暖冬cool夏
这里一年四季温暖如春，没有酷暑没有严寒......
During the time she was home this winter, one day J asked about the old camera that I brought from China, which was mothballed and forgotten for decades. As I rummaged through the boxes in the garage and on the shelves searching for it, old memories flooded in.
It was a day in the spring of 1990s. A wobbly train uprooted me from Nanjing to Canton, a frontier city in the south that thronged with people hungry to strike rich overnight. On the day I arrived for my new job, the first thing I was shown to was a dormitory I was going to live in. It was on the west campus, a room on the first floor of an old red-brick building. What greeted me however, as I was led in by an office lady, was a dimly lit corridor. When the room was open, it was dark and dank inside, with a strong odor of staleness. In the middle of the room stood two tall bookshelves, dividing the room into two and blocking the light from the window. Next to the shelves were a stack of boxes and furniture covered with thick dust. Obviously the room was left uninhabited for a long time.
"These stuffs belong to a colleague whom you are going to share the room with”, said the office lady. It turned out that the colleague was married, and lived with her husband in the city. “The good thing is you basically have the room to yourself.” said the lady emphatically, as if to assuage my disappointment, as I turned my eyes to the other half. In contrast to the half-roomful furniture, my other half was empty. Except for the half walls and a half window, there’s no table, no chair, nothing. Straining through the half window on my side was a pitiful afternoon light shedding in between a big tree outside. Putting down my luggage, my husband, then the boyfriend, scrambled to the street for a bed for the night. Before the night fell, a twin-sized bed with iron frames and a piece of wooden plank were hurried in.
Seven months later, it was in this room, devoid of any furniture or a TV set that we got married. We huddled and squeezed on the small bed, reading, talking and dreaming. And it was until I was four or five months into pregnancy did I finally get a long-awaited single room, upstairs. The joy of moving in was ensued by a spending spree on new set of furniture, a TCL TV, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a window air-conditioner and anything affordable. A year or so later, when our baby started toddling, we amassed more of her stuff, a baby cart (more than 400 yuan) for instance, into the room. Then we had a phone, and a PC, which he installed parts by parts from his multiple trips to a popular tech street in the city. That alone cost us about 9,000 yuan. When life looked pretty much settled down, with him jumping ship to a privately owned computer company, the news came one day that he had an opportunity to work in the states.
He was gone for a year or so. Then my visa and J's were granted. Next, all the hard-earned stuffs in the room had to let go.
In the month that followed, added to the already hectic life of working and raising the baby was the task of depleting the room. I put up ads across the campus. Things were sold at a big discount, though they were like new. Small items were given away. The washing machine was shipped to my parents’ home, and the refrigerator to his parents’. My body was exhausted, and my heart ached to part with them, one by one. Among tears and anticipations, the day for departure duly came.
All our belongings were whittled down to only two or three big luggage. But one thing that was kept intact inside was a camera, a national brand manual camera that was bought around 1000 yuan upon our marriage. Along with it were boxes of pictures taken that witnessed our four-year-stay there, the growing up of my daughter, as well as the building we lived in that was later demolished and replaced by new high-rise apartments.
Many a time I took out the old photos, laminated by plastic for moisture protection, and showed to J, I accompanied the stories with an anecdote of how Mom having to ask her to raise a little finger for better focus. Those pictures are like time capsules, unfolding our memories without losing the colors. More than twenty years later, as I pass down this antique camera onto her hands, there is a hope within me that through the same lens, she can see what I didn’t see, capture what I didn’t capture, a newer and more colorful world beyond.
等着我的年糕米糕，东西卖相不好，但好吃:) 心城新春快乐！
祝虎年吉祥！
谢谢你来阅读我的文章。我十年前买的单反聚焦都出问题了，不过现在还在用就是了。等我女儿如果有比较好的手动相机拍的照片，我再来分享。
谢谢莆田，虎年吉祥安康!
当然欣赏你的美文同等重要～～。
旧海鸥相机拍出照片色彩真好（最后一片？），看上去并不亚于世界名牌。我十年前买的单反相机都早成姥爷级别了，买储存卡都受限了。相机更新换代很快很快。
等你的馅饼上来回来收藏。感谢！
除夕快乐，辞旧迎新；金虎送福，恭贺佳节！
春节吉祥，幸福安康！
还在想今年的年过的如此冷清，是网上的网友让这节日有了气氛，有了温暖，感谢师傅重新出山，带给大家欢乐，感谢师傅的惦记，送上徒儿心中的歌和祝福! 愿师傅虎年生龙活虎，快乐安康!
用老相机拍的海边景致，别有一番韵味，像是一幅名画呢！
给暖冬拜个早年，祝你阖家虎年快乐吉祥，幸福安康。期待着听到暖冬更多甜美动人的歌声！
另外，我是浙江人，只去过一趟西安:)
谢谢觉晓的推荐，你读的书很多，你这部我都不知道。我现在每天读的最多的就是杂志:)
感谢觉晓的真心诚意，新春快乐！
刚刚看见你贴新歌了，我这就去听。谢谢秋水的祝福，同祝愿你们全家新春快乐!
听到暖冬女儿说，“现在有那么一小部分人喜欢用手动相机..."，还真是的，我儿子喜欢摄影，也买了手动相机，买胶卷，年轻人复古了？：）看到暖冬的相机有了良好的归宿，也是一种欣慰吧：）
暖冬女儿小时候好可爱！看着她的小样儿是不是也很感慨，转眼间她们也是我们年轻时的模样了~~~
周末过来看看亲爱的暖冬，要过年了，给暖冬拜个早年！：）
我家老早也有一台海鸥相机，后来不知去了哪里了。。。
女儿买的是比较好的胶卷，在Amazon上买的，三十多块，具体多少我没问。但是去冲洗我们是一起去，刚开始网上看到的是说$5，后来才知道$5只是把底片冲出来，那样又看不了，所以要换成digital,还不包括冲洗出来，只是变成digital,要$14，其实她这个36张里面就五六张还行。不过就是玩玩，让她尽兴就好。谢谢遐西，新周快乐!
