Redding memories

I left Redding in 1986 to go to college and returned throughout the years during holidays and summer vacations. The home I left on Keswick Dam Road was lived in for nearly 40 years until July 26, 2018, the evening the Carr Fire blew up and wiped out over 1,000 homes on the west side of town. It is nothing compared to the Camp Fire that is currently burning not 100 miles away and that has destroyed 10,000 homes/structures and counting.

There are so many memories I have of the house I came of age in, and returned to again and again bringing my children to play with childhood toys like the alphabet block ride-on truck, table hockey game, Sears Brix Blox, and Tinkertoys. The Fisher Price Little People items were a favorite - house, school, bus, airport, village sets with people, pets, furniture, cars, planes, helicopters all gone. I loved the village mail truck with plastic "letters" to deliver and the airport baggage truck trailing carts with luggage. My sister and I made up so many little dialogs to have with the dentist, teacher, and various other residents as we played. Play is not nearly the same in the digital age.

There were books lost that stung. My parents both loved to read, thus instilling my love of reading. Lost in the fire were hard-cover series of Cherry Ames mysteries and Bobbsey Twins adventures that my mom purchased with her hard-earned money in her younger years. I lament the loss of a much-read illustrated children's encyclopedia set that was a source of knowledge in those pre-internet days. I was a prolific reader and won a prize in 4th grade for reading just about everything in my grade school library. Ironically, it was a book - of stories for children. I wish I remembered the inscription.

My mom lost sentimental wearable items - bridesmaids dresses, tailored cheongsams from her first visit to Hong Kong in the 50s, classic baby blue Converse One Stars, and a few suits and dresses from when she first started working in NYC in the 60s among them. Then there were some of my dad's old suits, sport coats, and sweaters she had kept after he passed away. There were items I left behind in a dresser purchased when I was a baby - hand crocheted vests made by my paternal grandma, prom dresses, letterman's jacket, track team tees, and a tee with the first logo of the fledgling Chinese Students' Association of UC Santa Cruz. I met my husband playing intramural sports on the CSA teams.

Even household furnishings were dear - lost included that baby dresser and a nightstand, a set of two dressers, one for my sister and one for me; the items my parents bought to set up one of their early homes together after marrying in 1966 in, perhaps, my first home, an apartment in Stuyvesant Town, Manhattan, or the first my parents owned, 60 Jaffe Street, Staten Island. There was a mid-century starburst clock, hand-made afghan, and furniture built to last - the bedroom set of ebony hardwood including a headboard, dressers and mirror; the dining room, sofa, and side table sets, and the Lazy Boy recliner my dad so loved. There was formal china, silver and silverware, crystal, lead-crystal, and copper-bottom Revere Ware pots and pans received as wedding gifts, unbreakable 70s melamine dishes, Corelle dishes, and early microwave Corningware Grab It bowls and sandwich plates, stainless Oneida silverware, mixing bowls, and measuring cups, and the kitchen canisters holding coffee, tea, sugar and flour.

There was the sewing table with built-in Singer sewing machine, a four-spool serger, a 50s Smith-Corona manual typewriter and adding machine. Cherished were the irreplaceable photo albums and photos in frames, 8mm movie projector and reels documenting my parent's and our early family years, the small leather-wrapped transistor radio, VHS and audio cassettes and machines to play them, the record player and LPs dating from the 50s and 60s as well as those singles on 45s from the eighties, and our first video game console Magnavox Odyssey 2. The not so old items included the Wii I bought my mom so she could exercise using Wii Fit, desktop computers, laptop, and an iPad mini.

In the garage were a Redding built Lemurian Skyway bicycle and an older Schwinn, and lots of Sears Craftsman tools that my dad taught me how to use - building and fixing things, or tinkering around adjusting the carburetor or the timing belt on my first car, a "three-on-a-tree" Toyota Corona Deluxe.

There are undoubtedly more items not remembered as I write, but these are all earthly things... My mom says perhaps the loss is a blessing in disguise saving my sister and I the trouble of going through everything after her demise.

I'm thankful she's well, my mom; matching her birth signs characteristics of Virgo and Year of the Ox. She has set up in a senior independent living apartment for now, and enjoys outings and travel with friends - we'll see what the future holds.

