Regular visit to Austin in 2017/Carlos Pueblo

Regular visit to Austin in 2017/Carlos Pueblo

Since our daughter returns to her own house, we have visited Austin

monthly for some house chores because that she has been busy on her

work. We do manual job such as mowing the yard, vacuuming interior,

cleaning flower bed, and removing frozen branches etc. Amy keeps the

weed out of flower beds and maintains roses gardens front and back.

Very soon, it has been almost a year during 2017.

I have been visiting Austin ever since 1980 during my first job as an insurance

agent, then Michelle’s college at the university, her job with a computer firm

and thereafter a purchase of two rental houses. We went to help her cleaning

the property and planning the garden yard work until the beginning of this

year when her tenants moved away. She said that eventually she should move

back to her own house and we agreed to help her for the required house chores.

The house is on a 0.2 acre lot, a regular site of current day single dwelling. I

transferred some old bricks and roses from a torn down neighbor’s house to make

a rose garden on the back yard and a small portion of a corroded driveway. The house

looks better now yet a regular maintenance is required. She can get by without

regularly watering the yard to keep the yard and garden alive. During the spring,

orchard blossom and garden blooming.

Usually, we go to Austin on Wednesday noon and come back on Saturday noon for

a two and half hour drive one way. Austin is on a Texas hill country with several

lakes carried by the River of Colorado. There are some old German townships near

by and of course mixed with some Spanish-Mexican influence. I always desire to

have some visit of them one of these days to take advantage of my stay.

Also, there is a group of my fellow Taiwanese retiree in Austin that I know of. I like

to get back to their regular lunch buffet gathering. I believe that will help me very

much in my senior living life. 

奧斯汀行2017/莊峻華

奧斯汀行2017/莊峻華

自從琳兒搬回奧斯汀住家，我們就固定北上，每個月一次，通常

是週三中午出發，週六中午回來，我們之目的是，幫助琳兒整理

庭院，還有打掃室內，簡少她理家之憂慮，奧斯汀行，變成我們

固定行程，時光飛馳，轉眼又到年底。

琳兒住家佔地約八千餘平方呎，建坪約一千六，所以又些前後院

花園草皮，玫瑰花和喇叭花等，都是我當年移植所成，如今稍有

規模，我分兩次割草，因為她購買之電動割草機，兩電池需要分

别充電，除草機也是電動，但常固障，影響愛美之花圃除草鬆土

工作，後院有水蜜桃，石榴，樟樹，美國柚，春天到來，花開甚

是美觀。她甚感激我們之協助，常包紅包生日賀禮，愛美更進一

步，要求贈送大飯店禮劵，像是威基基海灘，秋季倫敦和愛丁堡

五夜，比起我之流浪客棧強甚許多。

奧斯汀附近，有許多古德裔村落小鎮，從鎮名可窺伺一二，若再

往西向，就是墨西哥村落，聖安東尼市，就在奧斯汀附近，我過

去曾拜訪過，現在更可以當日往返，琳兒也十分贊同，只是我一

心只想週遊列國，心尚未沉澱於國內旅遊。

其實，我在奧斯汀也認識，一群古台灣留學生，過去到奧斯汀，常

與飯局，這些人都是博碩學移民，關心台灣政治，與我相似，愛美

也希望我能加上如此，老年活動，使老年獨居生活，更加興趣。

Observing sunrises at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida/Carlos Pueblo

Observing sunrises at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida/Carlos Pueblo

Finally, the ship landed at Fort Canaveral, Florida. I said farewell to

all my new acquaintance on the board and hope to meet them again.

I did make a mistake of arrival in central Florida and plan three days

stay at Ft. Lauderdale in order to visit Everglades National Park, as a

matter of fact, I was even scared to visit Miami due to fatigue and

almost penniless. The hostel allowed me to pay in credit card as well

as a sandwich shop. I got an opportunity to observe sunrises at a near

by beach for two mornings.

The beaches in Florida facing the Atlantic are similar pretty and attracting

many retirees out of states including Canadian. I have been to San Augustine

up to the north, Fort Canaveral- Cape Kennedy area, part of Miami and I still

dream to visit Key West down to the southern end, Tampa on the Gulf of

Mexico. I am pretty sure that I shall have the opportunity to embark at Tampa

For some other cruises.

