Where have I been? Not here obviously!
A lot to catch up with but I must write about today first. We went to mass, as we usually do on Sunday mornings, in the little church here in Tien Mu (the church is also called Tien Mu which translates as Mother of God). The church was very full, the 10am service is usually busy with mostly expat familys but today was even busyer, the reason turned out to be because it was Scouting Sunday and a lot of young boys in uniforms had taken over the first few pews together with their leaders. The boys were hosting the service which meant they did the readings (2) and the responsorial psalm as well as the Prayers of the Faithful. They also took the Gifts up to the priest as well as collected the offerings and served on the alter. Some voices were loud and strong others quite but firm, all very well rehearsed with no mistakes, something even the adult readers do not always manage! It was a very pleasant way to celebrate mass, the boys were very good in all they did with the odd proding from a friend when one forgot something making it seem like a real family affair. To me this is the purpose of going to mass, sharing the time with my “church family”. Thank you scouts I enjoyed your participation very much.

Saturday was the first day of the lantern Festival here in Taiwan and we went to see some of the fantastic array of lanterns in the evening. They are magnificent, the ones we saw were mostly made by local schools from Bamboo frames covered with fabric. I will include some pics here. I see Dave has already beaten me to it but here are some more.I will also include a picture of my lantern attempt which i learnt how to make in a course at the Centre. We used bamboo for the supports tied with string and i painted the picture with a Chinese brush and black ink. i copied it of course but was quite pleased with how it came out.

These are made from plastic embrodery canvas

These rats are

enjoying Sushi

Me and my lantern

Dave at Lantern Festival