Planeur et Sous-marin

這幅圖，看起來像是世界的邊緣，有一種遠離塵囂的孤獨意境。風吹草長，亙古晴空。若沒有眼前那橫七豎八的圍籬，就算說此圖為人類滅絕後的世界，也不至於太過離譜。

然而，這幅照片攝於2006年，地點在全球高科技中心──美國加州矽谷的人煙稠密地帶。而且越過這個草場，山邊還有一個IBM的實驗室。這裡是加州聖塔克拉拉縣 (即矽谷所在縣份) 的 “聖塔泰瑞莎縣立公園”。

(本文相片皆為Sony F717所攝) 

(播放的音樂是電影"真愛一世情"主題曲，只為它的"大西部"的情調)

Skye Boat Song (斯開島船歌)

這是一首蘇格蘭凱爾特民族風的歌謠，多年前曾在「凱爾特豎琴演奏曲集」(Celtic Harp)中聽過，但之前聽聽它的音樂也就罷了。今天偶然聽到，突然想到，這不是美劇Dexter (台灣譯為「夢靨殺魔」，大陸譯名「嗜血法醫」)中，許多深思及sentimental的橋段會放的曲調嗎? 原來是這首蘇格蘭民謠。維基一下，發現它是描寫「帥王子查理」Bonnie Prince Charlie率領支持信奉天主教的斯圖亞特王朝在大不列顛王國復辟的「詹姆斯黨」人Jocobites在1745年起事失敗後，記念他逃亡到Skye Iles所寫的歌。

 (1745年雅各黨人在蘇格蘭起事反叛信奉新教的英國的漢諾瓦王朝)

歌詞如下:

Chorus: Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,

It was a peaceful walk in search of God, after a Sunday service on Sunday afternoon. So I said good-bye to mom and picked up my Canon 60d and headed to the creeks and mountains.

It was a not-so-good-for-picture dusk. Cloudy with occasional sunlight. Warm, breezy, and very humid. 

We are between typhoons, so make sure the clothes are dry. In the Tongde alleys. 

Adieu, Angelina by Nana

午後，走進網路當中看看人們介紹怎樣的音樂。偶然看到娜娜(Nana Mouskouri)的老專輯，空氣中瞬間瀰漫著回憶。聽到一首未聽過的法文歌“Adieu Angelina”，喜歡這調子被娜娜唱得輕柔又有韌性，活潑的法文發音就像是少女的手指，輕輕掠過你的耳際與頸項。  

 After a long lapse, I visited Tianmu Old Trail again when the cold hit the hardest. The front has moved well into northern Taiwan today and temperature dropped to 12℃ during daytime. The sky was actually gray with foggy moisture, blocking everything that’s 300 yards away. Terrible visibility.

For its proximity to Tianmu’s urban area (a mere 7-minute walk from Tianmu Circle at the end of Sec 7, Chungshan N. Rd.), and as a shortcut between Tianmu and Chinese Culture University, Tianmu Old Trail is among the most visited suburban mountain trails around Taipei basin.

The sign says 90 mins to CCU. I usually finished the trip in 60 mins.

At the entrance of the trail. This place used to be called Triangular Pu, and has a deserted water power plant dating back to the Japanese regime.

Deserted road to the power plant. Now blockaded from trespassers.

A movie about love, forgiveness, relationships, and pursuit of the “self”. It’s more or less expressed through the eyes and languages of a psychotherapist (starred by Robin Williams).

  I happened to switch to HBO and saw this movie, which I sat and finished today. This was actually my second time watching it till the end since 15 years ago in a movie theater. And I caught something this time. This movie is about friendship, loyalty, love itself, and pursuit of love. It’s also about courage, recovery from traumas of life, and, to the very core of it, salvation (or pursuit of the “self”). The tempo is slow and the story line is limited to a couple of people living in the greater Boston area, limited to their relationships that accommodate love, fear, and how they see themselves as lives. The acting of Robin Williams is most genuine (he won best supporting actor of Oscar in 1998). Near the end of the film, when he said to Willy, “it’s not your fault” for the 7th time, the words also broke into my heart and my eyes were filled with tears exactly when Willy burst out crying.

When I first watched it in 1997 I didn’t expect that I would ever see the city Boston myself in just 3 years. Today, in one scene, I recognized the MIT campus where Matt Damon sat on the lawn facing Charles River. I recalled that I actually stood at the exact same spot in the MIT campus facing the same view of Harvard Bridge and the River. I remember dark clouds were all over the August sky and cast their shades on the waving water. That was the widest point of the river that makes it like a lake. I still remember the hot and humid air of that afternoon, so similar to the city I came from that it immediately gave me a touch of nostalgia. In those days the only American weather I was familiar with was the drought and brown of California. So I welcomed the humidity and cloudiness that the East Coast could offer and was impressed with the verdant forests along Massachusetts Turnpike at the end of the film. So green and so vibrant. Again, I also saw that highway myself in 2002 when I went to Elder Wu Yung’s sermon at a church in Springfield, MA. God gave me, and still gives me chances to fulfill dreams of my youth that I’ve almost forgot. We usually learn this when we look back long after having received the gift.

