Quick note

Family,

 

Here are some pictures of the highlights of the week.  Bryce was one of the younger brothers in the stake play - Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  The cowboy song (with Bryce doing a low bass feature) was hilarious and sticks in my mind all day.

 

I gave a lesson in the Gospel Essentials class today - on the Temple.  Here are a couple of the illustrations I used.  We talked about the temple in antiquity including the influence of the Great Temple in Egypt.  Did you know that the Great Temple (what we today call the Great Pyramid) was already 1000 years old when Moses was in Egypt?  Then we talked about what questions people have about the temple and how we can best answer them.  It was fun.

 

Kaaren has been sick with the flu for the last couple of days.  She is now on the mend.

 

It has been raining for 3 days now without stopping.  And it is cold and misty at night and foggy in the mornings. We are into the winter season already.

 

We are remodeling our bathroom - finally.  Our contractor we found for Keizer apartment work is doing it.  Also replacing our windows in the house.  Logan helped me put in the shower pan yesterday.  It was fun.

 

I guess you know that Kaaren is going to New York for a meeting with Amy and a potential large publisher - Scholastic - of children's books.

 

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving this coming week.  Forrest and Kaarina will join the extended Portland Pixton family.

 

I am singing with the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra and quite enjoying it.

 

That is all for this evening.  Tired and need to join Kaaren in bed.  We bought a new mattress yesterday and we need to try it out.

 

love,

 

Dad

We're home!

Family,

We arrived safely today from Hong Kong. Courtney and children picked us up. We check 5 bags (including the huge packed jar from Beijing) and carried on the rest. We needed two carts to haul all our luggage. Only one bag didn't make it with us and it has been found and will be delivered to our home this afternoon.

We left Hong Kong on Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 12:30 and flew east through the rest of a day, a night and another morning over the international date line, arriving after a stop in SFO at PDX at 1 PM on Tuesday - the "same" day.

The house is beautiful and clean - Bryce cleaned all the carpets while we were gone! And Courtney and Bryce cleaned counter surfaces in the kitchen. We really have a wonderful home and it was such a pleasure to come home to this special place. Colors in the trees are vibrant now and were a pleasant splash to the senses. I fired up the spa, turned on the water heater in our west bedroom wing and we unpacked our Chinese jar and placed it on the fireplace threshhold where it looks great.

The grandchildren are playing in the house and sound happy. They were glad to see us.

Thank you, Mark and Elaine, for everything. It was a magical visit and vacation.

Here's a last word at about the photos I have sent to the flickr site to help you get the most of it. I like to go there the simple way to me -

1. just go to www.pixtonfamily.com and then click on one of the pictures. It will take you to the latest photos uploaded on the flickr site.
2. Regardless of which photos you initially see, click on the blue text to the right of the screen that says "tompixton's photostream". That will take you to a group of photos with the separate "albums" shown on the right of the screen.
3. Choose which group ("album") of photos to see by clicking on the album you want.
4. You will then see all the photos in that album grouped on the right and the first one in the set shown larger on the left.
5. You can look at individual photos by clicking on them - the title of the photo (if I had time to make one) will be at the top of the photo. However, I think the best way to look at the photos is:
6. click on "view as slideshow" . That will show the photos the largest and will move you through them pretty quickly. You can move your curser over the arrows to the right and left of the photo to move along or go back faster. Also
7. move the curse to the middle of the photo - over an "i" watermark and click it. That will reveal the title of the photo, which otherwise doesn't appear in the slideshow.
8. Lastly, another tip. You can press F-11 and the photo will displayed over the full screen. Press F-11 again return to normal display.

There. I hope that makes the photos more enjoyable and you can get as much of a kick out of them as I do.

love,

Dad

Art Museum and Last Walk in Hong Kong and Kowloon

Family,
Here are some pictures from our adventures today. Hong Kong park through the green house and aviary and then to The Peak of the island where there are tourist shops and restaurants. A steep tram takes tourists to the top, but we took a taxi - much faster, cheaper and no lines. We had a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking the city below: German potatoe soup, tandoori salmon and tanfoori sea bass. Much pollution today which you can see from the photos taken at dusk. The view from The Peak actually improves at night because the lights of the cities cut through the smog.

In looking at the cities below, what you are seeing is Hong Kong from the south, at the peak of the island. Then there is a bay inbetween Hong Kong and Kowloon on the north. To the north of Kowloon, and not very visible in the photos is the area called New Territories. All three "cities" were controlled by the British until finally ceeded back to China in 1997. In ten years the place has thrived with the communist government pretty much leaving the capitalist system in place. Some hope this will be a good influence on mainland china - to influence their city mayors and managers to adopt the best of the system that has worked so well here.

I learned something yesterday that perhaps some of you already learned in school but I didn't. Hong Kong was just an empty island in the early 1800's but after the British fought with China over opium smuggling they were profiteering by (the Opium Wars - when Governer Linn of China destroyed all the opium on ships etc that could be found to attempt to stamp out the addiction of millions of Chinese to opium sold by British traders for Chinese silver) China ceded Hong Kong Island to the British to allow them a place to repair their ships and post personnel there for that purpose. But they used it also to continue their massive opium smuggling. Hong Kong grew as a place for trading, refiting ships and smuggling opium. In sum, Hong Kong has no natural resources except a harbor and lots of rocky island. It was founded and continues today solely for the purpose of trading and making money. Since most of the island is solid, steep rock, all housing and business is crammed on very little buildable space - hence the high density.

