Sunday, October 29, 2006

Snow!

It started snowing lightly Friday evening and it kept falling through most of Saturday. Just a nice, light, fluffy kind of snow. I took this photo at about midnight Saturday night after getting home from work -- there's probably 4 inches on the ground there. This is why I love Edmonton!

Monday, October 09, 2006

More Genealogy

On the subject of genealogy, while in Calgary early last month, we spent an hour or so on a Sunday afternoon with Uncle Sam and Auntie Lily. Uncle Sam kindly showed us the genealogical records he'd been working on, which was really exciting to see. The photo below is of the original, handwritten record he was able to procure in China for the price of a cell phone (that's a whole other story there!). We didn't want to handle the pages much, as they seemed quite worn and the characters rather faded, but we did ask to see the page on which our yeye, Biu Tang, would have recorded the birth of each of his sons. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, although yeye's brothers all made the effort to have their sons (i.e., dad's cousins) recorded in the book, our yeye apparently did not think it a very high priority, and our branch of the line ends with him. So you can see for yourself, I've circled his name in red (digitally, obviously!), and as Uncle Sam pointed out, you will note there are no descendants written below him, although we know he had quite a few -- I mean, we all Tangs and Tang cousins have to have come from somewhere, don't we!

Blast from the Past

A couple of months ago, while at the Poons house, we had the opportunity of leafing through a worn album displaying photos taken in the early Hong Kong branch some forty years ago. Much to our delight, included among their smiling faces were a number of photos of dad as a youth! Well, tonight we went over to the Poons again for Canadian Thanksgiving, and this time made sure to bring a scanner so we could capture some of those memories. Thank you to Uncle Tony for graciously allowing us access to his photos!

Photo #1: Dad and Auntie Evelyn

Photo #2: Dad getting ready for the Christmas party -- he painted the Jerusalem background scene beside him -- good job!

Photo #3: left to right, back to front: Uncle Sam, Uncle Norman, Sheldon Poon, Dad; Auntie Ellen, Auntie Grace, Auntie Evelyn, Uncle Tony, Uncle Kenneth; Auntie Fanny, friend

Photo #4: Uncle Tony skip roping on the railing -- what a dangerous fellow!

Photo #5: You fool! Didn't you just hear me tell Uncle Tony that's dangerous?

Photo #6: GQ'ing it in front of the stone lion guarding the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (in HK).

Photo #7: Uncle Sam, Auntie Fanny, Auntie Goo-ma, Uncle Norman, Dad, Auntie Grace, Auntie Evelyn, Uncle Kenneth (Uncle Gordon wasn't born yet)

Photo #8: Proof that all Asians look the same -- lots of Tangs, guess who they are!

Photo #9: More proof -- even the bikes they ride are the same!

Photo #10: Dad leading the music.