Peggy's Cove No. 1 (of 2)

         -- by H (then a 9-year-old Grade 3 student)
                    written on-site on June 26, 2014.** 

       

          When I went to Peggy's Cove

        It was raining, it was cold...

        Into the ocean I wished I'd dove.
        
        Now I am very, very small;
        The lighthouse on the rocks is so tall.

          One fine day, I'll return once more! 

        (When I went to Peggy's Cove

        It was raining, it was cold...)

  **The iconic red-and-white lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, about an hour's drive from Halifax and built in 1868, is the best known lighthouse in Canada and one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. (The photo showing "Peggy's Point Lighthouse" here is copied from tripadvisor.com. 加拿大东部新斯科舍省的首府成哈利法克斯佩姬湾)  The history of the lighthouse is little known. There are several versions. The light is a white octagonal concrete tower, 50 feet (15 m) high. Peggy is of course the nickname for Margaret. The community there might have acquired the name from nearby "Saint Margaret's Bay", as the point marks the entrance to the bay in Nova Scotia. 

 (Photo also from tripadvisor.com.) 

  (following 2 scenic photos from widget.renren.com)

I am glad that, at my insistence during lunch last Sunday, I was finally able to retrieve the above "original" version of my granddaughter's Peggy's Cove Poem No. 1 (of 2) --  then written on-site some two years ago with some help from you-know-who -- straight from the long-neglected 'Evernote' section of my daughter's cell phone. I was somewhat surprised that it was also supposed to be sync'ed to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars!" At the time, the young poets thought if only we had 7-8 syllables in each line, we could perhaps pull it off. (Ah, Some childish thinking... in any case, we did try. hahaa!)

Places of interest... an example: (following photos and texts copied from wikipedia --)

Citadel Hill or the Halifax Citadel (aka Fort George, named after King George II of Great Britain) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ("The hill was first fortified in 1749, the year the town of Halifax was founded. Those fortifications on the hill were successively rebuilt to defend the town from various enemies...")

78th Highlanders - Contemporary Re-enactors, at Citadel Hill.

Firing of the noon gun at Fort George.

H: Your birthday it is, I happily love. You like to drink frizz

When my granddaughter H was about eight years old, on my birthday she gave me the following poem written on a square piece of red paper. I like it because it was mostly her own work.

My Lovely Grandpa!

-- by H (then 8-years-old)

Your birthday it is,

I happily love.

You like to drink frizz,

And eat crackers, too!

You teach us kung-fu,

How to ride a bike,

And even to moo!

I like this poem,

Do you like it too?

萬古刀 投荃入海中 龍蝦獨愛紅 I dropped the lobster traps

"And has anyone ever seen a "red", live lobster? Haha."

萬古刀 - 2016年04月04日 :

[ 呵呵，魚兄，據說紅的生猛龍蝦還是有的，

不過在大自然見到的機率是十億分之一左右，令孫捉蝦選色，其志不少啊!!!]
附圖及報道Link︰
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2602440/Meet-Harley-Quinn...

當紅生蝦︰

急就章一首，掟磚引玉。 打油步三韻成《追蝦逐色》。 

O Thank you, Broadsword of Ages,
for your fine little Chinese poem translation and the research link!
I stand corrected!

《追蝦逐色》萬古刀

    投荃入海中，

    龍蝦獨愛紅。

    小魚充誘餌，

    蝦魁實可期。

    穫漁作午飯，

    三字讚盞嘆。

Lobster Lunch

-- by J (then 11 years old), 

     written on June 26, 2014 near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.

I dropped the lobster traps on the sea bed,

For them to crawl in, the lobsters red.

On the spike I put on fish as bait,

I took the boat back to wait and wait.

Then I checked the traps for lobsters before lunch;

O It's so delicious, munch! munch! munch!

H: When I went to Peggy's Cove It was rainy and cold.

(Postcard photo by Dale Wilson)

 A gem (to me anyway) on the other side of the post card.)

Peggy's Cove No. 2 (of 2)
-- by H (then a 9-year-old Grade 3 student)
     written on-site on June 26, 2014.** 

     I went to Peggy's Cove,
    There was an ocean and I almost dove.
    Rocks, grass, and flowers,
    It was raining at that hour.
    There were lobsters, too,
    Daddy, Mommy, and I were wet, so were you!    

** (with some assistance by a walking rhyming-dictionary.) 
Peggy's Cove is a favourite Canadian tourist spot: 
a rugged fishing village on the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia.

This little poem "survives" because, as a special favour for grandpa, the poet wrote it on a postcard (see above photo) and mailed it from Peggy's Cove post office back to his residence (while the grandparents were accompanying the family on a 7-day cruise from Quebec City to Boston). 

 At Quebec City, our two families boarded the Holland America ms Veendam for a 7-day New England cruise.

                                                                                                            Rocks, grass, and flowers, 
                                                                                               It was raining at that hour.

But O, H's Peggy's Cove Poem No. 1 is somehow "lost"! 

From memory (and I am not too sure), it's something like:

        

          When I went to Peggy's Cove

        It was rainy and cold.

        The red and white lighthouse was tall,

        And I was so small ...

        Today, it was all mist and rain,

        One sunny day, I'll be back again! 

(Other places of interest en route ... for example:)

  

                   Simple Shao Lin stick-fighting techniques taught here. Any takers? 
                   Ee-aii-yaak! (3 consecutive strikes!)

 Members of the exclusive "Young Contemporary Poets" Club having some quiet moments at the edge of the Atlantic, NS. 

