A preview to "Empty Nest" and visit to Inge

Nick and Matt are both away for the TAS Middle School camp this week, so Felicia and I have a sneak preview to "empty nest." The camp was supposed to have taken place during early September but was postponed to this week due to typhoon. Nick, as an Eighth Grader, has traveled to the Fuloong Beach while Matt has gone all the way south to Kenting.

Felicia and I have talked about this week and had thought about making a short trip on our own. We talked about going to Penghu or Kinmen Island near Taiwan and as far as Cambodia or India. Since neither of us took this seriously, nothing was planned and we stayed in Taipei for the entire week.

Home is a very different place with the boys away--this is especially true after Li-May came over to clean-up on Monday. It's quiet, it's orderly and it's BIG (or at least it felt a lot bigger). We didn't cook at home all week as there are only the two of us. I even had a chance to play tennis with "men" for the first time since last summer while Felicia went karaokeing on a Wednesday night!! Unlike previous years, Nick only called twice from camp and didn't sound too enthused. We don't know if this is caused by the fact the he missed us or that he missed his computer? Matt waited until Wednesday to make his first call but called often subsequently. While we have looked forward to this week of freedom, we both (more or less) miss having our boys at home. I couldn't wait to check out camp pictures that were posted each night and always disappointed to find only a few of them with Nick and Matt.

After getting new tires on Monday and getting the car serviced on Tuesday, we finally found time to do "something" on Thursday. Felicia had talked about taking a day trip to Kinmen Island but finally decided to do a road trip to Inge, the tiny pottery town on the outskirt of Taipei. The weather was great and we arrived at Inge after an hour's drive from home, shortly before noon. Since neither of us had breakfast, after a short stop at a tea shop, we went straight to a small eatery down the "pottery" street. We ordered O-den, Mien-shien, stinky tofu (two orders) and Felicia also ordered shaved ice. About NTD200 and 20 minutes later, we were full and ready to move. As it was a weekday, many shops were closed for business. But, there were enough activities to keep our trip interesting.

What made Inge interesting is that while there are many "pottery shops," most shops sell original pieces created by themselves. We also stumbled into an art collector's shop down on No. 169. The owner, Mr. Huang, primarily collects paintings. But, one can hardly tell that from looking at his shop, cramped with various pottery, sculptures, books and other knik-knaks. We saw several interesting items at his shop. There was the set of six monks all with life-like expressions, the painting from Dai and Xie. He also has a small collection of Felicia's favorite contemporary Taiwanese sculpture artists. We visited from shops to shops and spent a total of four and half hours in Inge. Finally, we stopped at a shop which featured stone sculptures. These were stone carvings from Penghu and are of figurines of kungfu masters -- like ones from Ju-Ming. Unlike Ju-Ming who uses bronze, this artist and his son carve sea rocks. We like them so much, we ended up buying a total of seven pieces, two from the Dad and five from the son. Two of the larger pieces will be given to Frank for his belated fortieth birthday present.

All in all, Inge was a fun place to visit. The streets are nicely lined with palm trees and the shops are well decorated with seasonal flowers. We especially enjoyed the weekday visit, absent of the crowd. We came back with a lot of loot. Apart from the stone carvings, we bought three small plants, some small wine cups, and a few other little things. Unfortunately, just as we were nearing home, we realized that we forgot to pay for our lunch!! We owe NT$80 to the lady who sold us the O-den and mien-shien. Perhaps we will pay her the next time we visit Inge.

The boys will be returning home today. It will be great to have them home, despite all of the chaos. We are not ready for empty nest just yet. Then again, we won't have to worry about this for a few more years.....