Rock Paintings in Forest🌲🎨

Richard Florida, an American urban studies theorist, thinks that quality of place lies in ‘the combination of the built environment and the natural environment’, and creative people 'also want to have a hand in actively shaping their communities' quality of place' (Florida, 2014, p.281. The rise of the creative class). Do you agree with him? 

This week, I just found a little surprise of creative ideas in this small forest route.

It’s another round of UK’s lockdown to avoid the spreading of COVID-19. People are allowed to go out to purchase food, medicine and daily exercise. On my way to the supermarket, I like to duck into a green walking route to enjoy the flora and fauna around Campus East so that I can combine food shopping with exercise and relaxing, especially listening bird-singing. 

Since lockdown, there has been a nuanced difference in the lush, green and otherworldly windmill woods. 

Just like a welcoming hello, an unknown painter designed a treasure hunt with a series of stone paintings of wildlife and nice words, making this smallish forest route a bit colourful and exciting. 

 Let’s search local species: 

  

(...)

On the other side of the entry of the forest trail, the artist is expressing thank-you for key workers' contributions during COVID-19. I bet that the artist has a soft heart behind these beautiful masterpieces.

  

I had strolling fun here and in fact, art itself has its power of healing, connecting our body and soul, which is a good way of promoting health. With these touching moments brought by rock paintings, not only key workers but also the artist are caring for our life.

Now you can turn up the speaker and click to explore the forest route and immerse yourself into bird-singing.😎 Keep fighting!

🌲森林石中畫🎨

美國城市研究理論家Richard Florida認為，`環境品質' 即追求具創造力的生活的合適環境，是取決於建築環境與自然環境的結合, 而且有創造力的人也想積極型塑他們社區的地方品質（Florida，R.2014，p.281。 創意階層的崛起）. 你同意嗎? 

這週，我剛好就在這條小森林間步道上發現的一些創意的驚喜。

這是英國的又一輪封鎖，目的是避免COVID-19的擴散。這裡的人們被允許外出購買食物，藥品和日常運動。在去超市的路上，我總是選擇走進一條綠色的森林小路，這樣我就可以將購物，運動和放鬆身心結合在一起。

最有趣的是有機會發現當地的動植物，避開刺眼的陽光，欣賞鳥鳴。

這個鬱鬱蔥蔥，綠色和超凡脫俗的風車森林出現了由未知畫家創造的細微差別。藉著發起一次新的尋寶活動，這位藝術家用一系列野生生物的石頭畫作和一些不錯的詞使這條小小的森林路線變得色彩豐富又令人有點興奮。

來尋找10幾種生物吧:

在森林步道入口的另一側，藝術家對COVID-19期間重要工作者的貢獻表示感謝。我敢打賭，藝術家在這些美麗傑作的背後有著柔和的心。

我在森林裡漫步得很開心，實際上，藝術具有治癒的能力，可以連接我們的身體和靈魂，這是促進健康的好方法。 借助石頭畫帶來的這些感動時刻，不僅重要工作人員而且連畫家都是正在關懷我們的生活。

把喇叭聲音調高來聽一聽現場森林鳥鳴吧!

Food & Tea for Easter: Making Bubble Tea 🍹

Online Searching Easter Eggs Fun by Google: Search 'Easter' or 'Easter 2020' Google will show this banner in the top-right corner of the result page 

Last Friday has come to know as Good Friday (Holy Friday/Great Friday/Great and Holy Friday), and last Saturday was Holy Saturday (Black Saturday/Easter Eve). This Sunday—Easter—we are undergoing an at-home shelter holiday. For Christians, Easter Sunday as the day of Jesus Christ's resurrection needed some rituals to celebrate. For some, it is just another bank holiday to go out for fun. Amid lockdown, is 'staying at home' all the time still shockingly new and outlandish to you? 

Since we need to stay at home during the outbreak of Covid-19. I grab an apron to do some feel-good morning breakfast and afternoon tea. I have tried to make the original taste of Taiwanese Bubble Tea, and it was quite successful. If in ordinary days, I suppose have no time to experiment. Cooking and drinking are definitely two ways of healing mentally and physically 💝as long as you choose good ingredients for your own body.

Which one do you like? 

My Easter Breakfast with sunshine

Bubble tea, praised as a sweet treat that went global by BBC (Source: 04 Feb 2020, BBC), is also called pearl tea or boba tea. It has now become popular worldwide, and I found one authentic Taiwanese store selling this style product in West London--Dragon Cat Cafe outside Hammersmith Tube Station. 

There is also one store selling this tea in York City; however, I never bought one from there as I know the York one is not the real taste from Taiwan. Yes! Bubble milk tea is actually a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Tainan and Taichung city (south-central Taiwan) in the 1980s.

Its recipe combines milk, flavoured tea, and tapioca pearls, mixing up sugar together to drink through an extra-large straw and chewed.

Making a bubble milk tea properly is not difficult to arrange. We have really good, thick, and quality tea—Yorkshire tea, and fresh local milk, the only unmade stuff is the 'bubbles' as the chewing topping.

That is not that hard as well if you are able to get a pack of raw bubbles in any oriental supermarket. Just put these small balls into boiling water for 3 minutes, waiting for 2 minutes, and then move them into cold milk (iced water) afterward for 2 minutes. Done!