Alex wearing some of my dad's old clothes

The dress on the left my mom wore for my month-old party, the other two were suits she purchased for work

 

With paternal grandparents at my month-old party

Paternal and maternal grandparents, and uncles and aunts on my dad's side 

Currently in limbo

October 17, 1989 - Dad's 50th birthday evening. Also the day I was at home in Santa Cruz, CA when the Loma Prieta Earthquake wreaked havoc in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rental apartment was all right, college friend and I drove away to Los Angeles for awhile until things settled down and we had to return to school.

1993 - Married my college beau, Paul, and celebrated on two continents, honeymooned in the Caribbean.

January 17, 1994 - Northridge Earthquake toppled heavy furniture away from my new in-laws' sleeping heads in the family home. Drove like mad from a Lake Tahoe ski trip cut short, thankfully none hurt, house undamaged.

The year daughter Maggie was born

The year son Alex was born

September 11, 2001 - My city of birth, New York, attacked. Glued to the TV, finally able to confirm relatives were safe.

March 2005 - Dad's cancer diagnosis

November-December 2006 - Dad was in remission, first time parents visit us in Hong Kong  where we had settled to raise a family. Amazingly able to find his ancestral home in southern China.

December 31, 2009 - Dad had relapsed and slipped away New Year's Eve. Thankful I was able to make it back to be with him, Mom and my sister.

December 19, 2011 - My beloved Poa Poa passed away a week shy of her 98th birthday. Almost every weekend growing up my cousins and I would get together to hang out and eat.

Summer 2015 - Back to back vacations with my side of the family - first time cruising, and Paul's - second time (for me) to visit Las Vegas

October 6, 2017 - Paul's dad lost battle with cancer

July 26, 2018 - The monstrosity that is the Carr Fire in its third day approaches west Redding in the early evening, shockingly jumps the Sacramento River, roars up the hill, and destroys the neighborhood around the home we moved from NYC to in 1978. 

I had been following the progress halfway around the world with a 15 hour time difference, worriedly texting my mother about a possible evacuation, thankfully learning she made her way to a friend's home on the east side to nervously wait unsleeping overnight, only to decide that getting out of town the next day was probably safer, hearing that she met friends and made it to their home in Chico, waiting until the evacuation orders were lifted and roads reopened, or for other news confirming the definite fate of our family's home of 40 years while the fire was slowly being conquered. The gut-wrenching experience is written about so well in this article. 

Update: Cal Fire published the structure status map and it showed the information we didn't want to see. Currently in limbo...

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First photos of the aftermath - that intake of breath, a feeling of nauseating hollowness in the pit of my stomach, heart thump-thumping away, silence ringing in my ears...

Yim Tin Tsai

I still have a “go see” list in Hong Kong, so when Lisa was in town Susan and family joined ours to see two places on the list. We went on jaunts up to the Ngong Ping Plateau in Ma On Shan to enjoy views over Sai Kung and we also hired a boat to Yim Tin Tsai. During her trip prior, Lisa and I walked up to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery above Shatin - I hadn’t been in more than ten years! One is more inclined to get out and about when there are visitors around rather than succumb to the usual daily routine.

Yim Tin Tsai was settled in the late 1800s when the Hakka Chan family came to Hong Kong and found a little (1 square km) island about 3km off the coast of Sai Kung. They evaporated seawater into salt, fished, and farmed. The name Yim Tin means salt field in Chinese, and the villagers became one of the first Catholic settlements in Hong Kong. St. Joseph’s Chapel was built on donated land, inaugurated and blessed in 1890. There was Cheng Bo School, est. 1846, as well. At its peak, more than 1000 lived on the island, but it became abandoned in the late 1990s by descendants looking for a better life. 

St Joseph’s Chapel and other buildings had been used for paint-ball wargames and were in a sad state before funds were raised to restore it. It won a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award of Merit in 2005 and is classified by the HK Antiquities Advisory Board as a Grade 2 Historic Building. The school is now a heritage/visitor center.