假日久未出現的陽光終於在今天現身。氣溫25度，天很藍，陽光燦爛，終於說服媽媽去騎淡水河──媽媽口中說的那條「紅樹林站外面的車道」。

 (竹圍段的懸空車道)

我想我有同德社區照片強迫症。因為住在這裡，既然每次都從家裡出門，所以拍社區也成了一個習慣。

社區裡老鐵窗與頂樓花園  

約好跟淑德姐爬天母古道，但下午行義路，就是文化後山下面這一帶下起了忽大忽小的雨。已經走到同德公園了，看到前面天母古道方向一片白茫的雨勢，還是打電話給淑德姐問是否要改行程，結果決定改到劍潭山(上禮拜剛去過)，真是惆悵。出門即已下雨，遂未帶相機。不過整個士林劍潭地區硬是沒雨，天空亮恍恍的，還有點熱。PO出三張中午出門吃飯時拍的，當時還未下雨。

站在天母北路磺溪橋上，溪水仍緩，山區尚未下雨。磺溪兩岸林木茂密，這是一棵古老的欒樹。    

望向磺溪上游。右邊是天母，左邊是北投區同德社區  

走到天玉街的潘蜜拉義麵舖。這家店大約是14年前開的，當時住在天母機房，有段時間幾乎天天光顧到幾天不來老闆娘會唸。後來換過老闆，但店名跟特有的南瓜義大利麵都留了下來。今天點的是蒜香墨魚麵。麵炒得不錯，不過墨魚稍嫌不夠入味，可能也不夠熟，尚有一點生腥感。不過顏色挺悅目，盤子尚有南歐的FU。   

帶媽媽爬劍潭山一直是最近這幾個週末排定要做的事。夏天曾跟媽媽嘗試過一次。但因為路不熟，劍潭山上步道密如蛛網，卻又曲折而難辨方向，以為可以怎麼走就偏偏走不到，遂無功而返。

這次，仗著跟淑德姐和少風剛爬過，雖然山頂略有起伏，路程也有點長，對媽媽很有挑戰性，但踮量著應該是可全程走完。

出發時間不算早──下午三點。但我沒警覺到的是，我們開始攀登時已經接近四點了。雖然天氣晴朗光線充足，但已比與淑德姐爬的那一次還晚約一小時。   

秋日。

氣候改變，地處大陸東南隅的台灣，在秋天也濕得跟春天似的。這兩年，像今天這樣乾涼舒爽的薄雲十月已經不多見了。昨天在細雨中遊淡江得到喜悅與醫治，讓我今天帶著媽媽又去一趟。再上次拜訪淡大校園應該已是17、8年前的事了。

同德公園掃得乾淨的水溝裡，台灣欒樹的果子又落了一地

 早就跟JR說好要去Jonathan美麗的別墅過夜。國慶日前一晚，我跟JR約在捷運市府站一邊用餐，一邊聊，邊等Jonathan。牛乳大王的芝麻核桃牛奶依舊濃郁好喝，我跟JR暢談著...  

松仁路口車輛川流不息－－DBS大樓、Belavita、跟新光三越在夜空中閃閃發光  

不知道汐止竟有這樣的地方。在大雨加大風當中，我們在產業道路上蜿蜒往上。但目的地的景象是令我們驚愕的。

路底停車處
  在新修的柏油路上停好車，我們在雨中躲進寬闊的涼亭裡。鋪造良好的石頭步道帶我們轉了兩個彎，夢湖，就那麼夢幻地在雨中霧氣中出現在面前。在這近300米的高度，我們以為應該只是個山中的小水塘，但是那 湖水、週遭的森林、步道、山巒是這樣的帶著靈秀之氣。斜坡上的大塊岩石周圍幾棵大樹，林相也美。跟少風約好下次天氣好要再來。

風在雨中嗚咽著。穿了錯誤的夏天衣服，我瑟縮在地主咖啡館旁臨時搭的遮雨棚內跟少風聊天。最後不敵失溫，只得草草地撐著傘，繞行湖畔步道一圈即準備回家。不過途中也發現，雨中的森林另有一種不同的美感跟趣味。艷陽高照時，光暗的對比也強，除了藍天綠樹，森林的內部卻成了黑壓壓的一片。但在雨中照明不足下，樹林間的反差變小了，森林的內部反而成了一個活起來的世界，草木皆因雨水而發亮著。