Many people here are very, very wealthy. You can get a picture of the vast wealth when you see the pictures of the high rise business buildings, but there is more in the elegant apartment buildings and houses that are crammed on the edges of the island. I will attempt to take some pictures of the more routine things that explain the daily way of life here. But Mark and Elaine, guests of the State Department, don't live a routine life. Fifteen years ago they lived in Windsor, not far from our house there, in a small house and struggled to make ends meet until he finally got word that he passed the foreign service exam and got hired. (He actually had passed the exam 10 years earlier, but that is another story). Now, after living all over the world and enjoying a reasonably comfortable salary, they live in a fancy high rise apartment that rents for $10,000 per month and rising. They drive a $150 Nissan but park it in the garage where I found mostly Mercedes and BMWs. An occasionally Porsche, etc. Most native people here live in much more cramped quarters and live modestly. But the super rich are super rich and there are lots and lots of them. Recently, an owner of a great house up at The Peak turned down an offer of $700 million for the house. Many people here have a home in Hong Kong and in Manhattan and in London. Such is life for some.

An interesting note on security. The Consulate General here is provided with a BMW. This would be expensive enough, but he needs special security, so BMW offers a special secure vehicle for persons of political importance. This one has glass 1 and 1/2 inch thick, armor all around, etc. and costs $250,000. There are many employees of the State Department here and Mark Johnsen's job is to manage the properties that house the offices and the homes and apartments the US owns. In Hong Kong, her manages property that tallies approximately $1 billion.

I thought of another thing that might interest you boys. There are no private airplanes in Hong Kong or Beijing. None. The only things in the air are commercial and military airliners and helicopters. I imagine someone might bring in a private Gulfstream or such a large jet airplane that can travel from another mainland but it can only land at the main, commercial international airports. Think of the relative freedom we enjoy compared to most of the world.

This morning Kaaren and Elaine went for a walk - about 7 miles - in the forest. I slept, read and wrote and dealt with business and family stuff by internet.

It has been a good day.

Any good news from home?

love,

Dad

Hong Kong Park and The Peak

Family,
Here are some pictures from our adventures today. Hong Kong park through the green house and aviary and then to The Peak of the island where there are tourist shops and restaurants. A steep tram takes tourists to the top, but we took a taxi - much faster, cheaper and no lines. We had a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking the city below: German potatoe soup, tandoori salmon and tanfoori sea bass. Much pollution today which you can see from the photos taken at dusk. The view from The Peak actually improves at night because the lights of the cities cut through the smog.

In looking at the cities below, what you are seeing is Hong Kong from the south, at the peak of the island. Then there is a bay inbetween Hong Kong and Kowloon on the north. To the north of Kowloon, and not very visible in the photos is the area called New Territories. All three "cities" were controlled by the British until finally ceeded back to China in 1997. In ten years the place has thrived with the communist government pretty much leaving the capitalist system in place. Some hope this will be a good influence on mainland china - to influence their city mayors and managers to adopt the best of the system that has worked so well here.

I learned something yesterday that perhaps some of you already learned in school but I didn't. Hong Kong was just an empty island in the early 1800's but after the British fought with China over opium smuggling they were profiteering by (the Opium Wars - when Governer Linn of China destroyed all the opium on ships etc that could be found to attempt to stamp out the addiction of millions of Chinese to opium sold by British traders for Chinese silver) China ceded Hong Kong Island to the British to allow them a place to repair their ships and post personnel there for that purpose. But they used it also to continue their massive opium smuggling. Hong Kong grew as a place for trading, refiting ships and smuggling opium. In sum, Hong Kong has no natural resources except a harbor and lots of rocky island. It was founded and continues today solely for the purpose of trading and making money. Since most of the island is solid, steep rock, all housing and business is crammed on very little buildable space - hence the high density.

Many people here are very, very wealthy. You can get a picture of the vast wealth when you see the pictures of the high rise business buildings, but there is more in the elegant apartment buildings and houses that are crammed on the edges of the island. I will attempt to take some pictures of the more routine things that explain the daily way of life here. But Mark and Elaine, guests of the State Department, don't live a routine life. Fifteen years ago they lived in Windsor, not far from our house there, in a small house and struggled to make ends meet until he finally got word that he passed the foreign service exam and got hired. (He actually had passed the exam 10 years earlier, but that is another story). Now, after living all over the world and enjoying a reasonably comfortable salary, they live in a fancy high rise apartment that rents for $10,000 per month and rising. They drive a $150 Nissan but park it in the garage where I found mostly Mercedes and BMWs. An occasionally Porsche, etc. Most native people here live in much more cramped quarters and live modestly. But the super rich are super rich and there are lots and lots of them. Recently, an owner of a great house up at The Peak turned down an offer of $700 million for the house. Many people here have a home in Hong Kong and in Manhattan and in London. Such is life for some.

An interesting note on security. The Consulate General here is provided with a BMW. This would be expensive enough, but he needs special security, so BMW offers a special secure vehicle for persons of political importance. This one has glass 1 and 1/2 inch thick, armor all around, etc. and costs $250,000. There are many employees of the State Department here and Mark Johnsen's job is to manage the properties that house the offices and the homes and apartments the US owns. In Hong Kong, her manages property that tallies approximately $1 billion.

I thought of another thing that might interest you boys. There are no private airplanes in Hong Kong or Beijing. None. The only things in the air are commercial and military airliners and helicopters. I imagine someone might bring in a private Gulfstream or such a large jet airplane that can travel from another mainland but it can only land at the main, commercial international airports. Think of the relative freedom we enjoy compared to most of the world.

This morning Kaaren and Elaine went for a walk - about 7 miles - in the forest. I slept, read and wrote and dealt with business and family stuff by internet.

It has been a good day.

Any good news from home?

love,

Dad

Slowing Down

Family,
Here are a few photos from the last day or so. Visiting the Hong Kong history museum in Kowloon and some more photos of architecture in downtown Hong Kong.

We are slowing down somewhat - this morning I slept late with a CPAC device on my face - trying it out. Kaaren and Elaine went for a hike and we are repacking and talking and considering how to best use the time we have left.

Also taking care of emails and questions from contractors, schools, law office, clients, and family back home. It takes time and we have just slowed down to take the time to deal with some of this business.