Taiwanese Bubble Milk Tea with Easter Tea Towel

CNN News: The rise of bubble tea, one of Taiwan'smost beloved beverages

這個復活節的療癒食物和茶

上星期五被稱為耶穌受難日（聖星期五/大星期五/大聖日），而上星期六是聖星期六（黑色星期六/復活節前夕）。這個星期天（復活節），我們正在家裡進行庇護假期。對於許多基督徒而言，復活節（耶穌基督復活的日子）需要一些儀式來慶祝。而對另外某些人來說，這只是另一個出遊的假期。在封鎖期間，對您而言「一直待在家裡」仍然令人震驚又陌生嗎？

既然於在Covid-19爆發期間我們需要待在家裡。我就穿起圍裙來做些早飯和下午茶。我嘗試作原味的台灣泡沬奶茶，並且非常成功。如果在平常的日子裡，我想應沒有時間做實驗了。只要您為自己的身體選擇合適的食材，做飯和喝酒絕對是療癒心理和身體的兩種方式。

泡沬奶茶被英國廣播公司（BBC）推崇為全球性甜品（來源：BBC 2020年2月4日），也被稱為珍珠奶茶或波霸奶茶。現在它已在世界流行，在倫敦有許多道地口味。約克市也有一家商店出售這種茶。但是，我從來沒有從那裡買過，因為我知道約克那家的不是從台灣來的真正口味。是的!珍珠奶茶實際上是1980年代在台南和台中市（台灣中南部）發明的一種用台灣茶的飲料。它的配方結合了牛奶，不同口味茶和木薯珍珠，和糖混合在一起，通過超大吸管飲用，然後咀嚼。

適當地製作泡沫奶茶並不難。 我們有非常好，濃厚和優質的茶-約克郡茶和新鮮的本地牛奶，唯一的未煮熟的東西是作為配料的“泡沫。但是如果您能夠在任何東方超市買到一包原料’泡沫’，那也沒有那麼困難。 只需將這些小球放入沸水中3分鐘，等待2分鐘，然後將其移入冷牛奶(最好是冰水)中2分鐘。 完成了！

Seed Planting at Home during Lockdown🌱

29 Mar 2020 - Daylight Saving Time started, which means that the British summer is approaching. It would be quite tempting to go outside for fresh air. Nevertheless, some are suffering from COVID-19, this battle of anti-virus is still going on, we should try to make a conscious effort to stay at home. Moreover, scientists have confirmed that a person can carry and transmit COVID-19 without showing symptoms; therefore, your move could be a risk to yourself and others.

Since 23 March, 'stay at home' policy has been practiced for a while. However, the number of people died from COVID-19 in the UK has reported 563, 569, 684, 708 in the last four days. Being a country that pays attention to personal freedom and human rights, the UK government doesn’t really practice a lockdown policy, we still enjoy the freedom to go out for exercise, purchasing essential food and medicine.

We have food, water, electric power, and internet service at home. It would be comfortable to enjoy some simple joys such as seed-planting at a jar, watch movies, and get on with some unfinished housework like self-painting windows are all good choices. Self-isolation is a significant moral behaviour right now —keep safe and healthy for you and others, avoid any burden on NHS workers. 

Earlier these days, I planted avocado seeds to create a ‘growing area’ as an indoor garden in my room. The original idea I chose avocado is just because the seed size is bigger than others, assuming that it should be easier to grow. Maybe I am wrong as this pear-shaped tropical fruit, although involving a single large seed, seems to be not suitable to grow in a colder temperature area.

However, it is a good experiment. I did follow some tips from seed-planting experts’ online instructions, cleaning—soaking for weeks, watering and changing freshwater for them every day. I tried to put one seed in a small jar, allowing the seeds to grow without interfering with one another, and when I saw one of the seeds split with the hope of sprouting, I quickly moved it to a bigger jar to sow the seed with holes at the bottom.

As a result, only one of seven seeds in the seed-planting project made it, the total rate of sprout is 14%. Interesting! I will try other kinds of seeds in the following week.

05, April, 2020

12, April, 2020

Time flies, this is the photo on 3 May 2020. 

2020年3月29日-夏令時開始，這意味著英國夏季來臨了。 到外面去呼吸新鮮空氣是很誘人的。 儘管如此，有些人正遭受著COVID-19之苦，這場抗病毒之戰仍在繼續，我們應該有良知地努力留在家裡。而且，科學家已經證實，一個人可以攜帶和傳播COVID-19而不會出現症狀。 因此，您的舉動可能會給您自己和他人帶來風險。

3月23日之後，實行“待在家裡”政策已有一段時間。 然而，在英國死於COVID-19的人數在最近四天內報告了563、569、684、708。 作為一個關注個人自由和人權的國家，英國政府並未真正實行封鎖政策，我們仍然享有外出運動，購買必需食品和藥品的自由。

我們在家有食物，水，電和網路服務可享受一些簡單的快樂，例如在罐子裡種種植種子，看電影，並繼續做一些未完成的家事, 如自己上漆窗戶，都是不錯的選擇。 自我隔離目前是一種重要的道德行為-為您和他人保持安全健康，避免對NHS員工造成任何負擔。

在這時候稍早時, 我種植鱷梨種子，在自己的房間裡創建了一個“種植區”，作為室內花園。我原本選擇鱷梨的想法只是因為種子大小要比其他種子大，所以認為應該更容易種植。也許我是錯的，因為這種梨形的熱帶水果雖然包含一個大種子，但似乎不適合在較冷的溫度範圍內種植。

無論如何，這是一個很好的實驗。我確實遵循了種子種植專家的網路說明中的一些技巧，進行清潔–浸泡數週，每天澆水和換新鮮水。我試圖將一顆種子放在一個小罐子裡，使種子能夠生長而不會互相干擾。當我看到一顆種子分裂而帶有希望發芽時，我迅速將其移到一個更大的,其底部有孔的罐子中。

結果，在種子種植項目中只有7粒種子中的1顆做到了，總發芽率為14％。 有趣！