More on turtles: grandfather gave 4th Uncle a turtle when he was a kid. He carved his own nickname "Kame" (turtle in Japanese) in to the turtle's shell. They drilled a hole thru the shell and laced a piece of twine around the animal's body, like a leash. One day there was a hurricane - chairs and tables blowing about the neighbor's chimney - the rains flooded the street in front of the house and swept the turtle away downstream.

We ran into my 4th Aunt on the street with her husband. They rode the bus in from Taichung which took them about an hour. She brought with her homemade green and red "turtles" - basically a giant mochi - the red stuffed with azuki bean and the green stuffed with veggies- the kind of foods that grandmother fed the kids growing up - lots of creative ways to make meals out of rice. Running into my 4th Aunt and uncle on the street like that had to be one of the most delightful moments in my life. As if we lived there and such a meeting should be so every day.