Virtual Museums

Hand -made reproduction of paintings on canvas. This is a good way to learn about painters and their works
http://www.mystudios.com/artgallery/

Vieillir

Voici un poème écrit en français que j’ai trouvé très joli. Je voudrais partager avec tout le monde. Je me suis même permise de traduire en Anglais et en Vietnamien. Je n’y connais rien en syntaxe poétique, je traduis uniquement par “feelings“ (sensation?).

Poème original en français 

Je croyais que vieillir. . .

Je croyais que vieillir me rendrait bien maussade,
Craignant chaque saison, les années, le tapage,
Le grand vent et la pluie, l’esprit qui se dégrade,
Les cheveux clairsemés, les rides du visage. 

Et puis je m’apercois que vieillir n’a pas d’âge,
Qu’il ne faut point gémir, au contraire chanter
Et même, à petits pas, les jours ont l’avantage
D’être beaux et trop courts quand ils sont limités.

Je croyais que vieillir c’était le ciel tout gris,
Le printemps sans les fleurs, les lèvres sans sourire,
Les fleurs sans chansons, les arbres rabougris,
Un livre sans histoire, un crayon sans écrire.

Et puis je m’aperçois que vieillir rendre bien sage,
Que je vis chaque instant sans penser à demain,
Que je ne compte plus les années de mon âge,
Peu importe le temps, le crayon à la main.

Je croyais que vieillir transformerait mon âme,
Que je ne saurais plus comptempler les étoiles,
Que mon cœur endurci n’aurait plus cette flamme,
Qui transforme la vie lorsque le ciel se voile.

Et puis je m’aperçois que les plus belles roses
Fleurissent à l’automne et sous mes yeux ravis,
Je respire très fort ce doux parfum que j’ose
Garder pour embaumer l’automne de ma vie.

Marcelle Paponneau
(La voix de l’Hospitalite)

Version anglaise que j'ai traduite

  

I thought that old age…

I thought that old age would make me gloomy,
Fearing every season, the passing years and the noises,
The great winds and the rains, and the mind starting to fail,
The hair becoming sparse, the wrinkles on my face.


Then I found out that growing old is ageless,
That rather than moaning, I should be singing,
And even though in small steps, the days appear
More beautiful and even too short when they are limited.

I thought that old age is like a colorless sky,
Like the spring without flowers, the lips without a smile,
The flowers without a song, the trees without leaves,
A book without a story, and a pencil in hand without a single word!


And then I found that growing old means growing wiser,
That I can live every moment of my life without worrying about to-morrow,
That I do not need to count the years of my age.
Who cares about to-morrow, a pencil in hand ready to write !


I thought that old age would change my soul,
That I no longer know how to admire the stars,
And that my hardened heart no longer has that flame,
That enlightened my life when the sky became dull.


And then I found that the most beautiful roses
Bloom in the fall and under my delightful eyes.
I take a deep breath at that sweet smelling that I dare
To keep, in order to perfume the autumn of my life.

Version Vietnamienne que j'ai traduite

Tuổi già …


Tôi cứ ngở tuổi già là buồn tẻ,
Sợ ngày mùa, năm tháng quá trôi nhanh,
Sợ gió to, mưa lớn, loạn tâm thần,
Sợ đầu bạc, sợ làn nhăn trên nét mặt.


Nhưng chợt thấy tuổi già không bờ bến,
Không buồn phiền còn mang lại chút vui riêng,
Bước từ từ đến khoảng cuối đường đời,
Ngày tuy ngắn nhưng ngày càng tươi đẹp.


Tôi cứ ngở tuổi già… trời đen tối.
Xuân vắng hoa, nụ cười đả tắt đi.
Hoa không nhạc như cành cây không lá.
Sách không đề, cầm ngọn bút chẵng ra thơ.

Nhưng chợt thấy tuổi già… lòng lắng lại,
Sống ngày nay chẵng nghỉ đến ngày mai.
Tôi ngừng đếm những tuổi đầu chồng chất,
Mặc ngày trôi, tôi cầm bút họa thành thơ.


Tôi cứ ngở tuổi già… hồn tôi lạnh,
Quên trầm mình ngắm vủ trụ đầy sao.
Tim đã chai mất ngọn lửa nhiệt tình
Giúp tôi sống khi bầu trời u tối.


