015. The Savior Calandra Lark (La Calandria Salvadora) A man who had a family that was the envy of everyone due to their affection for one another and the good directions of their affairs, had the misfortune of losing his wife and was left a widower with an older young boy and a twelve-year old…
Fù yú wán kàng – (負隅頑抗 – 负隅顽抗)
負隅頑抗 (Fù yú wán kàng) (1) To use the terrain [to one’s advantage] and put up a stubborn resistance (2) To put up a stubborn resistance From https://www.chinesewords.org/idiom/show-869.html In the Warring States Period, there was one year when the State of Qi suffered from a famine, with many people dying from starvation. When Mengzi‘s student…
SUP – 2022/09/10 – Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay CA
Technically speaking, the harbor is located in El Granada, a village that sits about 5 miles away from the coastal city of Half Moon Bay. Arriving there at around 10:20 am on Saturday, I had no problem finding parking in the C lot. In fact, there were plenty of spaces to go about, and unless…
014. The Yellow Water
014. The Yellow Water (El Agua Amarilla) A king who had become king when he was still very young, was in love with the daughter of one of the guards who looked after the lands next to the palace. This guard’s house was within the boundaries of the palace’s gardens and the king used to…
Fù jīng qǐng zuì (負荊請罪 – 负荆请罪)
負荊請罪 (Fù jīng qǐng zuì) (1) lit. to bring a bramble and ask for punishment (idiom) (2) fig. to offer sb a humble apology From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=46 According to the Records of The Grand Historian, Chapter Eighty One, Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru, there were two worthy [great] ministers from the State of Zhao…
SUP – 2022/09/03 – Drakes Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
For this Labor Day weekend, I decided to head back out to Point Reyes National Seashore in Western Marin County and explored Drakes Estero. The Estero (estuary) is named after Sir Francis Drake, an English explorer who supposedly was the first European to explore the area in 1579 during his circumnavigation of the world. There…
013. Juan Bobo
013. Juan The Fool (Juan Bobo) There was a boy called Juan Bobo. As he did not like to be called Juan Bobo, one day he killed an ox to invite [treat] everyone to a feast and as a result they called him Juan Bobazo. [Nguyen: “bobo” means foolish, silly, dumb, innocent, naive, etc. And…
Fù shuǐ nán shōu (覆水難收 – 覆水难收)
覆水難收 (Fù shuǐ nán shōu) (1) spilled water is difficult to retrieve (idiom)(2) it’s no use crying over spilled milk(3) what’s done is done and can’t be reversed(4) the damage is done(5) once divorced, there’s no reuniting From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=413 Jiang Taigong, whose original name was Jiang Shang (姜尚), lived in the Zhou Dynasty. He had…
012. The Three Little Oranges
012. The Three Little Oranges (Last Tres Naranjitas) Once upon a time there was a son of a king who was looking for the three little oranges of love. Riding on horseback, he searched for them in all the gardens that he came across, but had not managed to find them. Whenever he asked, in…
Fèn bù gù shēn (奮不顧身 – 奋不顾身)
奮不顧身 (Fèn bù gù shēn) (1) to dash on bravely with no thought for one’s personal safety (idiom); undaunted by dangers (2) regardless of perils This idiom comes from the “Book of Han – Biography of Sima Qian“: However, the servants observed him to be a noble person, was filial to his parents, had the…