Yesterday, we went the consulate to meet with Mark and Elaine at work. Elaine and her nurse practitioner, Rena, diagnosed the dark spot on my back as ---- and Elaine used some cold gas to freeze it off. Kaaren and Elaine went to a Relief Society dinner - homemaking meeting and Mark and I went to get a hamburger and drove up to the "Peak" where we had a terrific view of both sides of Hong Kong Island. I'll try to get a photo today. It's an unbelieveable sight of world commerce focusing on one small place on the planet with extraordinarily wealthy results.

Not feeling very thoughtful at the moment - just thought I'd pass along some photos and say that I'm actually beginning to feel relaxed.

love,

Dad

No birds or ducks in China lakes and ponds

Family,
Talking with Brittany on the phone this morning reminded me about something I was going to write about but forgot. It's short.

If you look at the photo of us on the boat in the Beijing Hutong, you may notice that there are no ducks in the lake. They've all been eaten. Seeing a bird in Beijing and in Hong Kong is rare. I can count on one hand the birds I've seen in 12 days, except for one flock of doves flying at one point in Beijing, but that was it. No geese, ever. No pidgeons, no gulls at the sea shore. Nothing. I wrote earlier that there are a few feral dogs loose near Stanley Park - dogs that got loose from their masters - but they retreat into the forest when threatened. People eat dogs here, too. Of course, there are birds, and one hears them occasionally, but like I said, I've only seen a handful.

That is all.

Dad

Kowloon and Science Museum

Today Kaaren took the subway to Kowloon to see the Historical Museum of Hong Kong - but it was closed so we visited the adjacent Science Museum . It was modeled much like the OMSI museum with everything interactive for kids to learn - except they had a terrific exhibit on dinosaurs which we very much enjoyed. Then we walked through some side streets on the way to our subway connection. We found an authentic Chinese restaurant where they served noodle soups in huge bowls - essentially a hot sour soup base and you choose things to add. They were delicious. Unfortunately, several photos I took today, including the soup, are not saved on the camera card and I have no idea why. I did change batteries and everything looked ok but apparently I was mistaken. So only a few photos today.

Then we returned to Stanley Park where we bought things for the grandchildren (whoops - shhhhh) and a few carry bags for ourselves. When we got home, Kaaren made pizza and she is now watching a movie - Lemmony Snickets - while Mark is on his computer and Elaine is on the phone with family back in the US.

I am still recovering from the pain of my tooth - after seeing the dentist yesterday, it doesn't hurt if I don't put any pressure on it, but still felt a huge headache last night and very fatigued. I'm tired today and will turn in early.

We managed to get ourselves from Stanley Park onto a bus and onto a subway and then a change of subways and walk to the Museum and back again. So we are learning the system and enjoying traveling and seeing sights together.

We are praying daily for all of you - your needs we know about and those we don't. I hope you are doing well.

love,

Dad

Back in Hong Kong

Family,

Today I went to a Hong Kong dentist to help with pain in one tooth - learned the tooth has died and is infected and I need a root canal. He drilled out the decay, but did not complete a root canal - recommended I get that done when I return to the US - put on a temporary filling and gave me pain and antibiotic prescriptions . The bill was $42 US.

The other great adventure of the day was a trip to the tailor to pick up my new suit and 5 shirts custom made. They are not bad. I also rode the trolley a few miles each way to just see the city a bit, stopped at the Western Market where I spied a German Baeckerei and picked up some bread and pastries and some Kiwi fruit drink. I took trams and buses and subway to get home.

Meanwhile, Kaaren walked down to the beach by the apartment and painted. It is a nice painting of the scene of the coast line from the beach.

We laid out our haul from Beijing - it covered the bed. We will also repack our vase before checking it on the plane again.

The bustle and clang of Hong Kong was not welcome today. Beijing is much quieter and larger, of course. I needed some rest from the pain I have been dealing with.

This evening Mark and Elaine and Kaaren and I went to dinner in Stanley Park - the upscale community where they live. Kaaren ordered shark, Elaine and I ordered African chicken, and Mark ate orange roughy. Then we went to the grocery store and bought their groceries for the next week or so. Groceries here are much more expensive than at home. But we see things from all over the world, too. Very interesting.

I am missing our wonderful home in West Linn. This is a very busy place. We think we will do some hiking in the next day or so.

Elaine pointed out to me that I have not sent out pictures of our walk on the Great Wall. (Well, three, I think). So I uploaded too many to the Flickr site. Go to PixtonFamily.com (which, by the way, Skye, is very slow to load and actually fails to load completely for me and for Elaine's computer - have you loaded it up with too much stuff?) and click on the photos at the top to be routed to the Flickr site. click on Tom Pixton's photostream and you will be taken to the various albums I have created to organize these too many photos. Enjoy

Now I'm going to try to sleep.

love, Dad

Old Beijing Neighborhoods

Family,

Today was out last day in Beijing and we were ready to stay for many more. There is so much to see and do in this huge, sprawling city. It was smoggy today - worse than I have ever seen in my life - a problem that the Chinese leadership is worried about. Today we went to LDS church meetings (sorry no photos) with the Beijing International Branch that meets on part of the 4th floor of an office building downtown. Though the speakers this time were local students studying Mandarin (one from Kansas City) and were less than electrifying, I still found the experience uplifting. Here in the middle of China, ex-patriots from all over the world gather together to meet in a pattern that is familiar and comfortable for LDS people worldwide. They know the drill and can run the plays without coaching. Our opening prayer was a wonderful prayer in German. The rest of the meeting was in English. The Communist government will not allow proselytizing and I'm not sure of the status of the Chinese branch, though there is one that meets in the same place later in the day, but is critically important, apparently, that they not mix - so that the foreign Mormons are not in any way teaching or proselitizing the Chinese nationals. As I wrote earlier, Chinese nationals wishing to join the church must currently travel out of the country - to Hong Kong usually - to be baptised.