看来你们的相机保养得不错，你女儿有兴趣可以好好玩玩。
我带了一台Konica Minolta，来美后不久就买了傻瓜数码相机，胶片机难得再用，睡大觉了。再后来买了单反，就忘了胶片机。前几年发现镜头有些污点，拿去相机店维修。这里清洗极贵，干脆带回去给我弟让他处理。
没想到现在胶片和冲洗那么贵。
暖暖当年拍的相片真好，女儿也是那么可爱：）
确实有点可惜了，你没有带过来，不过好像隐约中你有其他中国宝贝:) 好好保存，传给女儿吧，其实传下去的就是一个念想。
孩子小时候总是可爱的，放这张照片之前问过女儿能不能放，她同意的，因为小时候的模样跟现在相差太大了，她不care，因为别人也认不出的。你女儿也很怀旧，我们的女儿有点类似!
谢谢小小每次都这么认真留言，预祝全家新春快乐!
我想每个小孩小时候都是很可爱的，女儿小时候比现在漂亮:)) 这种朝天辫子，我拍了很多张，估计那里天气热，扎了一段时间的，反正小孩子怎么扎都好看的。
谢谢你这么认真地读英文，这篇确实花了一点时间写的，最后一句也是昨天出门买菜开车回家的路上突然想起这样一句，自己也很喜欢这样的结尾。这是一般范文的写法，最后总要概括点新意出来:)) 虽然这篇中英文的观点完全不同:) 这就快过年了，也预祝mm新春快乐，健康平安!
Right, 9000RMB at the time was a lot. This could be the most expensive PC we bought, except for J's new laptop. He told me today that he was paid 5000RMB at the time being a programmer. Remember that was in Canton, where everything was booming, earlier than Beijing and Shanghai. And situated in that big environment, we were pushed to go with the tide. But when we started anew here in the states, we were not that lucky.:)) Sometimes I feel richer there than being here:)) Thanks again, my friend. Enjoy your new week!
也让我想起了我的海鸥相机，我买的是比较便宜的，好像几百块：））
买过120的，后来又买了135的。
我小时候也喜欢拍照，爸爸还给我做了一个暗箱，底片是到店里冲，到了晚上关在小黑屋里自己在家印：））可惜后来走南闯北的，这些东西都丢失了，当时觉得过时了，辗转搬家时就没有带，现在想来好后悔啊。
我女儿也是，带她回南京时，就喜欢翻我的一些老古董，然后带回来留念。
暖冬周末快乐！
that I didn't try to assemble a PC for myself. But then I paid $1000 for an HP
Pavilion once in America and had to sell it cheap a few years later. I know how
it felt :-)
Never an aesthete, I have no taste in the fine art of photo-production. But I can
empathize with your appreciation of things that last. The well-made camera could
become a family heirloom :-)
Enjoyed the detailed account of those early years and liked your word choices, e.g.,
mothballed, straining, etc. I think it'll be more readable with a bit more paragraphing.
唐西这张玉照是青葱岁月的记录，人年轻加上好的照片质量自然是上乘之作了。我们都到了怀旧的年龄了，感谢曾经拥有的美好时光! 感谢唐西的留言，预祝新春快乐!
是的，写这篇时，觉得当年自己还是挺能花钱的，9000块电脑来美以后都没有买过这么贵的，而且来美以后好像缩手缩脚的不敢花钱。当年的广州给人的气息是蒸蒸日上，大家都忙着赚钱。京妞二十不到就来了，一路读书工作成家一定比我们辛苦，但今天也比我们有成就的。我们出来的时候国内的条件跟今日比起来是翻天覆地的变化，中美的差距也越来越小。谢谢京妞的留言和共鸣，周日快乐!
现在潮流时髦古董，个性化，越古的东西就越有味道。
早年我也有过海鸥相机，一次委托在长江船上一个老农大叔给我来一张”玉”照。大叔说平生没有摸过照相机，照不好不要怪他。我说你就随便照，没关系，大叔就来狠的，按了好几张。时隔几天后，在武汉照片洗出来了，居然到了今天仍旧是人生中最好的一张照片之一。
海鸥相机，不错，感谢上海阿拉们的精心制作。
喜欢暖冬学究气的英文和怀旧的海鸥古董相机，记得大家原来都玩这个，还自己洗相片。好喜欢这几张海边的片片，非常有情调。女儿好可爱啊，看到了暖冬美女的影子！：）
谢谢分享。“胶卷……，一卷36张”，大有穿越之感。也惊讶于还能买到胶卷 -- 什么牌子的呀？
好可爱的小姑娘。这张老照片的确清晰。
+1
胶卷相机看上去好亲切
英文的那段带着我们回到了二十多年前的往事，一个空空简陋的宿舍却被暖冬一家的快乐幸福填满了。留下了深刻的记忆。所以出国行李再重，暖冬都要把这相机带在身边啊！最后一句写得真好，一语双关啊！给暖冬点个赞！
胶巻片、別有一番風味。看慣了第2張的色彩、第１張似乎更有歳月感
The English part of the article is also interesting. 9K yuan computer and all gave away/sold furnitures/appliances... The memories vivid of my own time leaving homeland, except for being a girl not even reached her 20's, there were so many unknowns ahead - career, love, marriage and family. Thanks for the sharing.