The Kiss

Good evening to all of you,

I know you are reading this because of the title. But you're just going to have to wait. I've got a few pictures you are going to have to look at before we get to the good stuff. 

First, a couple of sunset and sunrise pictures.

Sunset picture of the harbor from the promenade just down from our building. About 6 pm.

This is another picture of the harbor from the promenade but pointing the opposite direction. This is the sunrise at about 6:30 am. You can see three swimmers in the water. There are about 10-15 of these swimmers every morning. And they have all got to be in their late sixties and seventies.

Yesterday, your mom (grandma) and I went to Aberdeen a small fishing harbor on the ocean side of Hong Kong Island. We took a tour of the harbor with this guy, Thomas. It was a very peaceful, slow ride on his Sampan. It was a gorgeous day with lots of boats to see.

There were a lot of big beautiful yachts.

And tons of old, derelict fishing trawlers like this one.

And this one.

This an old floating restaurant. No longer used and in need of repair.

This is us at the end of the tour. Thomas took the picture for us.

This is a tiger boat  statue. They race these boats (the wooden versions) during the summer.

For our Thanksgiving meal, the senior couples all went to a local hotel that puts on this amazing  buffet.  It was delicious and a lot of fun. 

Christmas arrived with a bang the day after Thanksgiving. I took this picture at a local mall with all of its Christmas decorations already up. These are real dogs (someone's pets) posing for everyone who wanted to take their picture.

A birds-eye view of an escalator going down into the subway. Just saw this yesterday and thought I would share it with you.




And now the moment you've all been waiting for:

THE KISS!!

Last Friday morning Char and I were walking on the promenade when we ran into our friend, Elder Smith. We had been at the temple with the senior couples earlier in the week and they had noticed that I always give Char a kiss before we leave the Celestial room,  and by request, I had shared the back- story.*   He was so charmed by it all that he committed to starting the tradition with his wife. Well, we had been in the temple with him and his wife the prior evening and he observed me kissing Char before leaving. So, when he saw us on the promenade he exclaimed, "I want a picture of you kissing with the sunrise." So here you have it.

* So here is the back-story for those of you who haven't heard it: When Mom went to the temple for the first time the Saturday before we were married my Dad had told me that I should kiss Char every time I was in the Temple -- sounded like a great plan to me, so I have -- every time!  Char and I would go to the temple every Friday after we got married and we never forgot my Dad's advice. One Friday, early in our marriage, while in the Celestial room, I gave Char a kiss -- a very simple, chaste kiss, mind you -- nothing more;  then, just as we were getting up to leave, I received a tap on my shoulder. It was one of the silver-haired matrons who whispered sternly to us, "No spooning in the temple!" This instruction absolutely cemented our intent to kiss every time we were in the Celestial Room and I'm proud to say we've kept it up to this day!

If you don't already, we encourage all you couples to make this a part of your temple experience!