Nhưng chợt thấy những hoa hồng đẹp nhất
Nở vào thu, lòng tôi rất hân hoan.
Tôi hít mạnh những mùi hương thoáng nhẹ,
Mong thêm vài hương vị cuối đời tôi.

DMV practice tests

If you need to take a DMV written test, this is a site that you can use to practice your test. The Data base has 500 questions. Each test has 30 questions randomly selected from that Data base. The answers and explanations given for these tests are very clear. (Not all the states are listed : California and Texas are ok).

When you take a test, there will be questions that you cannot answer. At the end of each test, you will be given the bad answers. Copy them to your word document. Take the test 10 to 20 times and copy all the bad answers to your word document. Revise  your word document  before going to take the test at the DMV center, you will be sure to pass!

* Please click on the first picture to get to the test site or copy this link into your Browser "http://licenseroute.com/index.php" -

Have a good test!

A trip to Memory Lane

On September 5th 2010, we had a chance to take a long trip by car to Las Vegas-Zion-Bryce Canyon - Salt lake City - Jackson ville - Yellowstone with a group of friends, some from class 61- JJR61 others from class 62- Leadership Scholarship 62 .
Our first meeting point was Las Vegas -

In Las Vegas, even though we did not stay at the same hotel, we tried to get together whenever we could. The first day was a lot of fun because we haven’t seen one another for many years (some 40 years even), we had a hard time recognizing friends and classmates.I,myself, had a chance to see two former co-workers from IBM.I had a blank in my head at first then a click suddenly brought back all the memories of my time at IBM-Vietnam. It was both a great surprise and a real pleasure to see them again.

From left to right : co Tho & anh Vinh Dao, anh Long & Chi Kim My,chi Hoa, chi Oanh & anh Roger Nelet, anh Trach and my coat because I was busy taking the picture!All of us talked at the same time, trying to invoke souvenirs of the past and all the jokes that we pulled on our teachers and our friends. Names of absent friends have been invoked and each one tried to give to the others the information about friends that are still around.




Same persons as above with in addition anh chi Thien and chi Tri.
Trach and I arrived quite late on the first day because of all the driving and stopping along the way. Our friends went to see a show at the Wynn – Le Reve advertized as an Aquatics Master piece. It is an acrobatic show and presents some similarities with other shows in Las Vegas (“O” and “Mystere”).

We stayed at the Flamingo and Trach managed to have a memorable picture taken.



Sinful Trach in Sin City
The next day we strolled along the Strip waiting for our Canadian friends to come.



In the meantime, our leader decided that we tried the 24-hour buffet offered by the Harrah’s casino and its Satellites. I must confess that I have never had so much buffet eating in my life.





Breakfast at the Flamingo

Bryce - Another 3D modeling, rendering and animation program specializing in fractal landscapes

Bryce is another 3D software to create landscapes that I really like. Bryce is easier to learn than Vue. Here are some of the scenes that I made.

Sphere and Water

Brick Wall

Desert Lake

Mangrove

Weeping Willow

Material Coloring

Autumn Flowers

Fall Scene

Happy Lunar New Year - Cung Chúc Tân Xuân

Happy Holiday's Seasons

On Mother's day - May 10th 2009

my mother

This is the picture that my mother sent to me in 1972 when I was in France.

To-day, I went to a 5-hour show about the Vietnamese mothers. The show was performed by a Vietnamese group called the Friends with the participation of Tran Thu Ha a well-known figure among the Vietnamese artist singers. The orchestra was excellent and the show was good and rose a lot of emotions when evoking the Vietnamese mothers and their sacrifices for the children. I do not realize that in the Vietnamese literature, there are so many poems and songs about the Vietnamese mothers. Suddenly, I feel the urge of writing about my own mother and my family.

my father

3DS max - First encounter with the software

This is my first attempt with 3DS max. The two first assignments were a snowman and a puppet
And here is an ant!

Some pictures from vue

I am learning online a 3d software Vue Xtreme. This software allows you to create fantastic scenes if you are good. I am not that good yet but here are some of the scenes that I have created

Island in the sun


Meeting of the giants


Crossing the canal


Sea sight



Underwater scene


"Ocean life"



"Lonely pterosaur above foamy water"



"The haunted lake"