September 19th “Tuesday is shopping day.” I know, those are not the correct words of the song, in fact there is no shopping day in it at all, Tuesday is supposed to be ‘soup’. Because Huan had a lesson yesterday and no lesson today Tuesday became our shopping day this week. I suppose it made a change which is supposed to be as good as a rest.
I left Huan having a nap after lunch and headed out into the nice sunny weather wearing my sandals and even a hat. Photos were mostly to show Huan where I went starting with the town square. It was hot and bare.
My plan for this afternoon was mostly aimless wandering to try and reach ten kilometres, enjoying the sun and views around the town. The fish restaurant looked just fine.
Our little town has no shortage of small parks; this one is on the Rendishan road.
Luckily I located a lizard for Huan’s viewing delectation when I got home.
Shortly after I took that photo my luck, and the weather, changed. The rain came and attacked me; and everyone else of course. I took two photos to show the rain, my sandals against the pavement, and the view from where I was sheltering with a coffee. Normally when I create a collage, I allow a border between the pictures, this one worked better without.
I had prepared dinner before I went walkies so all I had to do when I got home was warm it up. Simple food was on the menu, here’s the recipe.
As always, modifications were
needed. Where we are there are no ‘real’ sausages so we used one pre-cooked
September 20th Let’s start the day with bugs galore! Huan had yet another day off; we don’t know when the test is coming up or the next lesson. She decided we should walk the Atuo Ling route, although we would have to avoid the off-road areas due to recent rain. Before we reached our little island I had already found these three wee beasties. Only the snail was easy to see with the naked eye, the other two needed the zoom lens.
Before too long we were off the main road and into the village and farm roads. Here you can see the stream that we crossed a month ago and where we made a gif of Huan’s photos. Today the stepping stones are too far apart, even for me.
And now let’s have some more beasties, winged ones this time.
We saw quite a lot of butterflies today although we were not very successful in capturing any decent photos of them. Huan probably did better with this shot.
Sometimes the Director goes berserk with the sheer amount of photos she takes, and sometimes we get a good gif out of the results. Today’s ‘me’ was not so good.
However, with the photos she took of the farmer making a bamboo raft, and some selective editing and resizing, I was able to make this one too.
Here’s another shot of me taking a shot.
I succeeded this time too.
I tried to ‘hold hands’ with this one but as I got my finger within a couple of centimetres it zoomed off into the undergrowth. Huan managed to find yet one more lizard for me before we arrived back in town.
That concludes our presentation for today, we walked enough kilometres and took (more than) enough pictures. All that was left was to eat, sleep and generally relax!
September 21st Another walk with the queen this
morning and I had set the alarm so we could be out earlier. It didn’t work; we
didn’t get out until nine.
Onwards we went, along the not so nice road that needs a few repairs until we found the nicer road with splendid views ahead.
Now here’s one from Huan showing some crazy photographer in action and then his subject.
You know that we sometimes like to share public signposts with you, well here’s one we saw today. Notice the English and then the trickle of water in the irrigation channel.
Shortly after that we started on a new track, one that we, (or I), thought should lead us up and then down a different way. We were heading for the bridge you can see in the second snap.
Eventually that track became impassable and we had to try another one.
Slightly worrying for us was that the track we were now on was not heading up the hill but down towards the valley. It ended just after a small pig farm.
That meant of course that we had to go back the way we came. Just before crossing the mountain dam we found a little grasshopper, I couldn’t get near enough so this is as large as it gets. If you are wondering why it is slightly high up in the frame, look in the bottom left hand corner.
Back down in the village we found another lizard, or should I say that Huan did.
I found the pork though! It was a plate of cooked belly pork, left out in the sun, presumably for preserving for a later date. I kept my fingers to myself and did not try a piece!
Babies are up next, lots of them, little frog babies swimming around everywhere, not in streams or irrigation channels, but in puddles at the side of the road.
I guess they were safe away from the voracious foraging beaks of the ducks in the fish pond!
It was after twelve thirty when we got home so no lunch for me, only cool, clear water. Both of us had one of those afternoon naps, they can get quite addictive you know. Duty chef was down to me again today and on the menu was shrimp fried rice with some mushrooms, yellow pepper, snow peas, onion, Chinese sweet sausage and a couple of eggs. It tasted fine but we can’t show you a photograph of it, it would never reach the standard required by “Uncle Roger”!
September 22nd And we’re off! Nope, nothing special, just another walk in the countryside, this time to a place that Huan has been but a long time ago. I almost got there when she was under instruction at the Changhao training ground. On the way Huan managed to find a frog, a very small frog. Enlarging my photo almost makes it look as though someone used camouflage paint on it; in Huan’s photo you can just about see it in the bottom left corner.
Huan had a rough idea of where we were going so she knew that we would turn right at this first turn-off but not that we would turn right again at the staggered crossroads.
As we progressed Huan did remember things from our previous visit, a few years ago. These two views upstream and downstream are a case in point. PS Just look at that lovely weather and guess who decided that he didn’t need a hat today!
Any lizards we saw today were far too quick for us, as were the birds. However, Huan did find a rather beautiful little dragonfly.
Around the time of these next two photos Huan’s memories clicked into place “Ah, up here is where you cut your leg and it wouldn’t stop bleeding”.
She was absolutely right; this was the end of the road. On our last visit together we had tried to find a way down to the river at the bottom of the hill. You couldn’t even see it today! Anyway, somewhere in the second photo is where I had an argument with a rather vicious thorn.