Our friend in Beijing, Gail, was there with her two darling Chinese daughters she adopted while living in NYC. She was 30, unmarried and wanted children so decided to start the adoption process and get on with her life as she wanted it. Recently, adoption rules have changed and a single mother would not be able to adopt from China. Also unsatisfactory prospective parents would be gays and people overweight and people over 55. So she feels blessed. Here in Beijing, she has two servants at home, a car and driver provided by Deutche Bank, her employer, and so her life is better for her than living in the suburbs of America trying to raise her daughters alone. We were so luch to have her as a resource and to have her car and driver at our disposal at all hours of the day when she did not need him. I felt like a charactere in a 1920's movie where the rich English in China have servants and drivers to carry them about and above the rabble of common people.

After church we visited one of the more well known Hutangs or old neighborhoods to wander the streets. Unfortunately, the alleys and streets are full of people hawking watches, clothing and Rick Shaw rides. They were very annoying and we walking away into less traveled alleyways. Pictures are enclosed of some of this to give a flavor of the place. To alleviate the din of marketing, we decided to rent a small electric powered boat and cruise around on the lake. A closing picture of the day is of huge new high rise buildings in Beijing on the way to the airport.

We liked Beijing very much. It has a much more open feeling that Hong Kong - very spread out - with endless things to see and do and buy. I would like to return there some day but, of course, that is unlikely. I hope one of you can make the trip. Do you realize that the great majority of the world population is Asian - either Chinese, or south Asian, or South East Asian including Indian and surrounding nations? China has had different Emperors over the centuries, but has been around with language that is still written and spoken from times before the Roman Empire. Seeing something of this very old and complex culture is an eye opener. I loved learning bits and pieces of the language, though very difficult for a caucasian like me.

We managed to get our lovely vase packed and shipped with baggage on the plane to Hong Kong - it was quite a project to get it to the airport (it's large and heavy and doesn't fit in a luggage we could buy) and get it packed at the post office in the airport which has obviously had this problem before and has stacks of cardboard boxing materials and newspaper to accomodate tourists. We paid 90 Yuen to have it boxed. The flight was an unconfortable 3 hours back to Hong Kong, which strangely, felt like home after the strangeness of the "real" China. Elaine's taxi service picked us up at the airport in a van and for $450 Hong Kong dollars, we were given a Mr. Toad's wild ride from the airport on Landau Island, through Kowloon and Hong Kong to Stanley Park on the south of the Hong Kong Island were Mark and Elaine's high rise apartment is located.

Beijing weather, being in the northern latitudes, was pleasant for Oregonians - in the 60s and 70s, but Hong Kong is just inside the latitude of the tropics, humid and in the high 80s.

It is hard to believe after all we have seen that we are really only half way through our trip here in Asia.

I hope you are all well.

love,

Dad

Beijing Dirt Market

Thanks.

Family,
Today our mission was the Dirt Market - a huge flea market like operation with everything from junk to exquisite. It was enormous! We could easily spend and enjoy days there. Bryce you would love all the very old stuff, impliments and tools and books and of course art of all kinds. Courtney, you would get stuck forever in the beads and jewelry. I took some pictures so you can get a feel for the scale of the thing. There are people from all over the world here buying. The merchants shout "Hello, Sir. Look at this! Look at this. If you make eye contact, you can forget a peaceful viewing. Sellers followed me and pulled on my shirt and pushed me back to their booth. The offer a price - you are then expected to offer yours and the negotiation begins. No one every offers the price they are willing to sell at. Those who can't speak any English - most of them - punch numbers in a hand held calculator and show the number to you. You say no. or if you have a little class you say "Tai qui le" - too expensive. Then the merchant hands you the calculator for you to make an offer. If you don't make an offer, they follow and push and try lower numbers until you either walk away or accept the last number. If you make an offer, the bargaining begins. They complain that the little woman in the household shop works so hard and how can you offer less and you say again "Tai qui le" or just "no." Our driver taught me in the car how to bargain. If one offers a piece of merchandise at 100 Yuen, you must say NO! with a very angry tone and chop the air with your hand and say 50 Yuen. And so on. After moaning and drama you agree on a price, the smiles come out all a round and the piece is handed over or packed with great care and you are now the best of friends.

In the Silk Market this afternoon, the sellers of shoes and handbags (I was looking for a suitcase or trunk large enough to hold an exquisite vase we bought today - and paid a porter to carry on his bicycle-truck for us ) pulled on my shirt and took the pen out of my pocket "Is this genuine?" "Hello, Sir!" Hello, Sir!" "You have lots of money - you need to buy more!" "Look at this!" "Look at this!". I was annoyed and so was Mark so we left and walked the streets and alleys near the hotel where locals were gathering in many small diners where merchants made barbecue or roast pork in a pita, noodle soups and soups made with things you don't want to hear about. Diner after diner in the alleys. We bought some grape juice in plastic bottles and came back to the hotel for quiet conversation in the lobby while we waited for Kaaren and Elaine to return from their shoppinig in the Silk Market.

We had dinner again with Elaine's friend and two little Chinese girls - Gail, Lydia and Adeline at a local restaurant that made dishes very interestingly and colorfully.

Kaaren is in bed and desperately needs a footrub so you know where my priorities lie...

Tomorrow LDS church in Beijing. More later.

love,

Dad

The Forbidden City

Family,

Another incredible day in Beijing ran us off our feet and into bed exhausted. Kaaren is out cold and my feet feel like bloody stumps.

We toured the Forbidden City - the Emperor's city forbidden to common people through centuries until opened up in 1925. It's enormous and defies descriptions of scale. No time tonight to write about details. We got an English speaking guide and she is in these photos with us. We climbed the adjacent hill created from the moat excavation to get a panoramic view of the Forbidden City and surrounding Beijing. We also visited the Art District today, found a restaurant and managed to make ourselves understood - partly - and fed after a long day. Then we went to the Beijing Chaoyang Theater Acrobatics Macrocosm and saw an demonstration of acrobatics that made the French Canadian circus (can't remember the name - too tired) seem like child's play. I didn't bring the camera for that show.

