Beautiful Bamboo Forest

This is one of many pagodas around town. You can go up into them if you pay an entrance fee, something that doesn't interest me. Bright flowers like these can be seen all over town. This city is not a backwater place, it is high class.

This is one of my favorite places in town to visit. You can rent a boat to take you around a small island park. It is quiet and relaxing...makes you think you are back in the old days of China.

It's Hot Here

I know, it's probably hot most places in the northern hemisphere (although my parents and my bro's family experienced snow in Montana in early June).

It has been hot but pleasant up until today. Now the humidity has arrived. I took Mimi walking at 7:30 a.m. and it was so unbearable I thought I couldn't breathe. (Oh dear, does this mean I have to get up earlier now to take her walking?) When I go out on my electric scooter, the speed creates wind to keep me cool, but walking is no fun. I have been in Bamboo Forest to visit in the summers before, and I know it will only get worse from here on out.

Lots of Moving

For those of you who know my family, my brother Curtis and his family just moved to Camp Wood, TX, and my brother James and his family will move to Tyler, TX, in roughly a month. I moved last September, so apparently we are a family on the move. Thankfully my parents are staying put...why would they move with James moving to the same town?!

FYI: Job change for Curtis...he's on staff of a you-know-what as a music guy. James has the same job as he has had, just being transferred.

Summer in Bamboo Forest

Here are some photos taken in Bamboo Forest. Note the first two are taken in a...uh...bamboo forest!

Bamboo Forest is a lovely place to live.  Though I live in the city, this natural beauty is also found within the city. (Sorry, but have you ever tried to type while a dog had your typing hands under attack?  I digress.)

If you look closely, this house is not really built along a street (that is not pavement at the bottom of the photo).  It is built along a canal.  It is like Venice, only different.  :-)

I was riding a boat along this canal when I took these pictures.  Boats, canals, bamboo, waterfalls, this place is a calm and endearing.  I hope "progress" doesn't ruin the charm of the place.

These four small size photos took 54:50 to upload.  That's why I don't post things more often.

Really?

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the incident at Tiananmen Square.  

I was watching CNN yesterday as they did a "piece" on Tiananmen Square.  As soon as they finished they said, "the coverage on Tiananmen Square that you just saw was blacked out [by the Chinese govt.] so that our viewers in China could not see it."  Really?  Where am I?  I could have sworn I was sitting in my living room in China, and I saw every bit of it.

They showed the same thing an hour later, along with the same accusing comment that it had been blacked out.  They showed it a third time.  I saw it every time...not blacked out.

Then, CNN reported that websites like Hotmail were blacked out in China in the lead up to the anniversary.  Really?  I ran to my computer, connected to my China internet server and loaded Hotmail, accessing my Hotmail account immediately, no problem at all.  

This morning I was watching BBC's report on Tiananmen Square.  The BBC reporter said that as he was speaking to us live, the government had blacked out BBC so it couldn't be seen in China.  Really?  How was it that I was in China listening to him tell me I couldn't see it?  Am I stupid?  Are they?  Are they lying because they think people outside of China won't know the difference?

I feel I can't trust anything I watch on the news.  Perhaps you shouldn't believe everything you hear about this country on your news either.

The Shower, Part 1

Last weekend, I held a bridal shower at my apartment for an American friend who is returning to America this summer to get hitched. When I was in America, I got a pastel pink tablecloth and some decorations, proof that I was trying to prepare ahead of time. But some things just don't fit in a suitcase. So, off to Shanghai I go, destination Ikea. (My friend Kathy says Ikea is the Swedish Wal-Mart.)

At Ikea I found a covered glass cake plate on a pedestal, a 3-tiered glass dessert platter, a large modern aluminum bowl for chips, and other odds and ends. I have no car, which means I have no car trunk, which means the goods had to be carried by hand, by me, through one of the largest cities in the world, in and out of train stations, by various taxis, to get back to my place. With only 8 days before the shower, I could not plan to go back another time to get the rest of what I wanted. I had one shot at getting it. So I got it.

It was a miserable experience. I had to soak my feet in a pail of water when I got home, the first time I ever remember doing that.

The Shower, Part 2

Several dozen American ladies were coming to my place for the very first time, and I knew they would form an opinion of me based on the cleanliness of my home. I did not want that opinion to be based on the usual looks of my home, which includes dog hair and dog toys (better known by the public at large as "shoes").

I called up my former housekeeper (she quit in March) out of retirement, and she rescued me by spending six hours here in the days prior to the shower.

While she cleaned, I started making shower food. Now, think about your own stress in preparing for a party, then imagine what it would be like if everything you made had to be made from scratch. I mean, if I make pigs-in-blankets, I have to make the biscuits from scratch using yeast. It is no easy feat.

The shower menu greatly changed with one day left to go. I had great ideas, but not a big enough refrigerator to accommodate those ideas. I had a co-host for the party, but she lived in another city several hours away, so using her refrigerator was obviously not an option.

The Shower, Part 3

A good time was had by all.

When it was over, I collapsed. Can someone please remind me not to have parties like this anymore?