June 6th Sometimes I think of things and then forget to include them in the Blog post, I blame it on my busy, (or should I say lazy) life. It’s probably just the onset of old age. Anyway, last week a young girl sped past me on a bike and all I heard was “Waaaaaaaa! Tóufǎ gé dàlì (头发格大力). As best as I can tell she was shouting, “Waaaaaa! Hair strong!” referring to my hair. Most times when I go out it is tied back, on this occasion it was flying free.
Today being a Tuesday, again, Huan would be busy in the afternoon so I suggested we go lizard hunting this morning, I knew she would agree. Her first find was a beautiful flower.
Huan then spotted two snails that she thought were making babies. When we then spotted the municipal cleaners then taking snails off trees and adding them to the two we realised that this time she was mistaken. It was down to me to find the next snap, cows in the river, (from a strange angle), and the farmer sat above on the bridge parapet.
Further around the river Huan was successful, maybe too successful, in finding what she had set out for. She found not one, not two, not even three but six lizards today. Having seen quite a few good ones in recent weeks and with me unable to get good vantage points for today’s subjects I decided that they should all be included in one collage today.
As for the two birds that I was directed to, well they are too small to go into a collage!
Luck was with us and we arrived home just before the rain did. That meant that I couldn’t accompany Huan to her practice this afternoon either. Mind you, that suited me, I was on kitchen duty today and I had promised to cook fish.
As usual, the recipe had to be modified. I have no idea what I used instead of oregano, some kind of green leafed vegetable. For olives, they came from a jar and had filling. Mine also didn’t end up looking like the picture, partly due to being in the oven a little too long waiting for the guest of honour to return. However, I have to say it tasted really good.
June 7th Rain stopped play, all morning.
The weather cleared up enough after lunch for me to go out, alone. The good lady felt too tired and went for an afternoon nap instead. I thought I would have a look and see how the riverside farms were coping; most of them weren’t and had disappeared.
Anyone wanting to visit the little island today would have had to walk over the bridge, the lower way was impassable. The power of water can sometimes be amazing, and although this is not a ‘big’ river it takes the vegetation with it, and if you walked there, it would take you too!
There was an ulterior motive to my afternoon stroll today; my cheapo shoes were well overdue replacement. Consequently I wandered around all the shops trying to find some shoes big enough for my dainty little clodhopping feet. Those feet were wondering what had happened to the fitness app on the phone which was stuck at 360 metres, I had to do the famous ‘switch it off and on again’ to make it work. We had both received messages today telling us that ‘jamming’ would be in operation close to Gaokao test centres between 7th and 10th of this month, maybe that was the reason. I returned home, without new shoes, after what I think was eight kilometres of random wandering about in the town and along the riverside.
After dinner I coaxed Huan into having a walk, made sure she had some socks on, and the just happened to pop into the one shop that had been able to ‘fit my feet’ in the afternoon. By doing this I was able to convince Huan that she should have a new pair too, and that I would buy them for her. My new shoes on, and Huan’s in my hand, we headed happily for home, via the little island. Would you believe that I was made to photograph another lizard, in poor light, not really close enough, and with my phone to boot!
June 8th Last night SWMBO had a plan, the plan was that we would have a bus and walk this morning. When she was ready to go this morning the plan was changed, “Let’s go to Tai Ping Shui Ku” she said, the reservoir up the hill. Of course I agreed. Our first creature was just minutes away from the house; I had to crane over the wall to snap it.
Here we both are at the end of the hardest part, the initial ascent past the police station.
A little further on, Snow White’s domain was below us.
Huan of course was looking for lizards everywhere, she soon found these two.
It was soon my turn and I found some goats. It’s not obvious from this photo but I had only seen the baby in front of me, and not the mother under the safety barrier. Huan pointed her out.
The second baby let me get closer and even allowed me to check out its hair, very soft.
Just over the barrier, while I was ‘talking to the goat’, I spotted a butterfly.
Was this another ‘elusive butterfly’? If you know the song you’re definitely showing your age!
This wasn’t another butterfly, this was a prime predator.
Soon we were at the top where we found that there is no longer a car park if you drive up. It’s summer now so we were the only daft people out in the heat but during the cooler months a lot of people come up here. Many walk but some drive. Of course there is still no refreshment stand either. I tried a double selfie at the 7km mark; it didn’t work so well, instead I took a photo of the queen of the hill and a selfie of the slave.
Whilst we were up there Huan spotted a beautiful bird, I tried my hardest.
Going down is much easier than going up so I went on ahead of the boss, stopping every kilometre to allow her to catch up. On the way I became a goatherd.
Even travelling at speed(!) I was able to spot creatures at the side of the road. What this first one is though, I have no idea.
While Huan would call this a lizard, I believe it is more than likely a skink. Of course, if you want to be pedantic, they are from the same family, skinks are also lizards.