We take taxis some places (about $1.20 for short to medium rides up to 15 minutes) and Gail (Elaine's New Yorker friend she met at LDS branch here who is working for Deutche Bank in Beijing) supplied her car and driver for most of the day - he also took us to the Great Wall yesterday and to dinner, etc. What a tough life.

We are in a fancy hotel with international clientele but must drink only bottled water and juices. We drive on the right side of the road in Beijing - on the wrong side in Hong Kong.

There are few English speakers here, but in Hong Kong probably half of the populations speaks some English and many signs are in English.

Leadership in Beijing are trying to teach their people better manners for the coming Olympics next summer. Previously common practices of spitting and relieving oneself in the streets are now discouraged and fined. However, we saw today a toddler out of diapers but not completely potty trained so they dress them in "split pants" - pants with no seam at the crotch so children can simply squat in the gutter and relieve themselves. We saw this happen ini the Forbidden City. Even bicycles are being discouraged as being not modern - unfortunately. Today we went through an intersection with 6 lanes of cars and about 8 lanes of bikes waiting for the light. Our driver careens between cars and bicycles like a Disneyland ride.

Everyone here wants to be rich, chic, and modern. More so in Hong Kong which was an English colony formed for the sole purpose of making money by trading. There is no natural resource in Hong Kong except isolation from the mainland and economic connections by sea and air. Beijing, of course, is different. It is set in the middle of the country (or so they think of it) in a great flat plain, surrounded by agriculture, mining, industry of all kinds.

English translations of Chinese signs and instruction placards are hilarious. It amazes me that official signs of government and industry (and our hotel) have so many goofy translations - that they haven't taken the trouble to get an English major to edit their work. Mark's favorite so far was one he wants to put over the door on his office. It was at the top of the tram/gondola that took us up to the great wall and said "Location of Office of Importance." I've taken pictures of some of the "English" texts that were either important or amusing or both.

Our breakfast is provided with our room rate and consists of a large buffet with offerings both familiar and extraordinarily strange, apparently catering to many international cultures. Hot soups, lunch meats, things I can't describe as well as omeletes and sausage and fruit. Lichee fruit is really nice and people eat a lot of watermelon here.

Today at the entrance to the Forbidden City, we bought bottles of drink - grape juice and water - where they also offered huge roasted sweet potatoes (actually red yams) that I was tempted to buy (only 3 Yuan or about 42 cents) but didn't need to eat and didn't have a way to carry it.

There is much under construction here - getting ready for the Olympics with new freeways (like Salt Lake City, as I remember) and overpasses and buildings of all kinds. Even without the Olympics I think there would continue to be much growth due to othe vibrant Chinese economy. But new freesay roadsigns are in Chinese and English. One stops at a toll gate at the entrance and exits to the freeway. There are policemen and military officers and security guards everywhere. The society is very used to being highly controlled and the people are trained to be very obedient. Just looking around, one would not think this is a communist country since capitalism is certainly the rule here. But the economy is in fact centrally planned and when you have more contact with people and systems, the communist system of controlling everything becomes more evident. We had to give out passports and visas to at the desk of the hotel. Foreigners are definitely watched and tracked though not nearly as bad as my experience traveling into East Berlin in 1968 when "The Wall" was still in place.

This is all l can manage tonight. We go pretty hard sun up to bedtime.

love,

Dad

Dear Family,

Here are some pictures from Hong Kong. I have had email difficulties (I learned that Hong Kong government blocked outgoing emails from "socket 25" due to spam problems and got it resolved with tech help from the USA) until today when all is resolved. Also, there has been so little time I haven't found the space to upload this to my blog with photos (took me so long last time to do that) - so I'm just dumping a bunch of photos on you again.

The photos have titles to explain a little about what is going on.

Hong Kong is a place with 1/4 the land of Sonoma County and 17 times the population. Some photos will give the scale of density in the way people live in high rise apartments - old and newer.

The Johnson's "home" is an upscale apartment on the 30th floor of an apartment building that overlooks the ocean on the south side of Hong Kong Island. We ride a bus to town that would give my mother a heart attack. The branches of trees scrape and slap the sides and top of the bus. It's a double decker and we ride on the top. Going in to town the first time Elaine sat us up top on the left and at the front. Only inches, and I mean INCHES, from the outside window is a short wall and the sheer drop-off to the ocean hundreds of feet below. There is often not enough room for two buses but the drivers try to set speed records anyway. It's crazy. The crowds downtown at rush hour are something to behold. Perhaps Japan is worse.


The first day here, Elaine took us walking to the nearest town where we shopped and gawked; then on a bus to downtown Hong Kong where she proceeded to try to kill me by walking all over town - almost 7miles of up and down and my feet didn't like it. The next day, Kaaren and I braved the place on our own - took a tour ferry around the bay between Hong Kong and Kowloon, then did some shopping and arranged for a tailor made suit for me.

The church and temple are built vertically in a land sparse environment. Some pictures of the exteriors are enclosed.
We visited the temple yesterday and I served as a witness to baptisms happening in Mongolian for a group of Mongolian Elders and Sisters just leaving on their missions - back to Mongolia. They looked just like the Chinese to me, but they could only communicate with the help of a Mongolian missionary returned recently from his mission in Western US. The temple president - native Hong Kong Chinese - was very busy trying to keep things organized but it was difficult and I appreciated the frustration of trying to administer the ordinances of the temple in a multi-cultural environment. It reminded me of the time Immo Luschin, my German friend, told me that when he became the Temple president of the Swiss Temple, the Fins and Swedes wept when they heard their ordinances performed in their own language for the first time (he was fluent in 9 languages).

