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About hafong

Hello! My name is (Leung) Hafong alias Lily Leung. You always say the last name first….that is the Chinese way. That is my partner lurking behind me. Since this is my blog, I won’t mention his name. But this is a rather cool picture. You see me and yet you don’t…sort of the way I feel about myself most of my life. So this blog is a self-exploration, an archeology dig of some sort. My tools…..words of a thousand or so at a sitting. I will try for that.

WORDS, WONDER AND AWE

IMG_2871It’s another hot day.  For now I can still sit here on the deck.  I am trying to tap out a few letters, words, a thought or two.  They do not come easy, but I try anyways.  That is how it is.  Life is hard.  I have never expected it to be anything else.  So you put one foot in front of the other and take a step.  You do that over and over.  You end up with a journey that is your life. I am doing likewise with my writing – one tap, another tap, and so on.

Meanwhile inside the house, my Roomba is whirling around the dining room and the kitchen, cleaning the floor – making life a little easier for me.  I accept help wherever I can.  It is called wisdom.  It’s taken me IMG_0515this long for me to accept that I do not have to do everything myself.  I am not Wonder Woman but a woman in wonder awe – of what life, the world and I can be.  There is magic and wonder in the trying, the struggle of each step and tap.  The tap of the keyboard is grounding.  I see with more clarity with each letter, word and thought that come.  I am doing an archeologic dig of that it means to be alive.

The heat is rising.  Our forests are still burning.  It is difficult to believe that everything is as it should be.  It is hard to be at ease and not to be with fears when so much is wrong in the world.  But it is what is before me today.  I accept what is.  I cannot change it.  Instead, I focus on what makes me feel good – the open spaces, the roses along the roads, campfires, the dog and the man.  I can choose where my mind goes.

The sun has disappeared.  The sky is grey.  The world feels eery and ominous but it is cooler.  Rain would be very welcomed but the air feels dry and empty. The forecast is for a dry, dry summer.  The forest fires will burn till winter.  The hope is for them to be controlled.  Hope is where I choose to reside.  It is where everything is possible.

I inhale and exhale, releasing stress and taking in chi.  I take comfort from Sheba at my feet and the petunias nodding in the breeze.

 

 

 

THE CANYON OF MY MIND

IMG_2548It’s been such a long while since I’ve flexed these fingers over the keyboard.  The movements have become awkward and unfamiliar.  It’s like losing touch with one’s close friends.  After awhile you find you have nothing to say to each other.   You look at each other and wonder how it happened – this strange awkwardness.  And so, I am sitting down with my old friend.

Can we get re-acquainted?  Can I get the Midas touch and let the letters and words flow from my fingertips again?  I hope so.  It’s been lonely without words and pictures and stories they tell.  There’s no reverberation.  I only hear the sound of one hand clapping.  It echoes in the canyon of my mind.  You can hear a pin drop in its grey emptiness.

I rouse myself from the lassitude that I have fallen in.  How I got here, I do not know.  But it has lasted long enough.  Time to get up, get dress and show up.  Time for the words to march across the page to tell the stories.  Time to show a little colour and life.  There’s a person living on Preston Avenue.  See how her vegetables and flowers overflow their beds and pots?  See the brilliance of the greens, pinks, blues and purples?  Then there is the orange of the lilies, blooming in defiance of the drought.  We are having a very dry summer.  Forest fires are raging up north and the military have stepped in to help.

The morning is beautiful.  The smoke has cleared and the sun is coming through.  Won’t you step around to the back and see what I have growing there?  There’s peas in the pod, grapes on the vine, the scarlet runners climbing the tower, green tomatoes and little cucumbers.  The broccoli is flowering and cabbages forming under cover.  The petunias are nodding their approval from above.

Oh, there’s the Bing Cherry bush, too.  It’s covered with fruit.  Sheba has discovered she likes sleeping outdoors and made her bed beneath it.  I wonder what else she has discovered as she sleeps with nature in the night.  Maybe if I can quiet my mind and open my heart, they will come to me.

IMG_2839

 

LET THERE BE LIGHT

It is not quite Friday but close enough for Friday Fictioneers.  We’re headed by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple.  We tell stories of 100 words or so –  inspired from a photo prompt.  Anyone can join in, if you’re so inclined.  Here’s my 100 words this week.

PHOTO PROMPT – © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

PHOTO PROMPT – © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

She was momentarily blinded by the light.  In that moment, a memory of another light flashed through her mind.

She was six years old again.  Her mother was shaking her.

“Wake up, May!  Wake up!”

She opened her eyes.  A naked lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, its light blinding.  May stared in awe and silence.  She did not utter any words or questions but did as she was told.

They took a taxi from the hotel to the station and boarded the train to Hong Kong.  She will always remember that day when she first saw electricity and her father.

THE SMALLEST THINGS

The smallest thing can make me so happy sometimes – like seeing the tiny orange blossoms of my Clivia peeping through the leaves, the deep red of my peonies and the rose in all of its pink glory.

Then there’s the rain today, so soft and gentle.  We have waited long for it this year.  I’m quenching my thirst and nourishing my body along with the earth.

We ‘walked my grandparents’ mountain’ today, not pouring our usual libation and offering of food.  We still honoured them with our bows and flowers.  Sometimes you have to be flexible with the rituals because of life’s circumstances.  The important things are not etched in stone.  They reside in your heart.

We could not all be there today either but it is not the biggest deal.  It is how life is.

 

 

THE WAY OF LIFE

Here I am, on a warm dry June afternoon, still mostly wordless in June.  It is what it is. It’s the way of life.  There is no way or point fighting it.  I am sure when they are ready and I have something to say, the words will pour forth.  They will trip from the keyboard and march across the page like uniformed soldiers on duty.  Till then, I might as well relax into the summer, read, and tend to my garden.