After St. Joesph’s founding Father was canonized by the Pope, there have been more visits by Catholic tourists. They walk the approximately 1.2km Path of Reconciliation around the island. There are two pavilions to rest and highest point is about 37 meters/120 feet above sea level. The view was mostly obscured by the vegetation, the same that is slowly devouring the old village houses.

In the 1990s, the salt field, known as pans, were put back to use after having been converted to fish ponds before the island was abandoned. Today the salt fields produce little, but the island has seen more visitors since a regular ferry service is now offered, and an experiential learning activity is offered. Most people just eat at the local restaurants to finish their walk and enjoy the atmosphere.

chapel on the hill

view of salt pans from the path

overgrown building

the old school now a heritage center

statue of  St. Joseph Freinademetz, first missionary to live and preach in HK, later canonised as a saint

statue and old chapel site with part of original walls

"The only language understood by people everywhere is the language of love."

info, story, map of former and current chapel and dwellings (click to enlarge)

ancestral home of Rev. Dominic Chan

on the Path of Reconciliation

view toward the golf course on Kau Sai Chau

walkway connecting Kau Sai Chau

pc Wai

pc Wai

drone shot by Wai

pc Wai

Here's a link to all the photos: Yim Tin Tsai outing
More on the Path of Reconciliation: Stations of the Path of Reconciliation

Genealogy

I wouldn't say genealogy is a hobby of mine, but my interest has grown over the years. My parents have gone to high school reunions, several of the annual gatherings of alumni from New York City Chinese School, and attended a conference on Chinese in/from the South (my mom is from Arkansas).

I blogged about the time we went for a visit to Tai Shan, my father's ancestral village and other places during my parent's visit in 2006. My dad's ancestral home was built in the diao lou watchtower style that was meant to keep a lookout for bandits. Click to see the rest of the photos

In 2012, the 1940 census data was released free online for a time and I was able to find my maternal grandparents listed along with my oldest aunt and mom. My younger aunt and uncle had not been born yet. 

In this close-up screen shot, it shows rent was $10.00 a month, my grandfather was 30 years old, and had completed 7th grade as his highest level of education. My grandmother was 27, and completed 6th grade. In another part of the form (in another photo I have) it was reported my grandfather was "at work for pay" and worked 72 hours that week. My grandmother "engaged in home housework." My grandfather owned a general store in Brickeys, Arkansas at the time selling various merchandise and foodstuff. 

My mom and family, circa 1945

When I was younger, my mom shared what she knew of her parents immigration to the U.S. via Seattle and stories about growing up in the store. She had only been once to her mother's village in the 1950s and we did not get a chance to go look for it in 2006 when we found my dad's ancestral village.

I recently found a website called Chinese Exclusion Files with a blog started by a volunteer at the National Archives in Seattle and requested a search for information on my maternal grandparents who arrived in the U.S. during the time of the Exclusion Act when it was difficult and time consuming to enter and leave the country due to background checks.

Files were found for both grandparents with more than 50 pages of various documents in each file. There were many pages of transcribed interview/interrogation, reports of investigations and requests from the authorities for confirmation of information.

It was neat to read through it all to glean an idea of their experience when immigrating to compile this information to write a family history to share with descendants of my grandfather. Following are a few screenshots from documents in the files. 

my grandfather from Certificate of ID issued on arrival in 1923

from re-entry permit issued 1930

notarized affidavit for grandma's visa application 1936

my grandmother and aunt on a document from the American Consulate HK granting a visa, 1936

The search for information for my dad's side of the family has been tougher because his grandparents are the ones that immigrated, and their last name, Lee, is an English name as well as Chinese.

Both his parents were both born on the east coast, father in Watertown, NY, and mother in Worcester, MA. As far as I know, they were sent back to China for schooling (from a port unknown) and returned to America to run a laundry business in New York City. I don't know if they married in China or in the U.S.

I did not find 1940 census data online since I didn't have an exact address in Brooklyn, where my dad was born and where they were living at the time. Perhaps I will be able to find it when the 1950 census is released in a few years. Until then, here's a few photos of my paternal grandparents, dad, and my aunt. 

circa 1935 shortly after marriage

1940s

my dad and oldest aunt, early 1940s

my dad, age 10, 1949