The open markets in the side streets are very colorful and the stuff for sale boggles the mind. With more time, I'll describe some of the variety of produce and meat and fish and all those parts of animals that we would not like to consider are sold here. Note the picture advertising chicken foot soup, a favorite. We stopped for lunch at a place where they couldn't explain what we were going to be served so I thought - that's good, lets eat here. A photo of Kaaren's lunch is attached. We bought some fabulous jewelry and things for gifts (oops, forget that part) at the famous "Jade Market" in Kowloon.

There is great economic disparity in this town. There is a massive work force that lives very modestly, but Hong Kong is a center of trading and where money is made, that money can make more money and so there is vast wealth all around us. There are almost no small cars, and in the parking garages in this complex and others like it there are new Mercedes, BMWs and Audis. Toyota is less common. I have seen no Chinese cars and almost no birds to speak of. A few wild dogs live in the hills near us and they come into town to forage in the garbage.

Hong Kong money is "dollars" but there are about 8 Hong Kong dollars for every American dollar.

I spent some time before we left listening to Chinese CDs and reading a teach-yourself Chinese book. But, alas, they were Mandarin whereas in Hong Kong only Cantonese is spoken and it's quite different.

We are leaving for Beijing in the morning and perhaps I will recognize some Mandarin there.

I don't know what my email connection will be like in Beijing. So this may be it for a while. The vonage phone I left info about is not working at the present time very well. And we will be away from that phone in their apartment for the next 4 days - so in emergency use the other cell phones I passed along earlier. I'm also taking Kaaren's phone to Beijing, just in case it is needed.

We have a full schedule planned for us in Beijing - a trip to the great wall, a trip to see famous acrobats, dinner together, a driver and translator for the entire 4 days, a visit to the LDS services in Beijing on Sunday, etc. etc.

Take care and let us know how things are going with you. Our prayers are with you and all your needs, including especially at this time Jared and his final push through chemo.

love,

Dad

Beijing and Hong Kong Thoughts

China was an eye opener. I hope you have been able to read my emails and visit the flickr site to see the photos I have uploaded. They tell much of the incredible story. It became apparent to me that caucasion peoples are in the minority of world population - something that we self-centered north americans don't usually contemplate. There is much wisdom and tradition and spirituality in China's very old culture and I enjoyed the exposure I got very much. Obviously, with limited language capability, I only touched the surface. Chinese is basically an ancient "cave-man language," as Mark Johnsen calls it - single syllable words stacked together with syntax roughly similar to ours - that has survived the millennia and enables one to look back, linguistically, to very early times in Asia. That is not to say that the language is not complex. Mandarin is spoken with 4 separate tones (even, up, down, scooping) to give entirely meaning to an otherwise similar vowel. Cantonese (South China and Hong Kong) is spoken with 9 separate tones and these tones are difficult for a western ear to differentiate. The written characters build on basic designs but there are said to be upwards of 400,000 separate characters though the average vocabulary would include "only" several thousand. My latin wasn't much help here.

The people are beautiful and children, dressed in their matching school uniforms are so very cute. The merchants are very aggressive and it is apparent that their ancient skills of trading and marketing are very much at their disposal, even under the rule of the communist party. It is a strange juxtaposition of collectivism in politics but with capitalism thriving and growing at the grass roots level. Western culture influences clothing styles and cars and comsumables. More than 1/2 of the store mannequins are caucasian. Everyone wears jeans and tries to look stylish. McDonalds and Pizza Hut and Starbucks were everywhere and very popular. One of the most popular brands of cars in Beijing is Buick, believe it or not. Apparently General Motors made a joint venture with Chinese auto manufacturers to produce millions of Buicks - full size ones, too. I noticed to my surprise that cars in Hong Kong and Beijing were not small and economical, like I had seen in Europe years ago, but rather were huge oversized Buicks and BMWs and Mercedes and SUVs I've never seen before.

Smog in Beijing was oppresive the last day we were there. I don't know how the 2008 Olympics can be held in Beijing if there is smog on the level we saw. Its very unhealthy.

But there are some cultural differences that struck me in the short time I was there: Families are more important to them than western cultures. One's surname or family name is always spoken first with given names secondary. Old people are respected and given first place at seats on benches and trams and subways. Wealth is not flounted but hidden - homes are surrounded by high walls with secure gates that to not reflect the higher standard of living inside the walls.

Chinese people eat differently - a massive population scours the seas and fields for food. There were virtually no birds in the sky, absolutly no ducks or geese in the rivers and lakes and food served included fish jaw soup, fish head soup, pig intestine soup, chicken foot soup, knuckle soup, and on and on. Diets include lots and lots of animal fat of various kinds. Which is a testament to the addage that "fat does not make you fat." It is carbs, not fat that puts on the weight. There are lots of shops that sell dried fish and dried seafood of all kinds, sea worms and critters that I've never seen, etc.

I liked the lack of supermarkets and instead enjoyed the street markets with so many things for sale placed out in open view.

Religion among the people is also very different. The Taoist temples are beautiful inside but quite simple, really, with offerings of fruit placed before a statute of a "saint"-like figure - I don't think Buddha in every case. The temple "organ" consists of one drum and one deep bell. While someone lights an incense burner and genuflects with hands pressed to gether, others mill around the room - even workmen with ladders and equipment continue their work. It is very casual.

Music is very primitive in this culture. Harmony in choral music in unheard of and most music consists of occassional supporting polyphonic sounds underlying a single melody line sung and played on lute-like instruments. High screeching female voices carry the melody in opera and stretch the patience of the western ear. Spare lines characterize both music and visual art. It is a beauty that requires patience foreign to the western mind to appreciate.

I could continue on and on with observations about the history I learned and such- but I've got to stop now and get to my "chores" for the day. I've written some about these things in my emails.

Let's keep in touch.