(The older guy is of course young at heart!)

LOVE THE CHILDREN... 

As a continuation of humanity, they are truly priceless!

J: Lobsters for Lunch -- I dropped the lobster traps

He is risen! Happy Easter!

And one of the "lost ones" has now been found.

I was glad that, while de-cluttering my desk recently, I uncovered a piece of scrap paper on which was written the following little poem by my grandson. What a pleasant surprise! (Some photos have been added here for presentation purposes.)

  One-way street for hungry lobsters!    Colourful Floats             Danger sign at Peggy's Cove

Lobsters for Lunch
-- by J , written on June 26, 2014 near Peggy's           Cove, Nova Scotia en route the 7-day Quebec City-                Boston New England cruise on Holland America's ms Veendam.

I dropped the lobster traps on the sea bed,
For them to crawl in, the lobsters red.
On the spike I put on fish as bait,
I took the boat back to wait and wait.
Then I checked the traps for lobsters before lunch;
O It's so delicious, munch! munch! munch!

Of course, I did help with some leading rhyming suggestions.
And has anyone ever seen a "red", live lobster? Haha.
But the important thing is to keep the then 11-year-old interested and his poetic thoughts flowing. At my urging and with a dangling carrot (of cash awards), the two grand kids each wrote four short poems on-site about the interesting things they experienced on the cruise; this is the only one salvaged for J. He wrote the short poem after a "show and tell talk" on the lobster trap by our local guide Bruce who drove the party of six tourists around in his van. 

J simply has forgotten all his poems now. Likewise for his younger sister. O, No big deal perhaps for the kids and parents, but not so for this "poet-grandpa"... ha! 
Actually, as "straight-A or almost straight-A students", they did not find writing the poems too difficult. It is like doing a 6-line word puzzle, with suitable rhymes provided on demand.
 Yummy! (Photo from Holland America Line guide book)

 O Why me, eh?       Lobster boats      When will I see you again?

孫星衍 最難風雨故人來 How joyous when an old friend comes

「莫放春秋佳日過，

    最難風雨故人來。」

     -- 清‧孫星衍 楹聯

A Famous Chinese Couplet
-- Sun Xing-yan (Qing Dynasty)  
-- Translated by Frank C Yue

Don't let the fine Spring and Autumn days slip by again;

How joyous when an old friend comes in the 

wind and rain!  

The following commentary culled from the net:

詩人說道，不要讓大好時光匆匆流逝，應當珍惜美好時光；而有朋友在風雨交加時節前來探望，最是人生快事。

清代學者 孫星衍，為乾隆朝榜眼，著名小學、金石學家，也是藏書家、目錄學家。年少時，與楊芳燦、洪亮吉、黃景仁等一樣以文學見長，袁枚稱為他為「天下奇 才」。一生博覽群書，勤於著述，阮元即曾聘他為詁精經舍教習，並主講鍾山書院。其人才學博洽，「莫放春秋佳日過，最難風雨故人來」這一聯句，即是他一生所 寫過的篆字楹聯中最知名者。

亦有說此聯句，乃出自明代的馮子振《鸚鵡曲‧山亭逸興》一詩：「嵯峨峰頂移家住，是個不唧溜樵父。爛柯時樹老無花，葉葉枝枝風雨。故人曾喚我歸來，卻道不如休去。指門前萬疊雲山，是不費青蚨買處。」孫星衍之聯句雖未必出自於此，然意境略有相通之處，仍可一併參考。

孫 星衍這一聯句，以極淺明之文字，道盡人生最至關緊要的兩件大事，一是享受春秋佳日之美好，二是友朋造訪之美至樂至喜至。就前句「莫放春秋佳日過」而言，語 本陶潛《移居》詩「春秋多佳日，登高賦新詩」之意而來，明顯具有人生貴閒適，而登高賦詩正是春秋佳日最具妙趣之事。可見，孫星衍對於人生之體會何等自在自 適。

而後句「最難風雨故人來」之「風雨」本指大自然刮風下雨，亦比喻惡劣的處境。《詩經‧鄭風‧風雨》篇所云之境，恰與此同：「風雨凄凄，雞鳴喈喈，既見君子。云胡不夷。風雨瀟瀟，雞鳴膠膠。既見君子，云胡不瘳。風雨如晦，雞鳴不已。既見君子，云胡不喜。」

在風雨交加之淒冷中，人容易感到孤獨或身處危難，這時一旦有故友風雨無阻，不邀而至，最令人心喜，此乃人生最難能可貴之事。是以，「最難風雨故人來」成為傳誦不歇的名句。

Never find yourself in Any dangerous scene

A Winning Self-Defence  Strategy
-- by Frank C Yue

Shun all hazardous scenes: It is imperative.
Always be prepared, alert and non-combative.
Walk away from insults, any threatening stranger;
Don't be bewildered when suddenly facing danger.
Against hostility, assertiveness apportion;
Be calm, confident, tactful before any action.

Of your own strengths and the enemy's, be sure.
But move like lightning when action is assured.
Expect the unexpected: Leave first strike to the attacker; 
When shoved time and again just his wrist or little finger.
Always apply minimal force to match the mug;
Never blindly pursue a desperate thug.

When you're choked from the front with outstretched arms
Break free with strong up-and-down ripping palms,
Palm-strike his chin, spear-hand his throat -- the key
Is to strike through the target! -- and kick his knee.
The best defence is no offence and common sense.
Win without fighting, or run away, if you can:

Never find yourself in
Any dangerous scene.