We have moved to the new home for more than three weeks now, the house is still a mess, it will take a long time to get to the condition as I pleased! It’s a blessings that our children live in nearby and they have been helping us throughout the moving, hoping us to settle down as soon as possible!
I had my first class lessons at the new place on 11/10/2025. After home, I was able to make an another arrangement using leftover flowers that Hata Sensei prepared for us. (11/14/2025)
This is the third lesson; “Autumn Festival Celebrations” is my theme. The bittersweet, branches and pine I cut from my yard, fall color mum provided, I added two apples to complete this arrangement.
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| Final arrangement in the class (11/10/2025) |
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| Tried to arrange at home, no flowers yet |
I’m ready for my first new class on 11/10/2025. It’s with the Dutchess Putnam Westchester Sogetsu Group. Hata Sensei teaches here too. I am so happy and fortunate that I still have the opportunity to learn Ikebana under her guidance! Even though it needs one hour and twenty minutes to get to the library through Taconic parkway. Hata Sensei and I are so happy to meet again! We have 17 students today, most of them are new faces to me. The difference between DPW Sogetsu Group and Mainline Branch are the materials, they provide flowers for you (purchased from the group), not prepared by ourself. I think both have its own advantages! I cut my branches from my new home backyard, and used provided fall color mum which were just what I need.
The subjects are: 1). Variation No.1 Slanting Style Moribana; 2). Variation No.4 Upright Style Nageire; 3). Special Materials and Arrangements for Festive Occasions or Arrangements for Celebrations. The first two lessons are basic styles, Sensei would like us to practice repeatedly until we reach mastery the skills to perfection!
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| Lesson (1) Moribana (suiban) |
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| Lesson (2) Nageire (tall vase) |
Stunning morning at the pond near my Washington Crossing home. It’s my last glimpse on October 26, two days before we moved to our new house in Rhinebeck, NY., another beautiful, historic town. I will miss Bucks County, we spent our whole life there, bringing up children, from youth to old age, to the final stages of life!
A last lingering look, courtesy of my daughter:
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| Beautiful fall colors. (10/26/2025) |
October is the month full of anxiety and hope! It’s a preparation and moving month. I am feeling overwhelmed, have a lot of things on my mind during this busy moving process. It’s just too much to do. To temporarily relieve the stress, I made this “Simplified Arrangement”, one of the subjects in my old Mainline Branch October class lesson.
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| 10/24/2025 |
“Rhinebeck is a historic and charming town in New York’s Hudson Valley, known for its well- preserved architecture, cultural attractions, scenic beauty.” It is a popular destination for weekend trips or getaway from NYC and beyond!
Our “New Home” has been renovated since beginning of October, ready for occupancy anytime. We took a special trip to our new home before we officially move there. We found out that it is actually convenient by Amtrak train from Penn station to the Rhinebeck station (1hour and 40 minutes). Besides, the scenery along the way of banks of Hudson River is gorgeous and it’s starting changing beautiful fall colors! It’s a pleasant train ride, although the weather was not that great! (10/8/2025)
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| 7 flowers, the last two buds blooming in two day |
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| 9/15/2025 Cat. Hawaiian Passion “Carmela” |
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| Encyclia (Green Hornet) keep blooming, bud after bud, last a long time 9/13/2025 |
For September’s class lesson would be applying gold leaf to any kind of container: bamboo, cardboard tubes, ceramic … your choice. So, I was looking for my container collection, I eyed this dull, rounded black basket, I thought I could make it to look more attractive just applying gold leaf to the color black, it would pop the whole thing! Hata Sensei said that my design and arrangement were all good!
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| Rearranged at home, I think it’s better |
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| Do you like my gold leaf design on basket? |
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| back view |
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| Gold dust on philodendron |
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| Sensei made the wood structured container and showed us how to apply gold leaf on it (using any suitable kind of brushes) |
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| Apply gold leaf to my round basket container to be looked more unique and beautiful |
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| Hydrangeas, lily seed pods, dried wood |
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| And Philodendron |
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| Different angle |
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| Side view |
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| Back view |
My youngest brother who is a dentist, practicing in Kwansi our hometown. Occasionally he will voluntarily provide free dental treatment to the aboriginal communities in remote areas. Besides, his hobby is fencing; recently, he represented Taiwan in an international competition in Tokyo, Japan, and won silver medal in the senior group. I am so proud of him!
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| Ceramic vase, he loves to give me for Ikebana |
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| Other side of the vase |
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| Another gift bamboo tall vase |
I have not done Ikebana for the entire month of August, because I have still immersed myself in writing my “Taiwan Trip” blog while the memory is still fresh. But I would like to start doing Ikebana today, the materials are readily available! I make it effortlessly and named “Late Summer” arrangement. Using hydrangea, philodendron and painted mitsumata / basket (7/7/2025)
We have been home from our Taiwan trip for about three weeks now. Everything is back to normal. Up to this point I should focus on moving to our new house, that’s because my children would like us to live nearby, close to them and surrounded by grandchildren, it should do a lot of good for us physically and mentally, especially for my husband’s early stage dementia. I have been gradually accepting this moving idea for a year. I think it will be my final chapter of my life! (9/3/2025)
Below is my one last time to visit my brothers and see the house of my childhood during Taiwan Trip. Please google “ Shude Hospital, Guanxi - Historic clinic or Heritage building in Guanxi, Taiwan 関西樹德醫院”
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| My birth home. My father was a physician, he built this house in 1936. Western and Japanese touch construction. It’s a historic site and landmark building now. My brothers are still practicing medicine and dentistry here. |
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| Other side of the house |
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| My husband’s hometown elementary school |
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| School closed for summer vacation |
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| The stairs become learning places, English to Hakka |
