傑森’s One Photo A Day

Photo & Diary

  • Late Night at Kaohsiung Station

    Late Night at Kaohsiung Station

    After a long day of cleaning and preparing, I said goodbye to my Mom and checked into a hotel. My eldest sister and her son live in Taipei. They need a place to stay when they visit Mom during the Lunar New Year, so I volunteered and offered my room.

    It was almost 10 o’clock when I reached Kaohsiung Station. I captured this moment before I moved on and headed to the hotel. The station wasn’t busy. I was aware that lots of the people passing by were not locals. They were foreign workers from various countries. I thought to myself how much this city has changed..

  • Accidental Best Friends

    Accidental Best Friends

    Just something that caught my attention today. They were placed on the side of a garbage pickup truck. Which makes me wonder if they were rescued by the sanitation workers. What would the original owner feel if they met again?

  • A Bowl of Cellophane Noodle Soup

    A Bowl of Cellophane Noodle Soup

    After taking care of some long overdue paperwork for Mom’s health care, we went to a nearby, rather popular duck meat restaurant for late lunch. I ordered a bowl of cellophane noodle soup with duck meat for her. It turned out to be a huge oversight on my part..

    The duck meat was too tough for her to bite and chew. She ended up leaving most of the meat in the bowl, which was supposed to be the most enjoyable part. Since her teeth were not in good shape, it scared me watching my Mom trying to separate the meat from the bone with her mouth.

    The saddest part might be that I could see she actually would have liked the duck. She really tried to enjoy it but clearly it was way too difficult for her to eat. Only then I realized that I forgot to bring the set of plastic utensils I usually carry in my bag..

  • Recycled Messages

    Recycled Messages

    There’s an elderly woman who collects recyclables behind our building. Apparently she’s not in good health these days. She used those assumed recycled cardboard boxes, hand wrote these messages informing that she is ill and not collecting recyclables at the moment. She also begs people not to leave anything there anymore, as her existence there has always been somewhat controversial.

    I thought these seemingly scattered cardboard pieces were interesting. I was planning to recapture this scene at night. To my surprise everything was already gone.

  • Night has Fallen

    Night has Fallen

    This image was captured when I went out getting dinner while Long-Term Care personnel helped my Mom bathe at home.

    I’ve been at that spot several times in the past two, three weeks. Sometimes I just stared at a distance, not really looking at anything. My mind went blank for a brief moment, then reality came back as it always does..

  • Nangang HSR Station

    Nangang HSR Station

    We concluded another short trip with our Mom this morning. Like a tradition, each time I return to Taiwan I always take her to Taipei, mainly to visit our father’s resting place. I’ve been doing that since many years, even though she has never suggested that on her own.

    I never understood the relationship between my parents. Now with Mom’s Alzheimer’s, what she remembers or feels about my father has become more or less like a blur. If our father were somewhere watching, what would he want to say to his wife? To his kids?

  • Life is but a Game

    Life is but a Game

    It doesn’t mean that I don’t take it seriously, but I do think that life is but a game sometimes. We choose our battles, we make decisions, and we may or may not play it by the rules, which essentially is also decision making. At the end, we all face the consequences of our decisions.

    A long while ago when we were talking over a dinner party about the current situation of my Mother, one of our neighbors said something that stuck in my head ever since:

    “You made a choice.” she said as-a-matter-of-factly.

    Simple as that. I never thought about it that way, but she was spot on. Suddenly it cut me like a double edged sword and there’s no way to undo any unintended damages.

    It is no use to even ponder over all the what-ifs. I know there would always be this regret-like pain buried deep inside me for the rest of my life.

  • Mung Bean Pastry

    Mung Bean Pastry

    We took a train to the north today around noon time. I picked two of the pastries my sister has brought. One was Mung Bean Pastry and the other with curry flavored stuffing.

    “Which one would you like?” I asked my mom.

    “The one with mung beans then.” she answered without much hesitation.

    Watching her slowly and carefully biting into the relatively soft pastry, a wave of unknown sadness filled my heart.

    I wonder how much longer she’d be able to travel like this. Or rather, how much long she’d be able to travel at all..

  • Endless Repetitive Routines

    Endless Repetitive Routines

    I suppose it applies to most people that a large portion of our life seems like an endless repetition of the same routine.

    It’s been two weeks since I came back to my motherland. Every single day somewhat falls into a routine. Going out is now a chore since my mother can no longer walk more than a block or two. I don’t mind taking her out in a wheelchair. However it seems to me that sometimes she doesn’t even enjoy going out, which more or less dampens my spirit. Why do I even bother then?

    My mother has never been someone who’s capable of expressing her emotions. With her Alzheimer’s, it has become even more difficult to understand her behavior. Her forgetfulness can really drive me crazy, and I have to keep reminding myself of her illness, that she can’t help it..

    “Your mom appreciates everything you are doing for her even though she doesn’t say it.” my companion said to me the other day. I believe he is right. What he doesn’t know is that I feel guilty being here taking care of my mom while leaving him all by himself far, far away..

  • My Red Repurposed Bag

    My Red Repurposed Bag

    This red bag was a shopping bag from a bargain store in Kaohsiung that no longer exists.

    A few years ago I found it tucked away in a neglected storage cabinet. It was supposed to go into the garbage. On second thought, it’s a nice size bag, pretty sturdy, and the material would be perfect to contain stuff that needs to be recycled. Since then it has been used as this household’s recycling bag when I am back here at home.