I walked through a subdivision to the beach park very early in the morning before

day break. At the beginning, I didn’t see any one and gradually morning walkers

appeared with their company including their dogs. The bright sun light first burst

into the dark clouded air far away to the east, then gradually appears to the dark

cloud and sometimes disappears again until later hanging with a distance above

the horizon. I didn’t have the luck to see it on the second morning because of the

cloud and rain. All pictures from my camera showed very unique sunrises in compare

with many of sunrises photos from my previous trips around the world.

I was fully rested and ready to fly home to Houston, to avoid any other incident,

I took the rental vehicle directly back to the airport and change an earlier flight

with a penalty which was very worthy of it.

佛州拉德代爾堡觀日出/莊峻華

佛州拉德代爾堡觀日出/莊峻華

13日橫跨中大西洋，終於結束，我和新識朋友告別，後會有期，

同時也和我之菲律賓甜心瑪西道別，，船停靠卡那佛爾堡，我想

是著名之甘迺迪角，我搭小旅行車到奧蘭多機場，再從機場搭巴

士到一長途巴士站換車，車程四小時餘，抵達拉德代爾市，再搭

輕軌列車到機場，非常麻煩，但我是個人，隻身流浪無所謂，我

在機場有租車，而且在拉市也租下客棧，停留三夜，由於歐洲行

過久，精疲力竭，所以打消遊覽南佛州國家公園之念頭。拉市就

在邁阿密市之北方，濱臨大西洋，我住之客棧，離海灘甚近，步

行可及，於是我每天都去觀日出。

清晨尚未破曉，我就已經走到沙灘，面對大西洋，這是一觀光海

灘，附近都是高樓大廈，都是旅館或是別墅，但建築無甚特殊，

而且有些海水侵襲退色感覺，旭日依舊東昇，放出萬道光芒，然

後就無法目睹。漸漸的有早起者，攜伴而來，有的是夫妻情侶，

我能口哨引起愛犬注意，然後與犬主人聊天，也是旅遊客，我攜

帶望遠鏡，可以觀看遠處大型貨輪。

終於三日渡過，開車回機場，改變搭乘班機，飛返休士頓。

After hurricane Harvey in Houston/Carlos Pueblo

After hurricane Harvey in Houston/Carlos Pueblo

I must thank to my friends to send their regards to me after hurricane

Harvey passing through Houston. We’re alright indeed escaping both

wind and flood damage except a minor inconvenience of driving through

flood water on the street corner to purchase the grocery. It is because that

the reservoir up stream is releasing water to avoid any damage.

We were in Austin to help our daughter Michelle to manage her yard and inside

chore when we noticed how severe of Harvey. We immediately decided to return

to Houston to hold on at the house also be in company with our son Arthur as well

as two cats. The wind started to blow after midnight Friday and rain a little bit

later. I woke up and looked through the window under the street light that the

heavy rain water flew through the curve into the main hole of the storm sewer. I

didn’t see any sign of flooded street at all. I was relaxed for my long confidence of

the city plan of the storm water disposal plus the Harris County flood plan under the

construction of the U.S. Army Engineers Corp. I was very familiar with the flood basin

on the north bank of Buffalo Bayou, a main water pass way through downtown Houston

to Galveston Bay of the Houston Ship Channel. The basin is a regular green park and a

lake when the Bayou overflow the excess water. I always proudly explain to people how

to design a flood basin based  on the maximum volume of rain in a year and design how

big of the park and draw a line to begin the construction. We used to live just north of

the bayou for 32 years and never experience any of the scare of flood and furthermore,

the subdivision residents forced the State to build a toll road freeway underground with

several pump stations in case of need to pump the stored water on the freeway which

passes through the subdivision.

On the second day of Harvey, Michelle sent us a photo from Facebook that a bridge over

the freeway to connect both subdivision collapsed created a scenery of a water fall. Soon

after that the almost 52 inches rain dumped to Houston filled up reservoirs and bayous to

the bank and overflew to the flood basin and more to the street surface, etc. The county authority decided to release the water in order to save the structure of the dams. It’s like

a funnel effect which I learned when I was in junior high school physics class, the flood water

evolve to our street corner almost everywhere. I watched an interview of a national news

program on Sunday that our Mayor indicated the situation was improving and Houston was indeed open for  business. He also mentioned that 28 houses were flooded in west Houston

on the north bank of Buffalo Bayou and Kingwood area of the northeast of Cedar Bayou.

I must say that we’re lucky no damage at all only slightly inconvenient from Harvey. I also

appreciated that Amy decided to sell the old house because the old subdivision was flooded

this time due to several reason, collapse of a bridge and flooded flood basin, and most of all

the release of water from the reservoir.