Back to insects for the next two, a green one and a red one. How about that for a description?
At the bottom of the hill we had some coconut juice, inside the coconut, from the fridge. Neither of us were too impressed.
What a walk, lots of things to see and record, and fourteen kilometres walked. The coconut juice had put me off lunch; I had cold water and went straight to bed. Huan had one boiled egg and a small cucumber and then followed me!
Chef Bob was at it again for dinner, chilli-con-carne a-la-Bob, lovely it was too. No recipes or photos though, this is from my head! After dinner I was called for more duties, this time I was to be the local hairdresser and cut the royal hair. What a busy day!
June 9th It was a solo walk day, Huan was off to play her hulusi. I walked her there and then set off to go down the main drag. Somewhere along the way, I spotted our favourite cat on a car again. This time though, there was no mouse, I have no idea who these adversaries are.
Next I found one of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen, probably fifteen centimetres across. I tried balancing my glasses on the bush to get a comparison photo but I knocked the poor creature down. It then couldn’t right itself so I had to lift it back into the bushes where it promptly fell even further inside. Maybe it was on its last legs.
At the end of the road I did a once around the traffic police and then returned back the same way.
On the way I found the first of today’s creatures, one with many legs, not toxic this time. Do you think they actually have one thousand legs?
The next subjects were birds, one just sitting and one that I appear to have caught in the act of pulling a worm out of the ground. I can’t enlarge it any more to be sure.
Just to keep Huan happy I popped along to see if my friendly lizard was still available.
This one was not expected at all, I turned to catch some birds in a tree and spotted this little chap, he actually seemed worried about the birds. The first photo was dark and too far away, I managed to zoom in for the second. Needless to say, Huan was mildly jealous of this one.
I finished off the day with another bird. I saw this one while I was waiting outside Yefeng for Her Ladyship. I couldn’t really get close enough but this is not bad.
That was my busy morning. We had planned an after dinner walk but since I had walked so far this morning, another ten kilometres, and since I had twisted my right foot, we cancelled.
June 10th “Saturday night I was downtown, working for the FBI”, well in another life maybe. Saturday morning, not night, I was down the market with my girl! PS She wasn’t wearing a black dress, but she was cool enough for me. (The proposed photo was censored by the director.)
Are there more lizards this year or is Huan just more attuned to finding them. Today she found one before we even left our apartment buildings.
At the market we see hundreds of ducks, chickens, geese and other poultry every week, usually in those little cages used just for market days. This was an unusual sight and we asked the trader why the ducks didn’t all try to escape. According to him these were clever ducks and didn’t fancy their chances running through the people.
This next photo is one that took my fancy but had no meaning for Huan at all. According to her this ‘instrument/tool/implement’ would be used for beating bedclothes and mats etc. Looking at the shape, I think it would be used by British bobbies for beating baddies! Only after we got home did it cross my mind that I should have bought one.
From the market Huan wanted to see if my regular tree climbing hide and seek buddy was there. I couldn’t find him o the trees anywhere but Huan found him, in the bushes.
My illustrious leader also wanted to see where I found the squirrel yesterday. In that she was out of luck but we did find a couple of romantic insects. I said to Huan afterwards that humans are quite mean. Imagine being in the throes of passion (a long time ago for me) and a whopping great camera lens appears through the bedroom ceiling!
Huan found one final insect before we headed home. I love how this one is all black but has a red head and some blue on its legs.
The rest of our day was lazy, a nap after lunch and then a salad dinner made from tinned fish. It was not a standard tin of tuna though; it was a tin of ‘braised emperor fish’ along with broad beans and mildly spicy. Mixed with salad and eaten with Xinjiang bread it was lovely.
June 11th Long distances were prohibited today, mostly because we read the weather forecast which said that it was going to rain from half past ten in the morning until six in the evening. Huan still managed to find creatures, the first one before we had even left our building.
It was my turn to catch the next one, another lizard in a bush, just across the little island.
Luck was with me and the butterfly was mine also, as was the dragonfly a little later on.
We both spotted the next one but Huan was not expecting me to go and take a photograph. As the little pup was doing such a good job of warning everyone around that we were there, or perhaps he was just calling to his friends down below, I thought he deserved a snap.
And our last for the day, one that we did take a photo of many years ago but it’s worth another one, with a question for you. Perhaps our Chinese readers will be able to tell us who this is. Is it孔子(Kǒngzǐ) (known to us as Confucius)? Could it be someone else? Whoever it is he is not looked after very well anymore, this is in the side car park of the Fodelai Hotel.
Did we beat the rain home? Yes, by hours rather than minutes. It didn’t start until late afternoon although it did carry on into the evening.
June 12th Nothing to report today. Shopping stopped morning walks and then rain stopped rest of the day walks. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow.
So with that damp squib of an ending we will once again wish you a good week, take care and we will no doubt see you again soon!
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