Dad

----- Original Message -----
From: "kyrstyn" <kschmixton@yahoo.com>
To: <tom@pixtonfamily.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 1:15 AM
Subject: Home again!
> Hi Papa!> I just sent this to Mom, and was going to write a little letter to> you too, but I realized it would sound basically the same. So I'll> just copy it here. Are you well? Do you feel changed by your first> experience of Asia? > Love you dad!!> -Yer lil' Prodigal daughter.> > > > "Hi Mamma!> Welcome back from China! I don't have much time at the moment but I> wanted to send you my love, and let you know how I am. I am well! > March Fourth tour was really hard for me, but now it's over and the> blissful lightness of being I've grown accustomed to has returned in> me. I spent halloween in San Fran with Gamelan friends making music,> and celebrating proliferating new loves and relationships that seem to> be sprouting up everywhere in my bay friends' lives, as well as mine. > I just started working up in north cali today and am settling in to> this for a while. My spirit is alive and stretching into awareness> more and more, and working here actually awakens me in many wonderful> ways, and brings me into intimacy with myself at a very deep level. > It's really good.> > What was the most inspiring event for you on your journey? What did> you feel that you'd never felt before? What did you learn?> > I love you Mama!> > -Kyrstyn">

Fall rains

Family of mine,

There have been so many activities lately - including visit from Clayton and Amy and their children, that I haven't written much for a while and you have been spared my drivel. Alas, you get some more tonight...

First of all, there are new photos of recent family activies posted on my flickr web site. They are in these categories: Grandchilden, Neighborhood Barbecue, and miscellaneous Family Gathering Sept-Oct 2007 photos. You can get to them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12596028@N00/

It appears that summer is over. With the coming of the Fall Equinox the weather turned here, leaves are turning and there are beautiful sights in the hills and gardens all around. Rain came in torrents today for a little while.

We are currently in the midst of an attempt to purchase a small house together with Bryce in Multnomah Village. I guess most of you know about this already. We have opened escrow and are hopeful of obtaining financing but it is not a done deal, there are significant obstacles and we have lots yet to do to work our way through this. Stand by.

I think my favorite Conference talk was Elder Hollands explanation of where we stand with the claim that we are not Christian. It was forceful, funny, and intellectually rigorous. I was glad to hear it. I have often thought how adolescent the claim is that Mormons are not Christian - borne, I suppose, partly out of jealously for our successful, growing church. I think for another Christian to accuse me of not being Christian, is much like a Democrat saying to a Republican that the Republican is not a true American. Why is this important to evangelicals who draw small circles around themselves, defining all those outside the circle as not in favor with God? What are they afraid of?

I also like Elder Eyring's talk this morning and the choir hymn with new words to the tune of "O home Beloved" introduced and closed by a solo tenor. What refreshing music they are doing! The phrasing and tone unification by the choir just stuns me.

Last week I went down to the church to check out the Portland Mormon Choir. They were rehearsing in the chapel of the Stake Center and at the other end of the building, the Stake play - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - was being rehearsed in the cultural hall. Unfortunately they were not able to close the folding partitions between the two because they were broken. It was an interesting thing. Anyway, I enjoyed the music so much that I stayed and auditioned and got my music and they want me to help as a section leader for the basses. There are about 120 singers in this choir and there is a very wonderful, devoted and unified feeling there. I'm looking forward to the next reheasal next Tuesday evening - after my birthday party here at home.

Yes, I'm going to be 61. Hard to believe.

We are preparing for our trip to Hong Kong to visit with Mark and Elaine Johnsen for the rest of October. We leave this Friday morning and return on October 30. We are packing and organizing already because on Thursday I have heavy meetings at the office until the end of the day, and I have been asked to come to the WLCC rehearsal to receive an appreciation award. Kaaren and I will go to that and have little time to pack the night before we leave, so we're starting early. And I noticed that our middle sized grey luggage is missing - did we let one of you take it home with you?

The sumac is now in deep red and yellow colors. A dove landed on a branch to eat the black berries this morning. It was beautiful. The beans are over. The sunflowers are done. We (Kaaren?) will pull up the tomatoes and hopefully plant a winter garden before we go.

Logan just turned 6 and he had a friends birthday party here at our house. They filled the living room and then moved like a horde of locusts to the family room and the garden and yard, running and playing. Lots of parents were here to help. There was a treasure hunt and cupcakes to make with way too much sugar stuff. They are nice children and Logan is well thought of by them and the parents, I hear.

You may have heard that Kaaren and I have been called as Ward Missionaries. Don't laugh. We are going to give this a good go, and I think we can be helpful, especially with those on the fringes of faith who may need a sympathetic ear and helpful experience.

Speaking of Mormon support groups, we will miss our annual trek to Seattle for the Sunstone NW symposium. It is the highlight of the year for us, but Hong Kong takes precedence. Note, however, that Skye is on the program three times - music and thoughts at different times, and so I imagine downloading an MP3 of her sessions ( and others, I'm sure) would be a good thing to do to participate in this great thing we love to do each year. I think the website is Sunstoneonline.com and recordings of the sessions will be on there sometime shortly after next weekend.

My work is going well. I am able to be helpful to lots of people and we are managing to pay the salaries and the bills at the office. I am grateful for the Lord's blessings in that regard. Properties problems have been rampant this fall, and expensive. We are working through those.

Elder Eyrings admonition to keep a journal of spiritual experiences, revelations to your family, and things you are grateful for and want your children and grandchildren to be able to read about was really timely advice. I know it is so hard to do this. I have fallen out of practice from earlier, less frenetic, years. But lets all give it a try. That is the philosphy I used when I wrote in my journals (seven written volumes and letters to family thereafter) and I hope you can read them someday. Janet has just finished typing the John Edward Pixton (my grandfather) missionary journal. It still needs proofing and editing but by Christmas time, I hope to have it ready for "publication." Janet jumped out of her seat many times to say "Listen to this!" and I know you will enjoy it.

love,

Dad

Sunday ruminations

September 9, 2007

Dear family,

Sunday Morning

It’s a Sunday morning at home with the trees waving in the wind, the sumac is turning into it’s stunning fall colors and Forrest’s truck is parked by the carport filled with the detritus of another busy summer at home: aluminum single-pane windows (replaced with modern, double-paned, hermetically sealed fancy-doodley soft gliders), a GE potscubber dishwasher (replaced with a stainless steel, fully magic Kitchen-Aid- a dishwasher like Skye’s -we have now reached the stage where we envy our kids stuff), plastic barrels with vegetable oil (Kyrstyn’s bio-diesel Suburban finally traded for a Honda Civic that gets 40 mpg on real-live gasoline), old tool boxes, discarded soaker hose and other usual unmentionable stuff. It is warm but it feels like Fall.

