In a densely populated city such as Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, it is a rare privilege to enjoy a country living.
Our friends in Taipei, "阿芝" and "阿忠", do. I called them the urban farmers, "大都會的農夫".
"阿芝" is a good friend of my wife’s from the high school and college decades ago. She and her husband "阿忠", after retirement, had their lives settled in a plain, old fashioned country farmhouse (85歲農舍古厝) in a hill on the outskirts of Taipei City.
In the fall of 2013, while we were in Taiwan, we had the honor of being invited to visit their house and vegetable gardens.
開荒南野際, 守拙歸園田.
They are happy down-to-earth "farmers", enjoying their works on their vegetable garden farm around their house.
They also have two lovely pets, "小虎" and "妹妺", accompanying them in and around the house.
They well live a relatively reclusive life.
Every so often, they would send us by e-mail photos of their seasonal harvest produces, as well as the garden flowers of the season throughout the year.
The other day, they even e-mailed us a video with the title "山上的風聲". It was the sound of the strong winter wind blowing through their beautiful flowering tree in their garden. I thought that the ancient Chinese scholar, "歐陽修", who once wrote the famous "秋聲賦", could have helped them write a "冬聲賦".
Our friends in Taipei, "阿芝" and "阿忠", have been enjoying their golden years, happy, lively and productive.
Yeh Tze
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