Let’s finish the day’s snaps with a nice photo of a des res. Wouldn’t you just love to live here? I could quite fancy it although insects and snakes would probably worry Huan too much. Having said that, I can cope with mosquitoes but probably not snakes!
We were in luck today, when we got back to the village the shop was open, and serving cool clear water, much needed by both of us. The rest of the day was lazy again, naps and movies. Oh it is such a difficult life when you are retired!
September 23rd This morning I was a little late rousing myself from my slumbers. In that weird zone between sleep and wakefulness I was happy. I knew I was dreaming, I knew that I should get myself out of bed but, I was enjoying being in the dream. Eventually, much to Huan’s relief, I gave in and decided to wake up.
Today being Saturday it was market day; a day that we were both looking forward to as it has been a while since we enjoyed a market meander together. First a moped for you, we have no idea what film, cartoon or comic this image comes from.
This week’s dose of Chinese medicine comes from one single stall. Obviously there is some medicine made from porcupines or maybe just its quills. The second photo shows a guy making Chinese Medicine. As you can plainly see, he has worked himself to the bone!
And finally here’s a nice picture of the view from the bridge on the way home, via one of Huan’s financial establishments. She has far more than me you know!
I sent Huan off for a nap after lunch while I prepared our weekend salad before I went out for a second walk. I told Huan it was to make up the kilometres, which was half true. The main reason was getting to my bank without her knowledge to take some cash out to put in her little red envelope for her upcoming birthday. Of course the additional kilometres were welcomed and I had hoped a few more photos would have been added to our daily record. Before leaving I had checked the weather and confidently set out knowing that I had two hours, more than long enough. Within thirty minutes the rain started and any photo opportunities disappeared. The rain then continued until long after I reached home. I did tell the Minister of Finance that the rain had saved us water, and hence money, by giving me a free shower. The Minister of Health then stepped in and ordered me into a hot shower! I do love having so many bosses.
September 24th Huan was up first, as she usually is, and thought that maybe we would not be able to walk this morning. This is what she saw.
Luckily she was wrong, the weather cleared, and we were on our way before nine. Today’s route was what we call the ‘Kindergarten Walk’, through the countryside after the road learning spot for drivers. In our car park we found another of those motor scooters, with the same name as before but not the same characters. The aim was the same though “Make money, And me, I am coming too, Wait for me!”
We both thought ‘
Pretty soon I think I will have to start carrying chicken food on our walks. We had all of these coming to the gate this morning to see what I had brought them.
A little further on, after passing through ZaBie village, we found something that we could have fed them with. However, it was much too far to walk back and I doubt that the farmer here would have been very pleased with us!
Look at these views; I’m sure you can understand why we love our walks in the countryside. With this one we even get a little ‘hill’ exercise.
There are the occasional hiccoughs though. Around here we would usually cross to the buildings to can see in the centre of the picture thus allowing us a bit more distance away from any real roads. Today, we would have disappeared up to our ankles in mud if we had tried!
Just when Huan had almost given up on finding any lizards she grabbed my arm and pointed into the undergrowth. There he was, an old gentleman we think.
At our water stop we were served by a young girl, she was babysitting her brother and sister. At a guess I would say she was about ten years old. Her photo will not be shared but I thought it newsworthy. She took my money, provided me with my change, all as expected. A few minutes later, as we sat refreshing ourselves, she was busy with a card reader helping an old guy put money into his bank account. All of this was done while wearing a nice big smile!
At the same stop, Huan had to take more snaps of the weaver. You have seen this lady so many times I thought a collage would be better today.
Walking back along the main road to find a bus stop we passed another one of our des res. It must be six or seven years since we last went in and had a look around, as you do, making plans on how to remodel. It is still empty!
If my memory has failed me, and I have shown you this before, then I humbly apologise. Being seventy three I’ll just blame it on old age. Now does the ‘hum’ refer the sounds issuing forth or to the aroma assailing your nostrils? Maybe I should try one…
September 25th It’s Monday, again but a different one to normal. We are still going shopping of course, but it is HM The Queen’s Birthday today so the first job was to send e-cards via WeChat and provide one 红包, Hóngbāo also known as a Red Envelope, usually full of money. At least it obviates the need of present search and selection!
The thought crossed my mind while shopping, and Huan’s too, who on earth would buy something this large. It is called 冬瓜, Dōngguā - Winter melon and you can learn more here: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_gourd PS It was heavy!
After shopping, whatever walking plans I had were dashed by the rain. In fact it rained all day until we went out for Huan’s birthday dinner. She chose the new hot pot restaurant at BaiJiaHui.
Huan took far too many photos, as usual. Here am I waiting for our food to arrive, which was not the fish which somehow also got into the frame.
This was ours before we got the pork and the mushrooms, with Huan demonstrating with a piece of lettuce, I think.
Here you can see some of the mushroom varieties.
Finally the pork, with some fiery seasoning and then Huan’s pudding.
Needless to say I ate far too much meat and enjoyed every last morsel of it too. I’m also pleased to say that Huan did an excellent job of scoffing her share as well, she hardly left anything. We will return there in the future, hopefully when it is a bit quieter.
We
had to take a short walk home to try and shrink our bellies a little bit, not
so sure it worked, at least not for me. The streets looked nice though, almost
as though they had been lit up just for Huan’s birthday. I managed to get a
couple of photos and a video.
Well, there you have it, as many YouTube influencers like to say. We’ll just say that’s all for this week, it is official; the young lady has aged by a year but is still a long way behind me. How does she do it? We need to bottle her secret. See you next time!
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