Kaaren’s Garden

Kaaren’s garden - the one she tends in the new garden boxes I built with Forrest and Bryce - is maturing and she is already clearing some space for a fall garden of peas and cooler growing things. It is a wonderful place to visit. I’ll include some photos of the garden on the Flickr site.

Festival of Faith

Today Kaaren and I are going to a Festival of Faith downtown where several organized and some fairly disorganized religions are represented. Pres. Childs of the Beaverton Stake is supportive of this effort and some of his wards have changed their meeting times to allow members to attend Buddism 101 and similar "classes" for Scientology, Baha'i, Hindu, Mormonism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity (including representatives from the Lutheran and Seventh-Day Adventist faiths). This should be interesting and helpful. I’m not sure anyone except us in our stake is aware of this.

Ward Barbecue

Yesterday we had a ward barbecue at Nielsens. It was nice to visit with those who came. Courtney’s boys played on the swings and flew kites. They are becoming pretty independent. Logan’s first soccer game was yesterday and he started kindergarten last week. The times they are a changin’.

Sun River and Crater Lake

Two weeks ago, we were at the Sun River cabin. Skye and Jared and Seville visited. Forrest and Kaarina visited via the Butterfly airplane and Bryce visited. Kaaren tried her hand at a painting and I did some writing and reading and fretting in withdrawal over my recent resignation as music director of the West Linn Community Chorus due to chronic acrimony on the Board of Directors about the direction of the chorus. It has been a huge part of my life and passion for six years and very hard to give up. But I need music in my life and I’m sure something good will fill the void.

During part of our vacation at Sun River, Kaaren and I drove up to Crater Lake - a national park we had not seen before. The photos are inadequate to convey the grandeur of the thing. The depth of the lake (almost 2000 feet deep) brings out deep hues of blue and turquoise in the water. While we were there - eating a lunch at the Lodge - a storm came through with massive amounts of hail and rain. Some photos almost capture the drama.

Rescuing Kyrstyn from Burning Man

After we returned from Sun River, I flew down to the Burning Man encampment in the desert north and east of Reno to pick up Kyrstyn. Though I expected to just wait outside the fence at the "airport" for Kyrstn, I quite unexpectely managed to get in to the "city" - Black Rock City, it’s called - and found Kyrstyn in the main pavilion where she performed with Trash Can Joe (Jason Wells and friends). She took me to her camp - called appropriately "The Dump" and I rode with her friends out to the middle of the Playa to watch the burning of the Temple.

A word or two of what I know about Burning Man so far. Some of you may not know much about this thing. It started a number of years ago with a bunch of "hippies" reveling around an 8' stick-man figure they burned on Baker Beach in San Francisco. It has grown and been relocated to the Black Rock desert in Nevada. This year there were 47,600 campers and to accomodate them a huge "city" is laid out in the desert in the shape of a clock face with streets running from 2 o’clock to 10 o’clock and then cross streets in concentric circles with names appropriate to the theme for that year. So a typical address to find your camp would be Aurora Borealis at 5:30 o-clock. People bring their artwork of all kinds to display. Some of it is literally incredible. Part of the art work on display is the people themselves and their outfits run the gamut. People take pictures of each other and professional photographers roam the city looking for subjects to enlarge their portfolio. It has a reputation for being a place where (almost) anything goes, but I found it to be relatively quiet and people were respectful and helpful and kind. It some ways the peaceful hippie utopia was the culture - except for the predictable but only occasional loud yahoos who forgot to leave their spurs at home. I came at the end of the week - after the burning of The Man - and everything and everyone seemed covered with the alkaline playa dust and many were packing up and leaving. The Forest Service has many rangers patroling through the city for help and law enforement, there are medical centers and places where one can buy ice. Otherwise, everyone is instructed they must bring everything they want in and haul everything out leaving no trace. There is no water available but the main pavilion sells coffee and lattes and lemonade.

I rode my bike around the playa in the heat of the day and when I felt heat exhaustion coming on, I returned to the pavilion where I waited a long time in line and bought two lemonades at $3 each because I only had two hands. Later that evening I rode with Kyrstyn’s group to witness the burning of the Temple - which earlier I had visited and found full of people mourning lost loved ones and bedecked with mementoes to those friends who had died. I took some pictures of the artwork on the playa and some people in the pavilion. I camped with the plane, well away from the throb of music coming from the city, and brought Kyrstyn and two friends home the next morning. It was a great flying adventure to get there and land in the middle of the desert, see some part of the Burning Man thing, and return home with Kyrstyn.

Courtney’s Birthday

While we were gone at Sun River, Courtney and Jason and children were at Aspen Grove in Utah for an Atack family reunion. When they returned on Monday, we had a surprise birthday party (Skye’s idea) for Courtney.

Kaaren’s new car

Kaaren bought a "new" car and I’m jealous - or covetous, I should say. It is a forest green 1998 Volvo Cross-Country with all wheel drive. It drives very nicely. She’s needed a better car and now we won’t get stuck here so much in the snow. I loaned the grey station wagon to Jason again and we will sell her 89 wagon. I just replaced the engine last month in my car and am still taking it in every few days with squawks to get it running right.

Photos

I’m going to attach a lot of pictures to this email, hoping that it will be easier for some of you to seem some of this. More are available (or will be shortly) on the flickr web site you can get to from the link on the family web site.

Love,

Dad