IMG_7000Have you seen how awesome my garden is? I love the dappled light of the morning sun shining through the bamboo for the beans and to climb on.  The carrots are trying to poke through between the onions.  They are suppose to be perfect companion plants.  I love the gravel paths.  They also serve as water reservoirs when it rains.  I hope there’s space enough for the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and cabbage to spread in the middle bed.  I tend to plant things too close, hating to waste space.  Right along the fence seems the perfect place for a row of peas.  They have something to climb on.

The spinach, lettuce, radish and Italian dandelions found perfect homes beside the rhubarb.  And more peas along the other side of the fence.

The raspberries and grape vines are doing great for their second year.  There’s clusters of little green grapes already.

The flower are not to be outdone.  They are putting on a show of their own.

Words are not necessary today.

THE MONSTER MASH

It’s Friday and time for Friday Fictioneers.  We gathered every week to share our stories from a photo prompt of one hundred words or so.  You can join in the fun if you wish.  We are hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple.  Here is my story.

 PHOTO PROMPT © Douglas M. MacIlroy


PHOTO PROMPT © Douglas M. MacIlroy

She has been afraid forever – of everything.  A cloud passes overhead.  It’s as if someone has walked across her grave.  She shivers, clutching her hands to her heart.  She feels so cold.

She tries so hard to be brave.  It is so very hard.  She bites down on her lips, trying not to cry, trying not to feel sorry for herself.  A tear spills out of her right eye.  She chokes back a sob, taking a deep breath.

There are monsters everywhere.  She starts to sing and dance.  “Do the monster mash”. It’s the only way to keep them away.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME

I received this message from WordPress yesterday:

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com. You registered on WordPress.com 3 years ago!  Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging!

I wish I could keep up the blogging, never mind the good.  My words have vanished and I’m left scratching my head, wondering where they went.  There is no point in pushing and poking myself.  There’s no point in wishing and hoping.  That will only scare the words right out of sight.

IMG_2548So the only thing to do is stop wishing and hoping and sit here in front of my keyboard and tap out the letters.  First one, then two and so on until a word forms, then a sentence, a paragraph.  Sooner or later, probably later, I will have enough sentences and paragraphs for a post.

This is hard, damn hard!  It is like living but what am I going to do?  I’m never one for giving up so I trudge on…one step, two steps….Damn!  I’m on a journey.

I thank Dusty Springfield for her song, Wishin’ and Hopin’ for inspiring and pushing me forward with my few words today.  I hope you will enjoy it, too.

THE KISS

It’s not quite Friday, but close enough for Friday Fictioneers.  We are hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple.  We gathered every week to share fictions of 100 words according to a photo prompt.  You are welcomed to join in the fun.  Here’s my 100 words.

raindrops

PHOTO PROMPT – © Santoshwriter 

I remembered the last time he kissed me.  It was raining cats and dogs.  We were in a tight embrace, huddled under his big, black umbrella.  The kiss was long, sweet and wet as the raindrops falling around us.  I held onto him tight, trying forever, never letting go.

When will we see each other again? Will we ever see each other again?  What good are promises?  Oceans lay between us.  Continents separate us.  Years of history divide us.  Out of sight.  Out of mind.

So I held onto him, laid my face against his chest.  Teardrops kissed my cheek.

 

A DAY IN MAY

IMG_2655It’s a cool, grey morning in May.  No dancing sunlight nor shadows on the wall. It’s not my kind of day nor weather.  BUT I am learning to accept.  It is what is here.  It is what is.  I cannot change it.  What I can change is how I see and feel about it.  I do not have to hate and dread it.  It is just a grey cool day.  There is no need to pass judgement on it.  Let the day begin.

I’m having a little trouble finding the words these days.  They do not come readily to my fingertips.  I miss the rhythmic tap on the keyboard.  I miss seeing the letters and words march across the screen.  I miss the process of matching photos to the words and stories.  So now I’m sitting and trying to resuscitate and breathe a little life into these fingers.  No use in sitting and thinking.  Nothing happens unless I move a body part.  This much I know.

IMG_2650Funny how fast things can change and how easily you can lose your equilibrium.  And oh, how difficult it is to get it back!  The harder you try, the faster it slips away.  I am not discouraged.  I am just a little weary. How can I not be with a much spoiled dog trying to run me?  Yes, Sheba is still trying to rule the roost, whimpering through the night.  But we caught on to her tricks and how smart she can be.  She’s teaching me about boundaries and containment.  She is ousted from the bedroom at night.  There are rules and boundaries.  There are rewards for good behaviour.

On this 14th day in May, there is much to be grateful for.  The sun is coming out to lift the grey and warm the day.  Sheba is laying by my chair.  I am breathing out my words and feeling whole.  Everything is as it should be.

 

 

TODAY

It’s funny how ideas and other things come into your mind sometimes.  Out of nowhere, it seems.  How do they come, I wonder.  How are they transported and what are they made of?  Are they streams of energy or are they what is called will o’ the wisps?

And so it was the lyrics of a song from yesteryear popped into my head.  It was John Denver’s Today.  Back then I didn’t know he wrote it.  I thought it was an old traditional.  I have always loved the melody and lyrics.  I sang it in the tub last evening and I sang it when I woke up this morning.

They’re wonderful, beautiful words to live by – today.  It’s right here and now.  I can taste the strawberries and the wine.

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

I’ll be a dandy, and I’ll be a rover
You’ll know who I am by the songs that I sing
I’ll feast at your table, I’ll sleep in your clover
Who cares what the morrow shall bring

I can’t be contented with yesterday’s glory
I can’t live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I’ll laugh and I’ll cry and I’ll sing