哈維颶風過後/莊峻華

哈維颶風過後/莊峻華

首先要非常感謝幾位好友，電話電郵前來關切，讓我平靜

獨居生活，頓生溫暖，我們都平安，風雨無礙，略有不便，

但願分享這千年一次之暴風雨。我在上週二網球局，有網友

告知週六有大雨，無法球局，我不知多厲害，因不讀報紙，

不看電視，因此按計劃，週四北上奧斯汀，幫琳兒割草，準

備週六回家，不想奧斯汀烏雲密佈，似有暴風雨將來，網路

新聞曰哈維颶風將登陸德克薩斯州，於是我決定翌日趕回家

，於是一路仍舊平順，北上人多，南下人少，東向休市車輛

無異，原來颶風此四百哩外登路，是第四級颶風，將帶來五

十吋豪雨，就是四呎，我始知厲害之將至。

颶風經過四百哩到休市，風勢已經衰弱，而且大樹剛整枝幹

不久，先安慰自己，半夜後開始風雨交加，我透過路燈，看

到大雨沿著路邊兩旁低處，排泄到暴風雨地下水管，並無積

水，天亮後大雨照舊，排水通道舒暢無礙，我故知休市都市

計劃，排水效率如先前預測，我對洪水保險，稍有認識，而

且散步荷西公園十五年，了解美國工兵營之蓄洪池規劃原理

，先將洪水儲蓄在西部休市，然後循序釋洪，休市已經乾燥

無雨，一整夏天，水池水位低落，所以剛暴風雨，先行填滿

水池，像是水庫，於是社區排水無礙。

三天後天晴，開始恢復散步，發現街道轉角落，積水不去，

約有一呎多深，已無法涉水而過，一般轎車排氣管，，惟恐

進水，而且超市也中斷補給，我們只好省吃儉用，剛好鄰居

賴惠美姊，贈送絲瓜幾條，煮麵線糊口，一直到一日出外，

勘察路況，才繞道到附近大街買菜，牛奶雞蛋數量稍微限制

，價錢與平常常無異。

鄰居告知，，淹水原因是因為上游水庫泄洪，以免積水重量，

損壞七十多年齡老水壩，所以小溪仍舊瀑滿，連通器原理，滿

到街巷下水道，積水溢出路面，元兒因積水無法渡過小溪路面

，預計需等到週三，始得上班。我真幸運，未敢反對搬家，老

茶花女住家，在小溪北岸，這次果然淹水，損失必然慘重。

市長在全國電視新聞中，已經表示市政開始恢復正常，我以為

淹水地區，排水效率不張，是主要原因，當然休市地區，過度

開發，也是原因之一。

Visiting old San Juan, Puerto Rico/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting old San Juan, Puerto Rico/Carlos Pueblo

After 1898, U.S. has taken away many Spanish islands colony in both

the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Puerto Rico is one of them. Our ship

landed on the shore of the harbor of San Juan, the capital city, along

with 5 other huge ocean liners. It is very interesting to find out that

a chain of islands spread from the north east of Venezuela to the

southern tip of Florida to form the eastern Caribbean which is a popular

cruise destination for the market. There is a long history of the European

Naval power struggle during that time of the industrial revolution, the

Industrial power nations such as England, French, Holland, etc., have

Established their colony until today. Old San Juan was the fort built by

the Spanish to defend the islands from foreign invasion. I went to visit

two military castles, Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro,

el Morro.

I have been accustomed to walk along on my visit to a new town. It was an up

hill road toward the first San Cristobal passing through some beautiful building

of the city. There are berry trees along the highway similar to coffee yet not

coffee berry with the color of grapes. The Castle is on the edge or cliff of the shore

with a tall iron fence. Outside of the castle is a huge green field and I was expecting

to meet a young couple who desired to fly kite on that day. I didn’t find them and

learned later that the kite was broken when was in use. I wondered around the field

feeling the windy sea wind blowing and huge sea wave pounding on the shoe, what an experience.

I continued to walk toward to the other end of the green field by passing a run down

residential area of the old San Juan. It was very different from what I had passed by of

the modern San Juan. This is more like a slum and ghetto area of San Juan. I understand

the economic crisis of Puerto Rico; however, I don’t know how can the Puerto Rican to

get out of it. El Morro is on the other end of the shore with several battery remaining

inside a national historical heritage site. The museum maintains the old cannon ball on

the platform on the side of the cannon. Spanish was really serious in the defense business  

while U.S. Army did maintain some kind of military business until turning over to the National

park. I still selected to walk back to the ship through the old San Juan.