December 2024
Christmas – We visited Shireen’s church for the Christmas Service.
November 2024 – Singapore
We spent a few of our last days in Singapore with Chris and Francis. On those days we visited and walked quite a few nice places including the Rail Corridor, The Rifle Range Nature Park, the peak of Mount Faber where we had dinner at the Abora restaurant, and the Henderson Waves. Like most of Singapore, these were all beautiful Places. Thanks to Chris for all the nice photos.
August to October
In Late August, Mei departed again to attend to more details for Jia Li and Eugene’s wedding – while I stayed home to tend to the home.
Unfortunately, at the end of September Hurricane Helene made landfall and a few days later knocked out power in parts of the Irmo, SC area. It was good that Mei had already left, but Howard was pretty much stuck at home for 5 days without power. Days were not too bad because there were things to repair and work on during the day. But night fell at about 7PM at this time of the year and sitting around the house in the dark for all those nights was excruciating. Also by this time we had accumulated quite a lot of food in our freezer. Having never been in a power outage for more than a few hours in the 35+ years Howard lived in South Carolina, he kept expecting the power to come back on at any time – so left the refrigerator and downstairs freezer sealed to conserve cold.
By the third day, it was obvious something had to be done or we would lose a lot of expensive foods. Howard decided to rescue the meats and other expensive foods, by taking them to Shireen’s house where she still had power – but the rest was lost. The really sad thing was that he learned later that the other side of the street never lost power for more than 5 minutes and our neighbor Esther would have been happy to take in our thawing foods. Next time, we will investigate buying a generator.
August 2024 – Chimney Rock, Great Smokies National Park
We traveled about 4 hours (each way) several times time season to visit the Great Smokies…and particularly Clingman’s Dome. We sent once to see the park, another time to hike up to the dome (if you are not in great shape prepared to barf your lungs out climbing the hill path) and then again to try to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way (which is feint, but visible). The only real problem with Clingman’s Dome is the parking. If you are not there early enough in the day – or if you go on the weekend, it is quite possible you will spend a couple hours waiting in line of cars trying to get into the parking lot.
A trip to Chimney Rock
We went to this beautiful town in North Carolina. There we climbed up on the rock and looked out over the valley. In just a little more than that month, that beautiful town would be wiped out by Hurricane Helene.
July 2024 – Cowpens SC
We drove up to Cowpens National Battlefield and walked the State Park. It is a nice peaceful park. While there, we encountered a young deer and were able to walk close to it before it sprinted away. [Note: This big floppy hat Howard wears really does have to go!]
June 2024 – Clingman’s Dome – Great Smokies National Park
In July we took our second (or third?) trip to Clingman’s dome. This time, we took Shireen with us. The climb up the hill was as arduous as the last time for the two of us, but Shireen trod up the path as if it was level ground. (I guess this is one of the reasons we joined a gym in 2025.
June 2024 – Short stay at home…
We did however continue to enjoy experiences around town. We caught a few more ballgames, and tried out IHOP (the meal was good and not too expensive). After looking at these pictures, Howard decided that this “BIG” floppy hat is too much – after all, I am not Sister Bertrillel and therefore I don’t need any extra lift. In the category of “ouch’, Mei went to have a little dental work done.
May 2024 Cherry Point, North Carolina
Great and terrible. In May we traveled to Cherry Point to see the Blue Angles at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. On the way there we made our traditional stops at Wendy’s for our meal breaks. The Angles of course were incredible! This was the first time for Mei seeing these great fighter pilots. On the down side the logistics and organization at the base left us less than impressed. We left our hotel early enough to arrive at the station in time for the show, but remained in line to get into the station gate and to the parking area for about six hours. This was six hours spent creeping along a station street that intersected with a street at another gate where instead of alternating traffic, they gave priority to cars entering the other gate. I was mortified to find out that they could not do better than this.
April 2024 – Home, Riverbanks Zoo, Segra Park – Columbia, SC Baseball
So far, each year that Mei has been here we attend a few baseball games at SEGRA park in Columbia – watching the Fireflies play. We have attended the home opener each of her 3 years. She is starting to get a real appreciation of the game; and it makes for a nice outing. The Columbia SC Zoo is another place we like to go occasionally, and It is always good to start the day with a home cooked meal. April is also Mei’s birthday month and this year she received a nice gift from her sister across the seas – an orchid.
March 2024 – Hilton Head, Beaufort
Spring! Time for a trip! We traveled to the Beaufort – Hilton Head area to take in the nature at the islands. We walked around Beaufort town and through trails out on the island. We also got involved with a church bowling league.
February 2024 – Charlotte Ikea
On our way to the Charlotte Ikea again to search for a less toasty winter blanket. We absolutely sweat at knight in the high insulation one we already have. Also, another stroll around Moore (Irmo Community) Park, and a trip out to someplace unknown.
January 2024 – Singapore
In May of 2023 Mei received her provisional green card. This meant that after being away from Singapore, from her favorite foods and all her friends and family, she was now free to travel back home to visit. And so we made plans for just that. Looking at the end of 2023, you can see there was not much activity for us together – and this is why.
The timing for Mei’s release to travel was fortunate because she was able to go home to help with Jia Li’s wedding preparations.
In January, Howard joined Mei for almost three weeks in Singapore. Unfortunately, it was a horrible transit. Instead of the customary 24 hours, it took him closer to 40 hours to make the half-world journey.
Mei surprised Howard with a boat cruise to George Town, Penang, Malaysia on Carnival Cruises his birthday. This was the first time Howard had been on a cruise and his first trip to Penang, Malaysia. Mei, Howard, Chris, Francis, Chris’s brother Andy and Andy’s wife Helen all made this cruise. A couple days before boarding we discovered that Mei’s cousin Ronnie and his wife Jacqui were booked on the same ship. We enjoyed the both the trip and especially the company of the extended family.
We saved an evening in Singapore so that we would go to a restaurant and meet up with Mei’s university girlfriends – the restaurant was another idea planned for Howard’s birthday by his lovely and thoughtful wife.
On two of the Sundays, we went over to the Heart of God mega-church where I got to know some more of Mei’s friends. While at the Singapore home, Xiao Ping taught Jia Li and Howard to make dumplings. It took a lot of tries for Howard to get them to be at least half-decent. Unfortunately, eventually we have to leave Singapore to come back home to America. The parting from family is always hard – especially on Mei, but it was nice to arrive back at home.
