..and a new one of Cooper who is growing like crazy. Today he has discovered the fire hydrant. He is a happy puppy who is keeping his humans pretty busy! There are many dogs in the neighborhood that he is interested in meeting, all of them much larger than him.

Meet Cooper, Timothy’s new puppy! He is a Cocker Poodle, which is a mix of cocker-spaniel and small Poodle. He was born in South West Virginia near Virginia Tech. He joins Cashmere the cat who did not seem too thrilled at his arrival. For those with allergies, no worry, Cooper has short hair and we are told most folks won’t have a reaction to him. We are now house training him via the crate. And he is also training us! Right now he is less than four pounds, but we expect that he’ll grow up to be about 20 pounds.

Meanwhile, Cashmere was fixed and had her front claws removed. She is not a very happy cat right now!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update: We have blocked a set of rooms at the Key Bridge Marriott in Roslyn, Virginia for $99 per night. Here is the page to make a reservation. The Marriott is next to the Potomac river and a short walk to Georgetown, DC. It is also three blocks from the Metro.

We have created a page for Nicole’s Bat Mitzvah! It is located here. We will update it as we get more information.

Click here to view the embedded video.

…and I already broke the plug-in to display pictures on this blog! So it may take a little while for me to fix or, ugh, convert to a new photo album with links. Unfortunately, you will not be able to see our fantastic trip to Northern New Jersey where Nicole attended a friends Bat Mitzvah and I got to see our cousins in Old Greenwich, CT. Fun time watching Tae Kwon Do, bowling, and fighting Bowser! Click on the picture for more pictures with the Chan’s! 2011 had been a tough year with my Mother’s passing and my Father’s car accident. On top of that, catching up to work has been tough. Here’s to a great new year!

UPDATE: Memorial service to be held, Sunday 2 October, at 11:00 a.m. Click on Shirley’s picture on the left to go to her photo album. Shirley passed away peacefully this afternoon after a long illness. Born to William Wan and Po Kau Tse on September 28, 1929, she was raised in Nanking, China. She was the first of seven siblings, two brothers and four sisters. Her father William Wan was an educator, Dean of the Southern Commercial College in which she received part of her business education. Her father, with Hoi-Kit Leung also helped establish Yen-Do Bible College in Canton, China. This was supported by Dr. George from Harding College, Arkansas. It was here that she met her life-long partner Ted.

Prior to the Communist take-over of China in 1949, Ted and Shirley studied at Harding College, after which Shirley pursued her Master’s Degree in Business Eduction at the University of Oklahoma. With a bright future to continue her father’s education career, she chose instead to marry Ted. She took clerical jobs to help to support the family and help her husband through college.

Shirley enjoyed home life and raised sons Timothy and Victor. She received her teaching degree at the University of California, Berkeley. She began her lifelong passion in education by working as a home teacher in the Pittsburg School District and substitute teaching at Antioch Senior High School. Later she began teaching part time at Los Medanos Community College (LMC) before accepting a full time position in the business department. Upon the untimely death of her eldest son, Ted and Shirley established the Timothy S. Leung Memorial Scholarship, a merit based award for science and nursing students. She retired from LMC in May 2004, thankful for the rewarding career and friendship of her colleagues.

In retirement, Shirley spent many joyful years with Ted traveling the world. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Ted Leung, son Victor, daughter in-law Stephanie, and three wonderful grandchildren, Samantha, Nicole, and Timothy.

Services will be held at Higgins Mortuary, 1310 A Street, Antioch, CA 94509-2329 on Sunday, 2 October 2011 at 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to:

The Leung Family Memorial Scholarship
Care of Los Medanos College Foundation
2700 E. Leland Road
Pittsburg, CA 94565

The family wishes to extend thanks to many friends who gave their support through the past difficult year.

Bill passed away this morning in the company of family. More details on services and the funeral to follow in coming posts. This will most likely happen on Monday afternoon, the 26th of September at Deltona Memorial Gardens off of Saxon Street. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Nicole continues her journey to becoming a bat Mitzvah. Today she started making her Tallit which is a prayer shawl. The blessing she has chosen is called “Sh’ma”, which begins “Hear oh Israel!” The big day is June 30, 2012, at Temple B’nai Shalom, so mark your calendars. We are also having a small reception on that day.