September 26th We’re back, after less than 24 hours, how
about that. This morning was one of those “shall we or shall we not” mornings,
the weather was looking suspicious. As it turned out it was quite a pleasant
day for walking. We did get some attempts at rain but all they did was make me
feel pleasant. This was how
And the riverside looked good too. When it has rained a lot all the vegetation looks so lush and tropical, I really like to see it.
Our first electric moped of the week and we have nothing to translate for you. Did it have words once upon a time? Unfortunately, we have no idea.
Traipsing down the back road towards the sausage shop where we were in luck today. The proprietors had returned from their long absence.
Quite a few new little substations have been popping up around the town; they are burying power cables beneath the streets. This one amused me, the Chinese is fine, 有电危险, Yǒu diàn wéixiǎn which translates as “Caution: Electricity”. How they arrived at He Dangerous is anyone’s guess.
Finally we popped into a pool hall on the way home where I tried once again to educate them. They have a sign saying ‘Billiards Competition” but only have pool tables. Trying to explain the difference between pool, snooker and billiards was just impossible. I find it strange because there are Chinese players in the World Snooker rankings. Huan was bored and just took photos of me and a cat prone to furballs. PS He is not looking at the sausages in my left hand.
September 27th Morning, noon and night, rain stopped play!
September 28th No rain and two walks, one with the boss and one without, one wearing shoes and one wearing sandals. Why two walks? September is nearly over and I need to make sure I beat August’s total kilometre number of 324.05.
Although the forecast looked fine, we stuck to tried and tested paths, around the town and the river looking for Huan’s lizards. Our first photo three photos come before we even reached the river, here is the first pair. The first image is on both front doors of the car, the second image is on the rear passenger side. I hardly think the two images go together!
The next one comes from the ‘luggage box’ of a small moped: - 小心点, 别撞屁股啦, Xiǎoxīn diǎn, bié zhuàng pìgu la - Be careful! Stop bumping your butt! I love the translation.
Down on the corner, (Name that song and artist), approaching the river, we found the cows. Huan took the first one of me trying to get a good shot of the lovers in the second one. By the looks of them they had already had their fun in the river this morning.
It was actually a very good day for walking, not too hot as you can see here.
Quite a while later we found our first critter; a skink, but it rapidly disappeared into the foliage. Just as I was explaining to Huan I spotted another one just centimetres away from where the first one had vanished from. I hope we didn't disturb their morning gossip!
The next sighting was not a lizard, it had no legs! Yes, it was a snake, but as I gestured to Huan to stay back it slipped over the wall and did a runner; and yes, I did mean to say that! I estimate it was between 50 and 70 cm, brownish in colour but other than that I can’t tell you anything. Huan then had me worried by getting rather close to the wall to see if she could see where the snake had slithered off to. I had visions of it launching itself to bite her on the nose!
Not much further on Huan eventually managed to find a lizard, one of the tree climbing kind. This one was a little far away but I did my best.
Our last critter of the morning is the boss herself, looking pretty good at the end of a drain pipe.
After lunch it was my turn to wander off alone and see what I could find. The initial answer was very small insects that were difficult to photograph.
The egrets are coming back, I found one today. It was much too far away for a decent photograph but a snap had to be taken for the benefit of SWMBO. For the next few months I will be regularly tasked with trying to snap pictures of egrets!
Now we are back to signs. Do you think you can work this one out? Drinking too much, eating too much, going to the bathroom too much and losing weight. It seems it’s all to do with diabetes.
Finally, here’s another car door photograph. This one doesn’t need Google or Huan to help us; the English seems fairly straight forward and matches the initials above the Chinese. Of course “Earth Surface Repair” could mean anything from major environmental repairs to filling in potholes now and then. Feel free to clarify for us.
Did I manage to overtake last month’s total yet? Not quite, but we still have two days left. Even if it buckets down I should be able to manage a few more kilometres.
September 29th In order to get back early enough for lunch I used the dreaded phone alarm this morning. It worked. We were on our way by just after eight. Our first snap was right outside our building where a little friend likes to say hello, likes to be made a fuss of, but obviously does not like to be picked up. Just look at that face!
Our destination today was the ‘fourth road fish farm’, returning by bus. Here, in the first snap we are passing the old army barracks and then in the second, looking over where there used to be a path on the other side of the road.
Another day, another snake! At least Huan saw this one too. It was too far away for a decent photo but I did try. I made a video too which I will try and crop and upload later.
The next fishpond had a couple of ducks resting; they are sitting on a submerged branch.
Soon enough we were on our way uphill and into the countryside with
the ubiquitous
This next one is out of sequence so that you can see the name of the village. Zahe village itself is the subject of the second photograph.
Going through the village we passed the time of day with an old
Grandma who pointed out the next subject, with the words, 危险, 咬人, Wéixiǎn
Before too long we were at the fish farm which looked in an even worse state than the last time we visited which was February. Our des res still looked very sad and in need of some TLC.
Down in the area of the last scene we found some cows, at least they were unperturbed by the way everything was falling to pieces around them.
Often when we are out walking I will be chatting away to Huan, sometimes for minutes at a time, before I realise that she is not there. I do get some strange looks! It happened again today but thankfully there were no people around. Where was the lady in question? She had found a squirrel and thought I was too far ahead to shout at. I had to go through a lot of squirrel photos, cropping to less than 20% before I eventually got one just about good enough to share.
Our planned route was to take a diversion through the forest and in front of another old army place, hoping that we didn’t run into any leeches on the way.
Along the way I lost Huan again, this time to a grasshopper. I think she lines her subject up by looking at the phone and then looks back at the subject before taking the photograph. In this one the grasshopper was right at the top of the frame, there was no way I could centre it.
Before too long we were back on real roads, and then on a bus, (must use Huan’s bus pass before the end of the month) and finally home, in time for lunch. Enough kilometres were covered today; I have now overtaken last month’s total. Tomorrow will be an additional bonus.
PS Snake upload finished - https://youtu.be/DGY1_BNuqPQ
September 30th It’s the last day of the month, and it’s market day, will I be able to get a few extra kilometres in? At least we had the weather on our side. From this first photo I would hazard a guess that insects do not have the possibility of prostate cancer.
According to the stallholder, these flowers are a remedy for high blood pressure. The cynic in me disagrees, and Wikipedia says there is no proof. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)
From the market we went up to the other market to buy some precooked chicken for the weekend. On the way Huan wanted to look for our friendly lizard. I took these of the lovely ladies above the elephants while Huan went round the other way.
On the other side of the traffic island Huan managed to get me with the lizard by accident, twice.
From my vantage point I managed another two shots.
Unfortunately for us the rotisserie shop had no chickens left, we didn’t want duck again this weekend, and we had pork last weekend. “I know!” says I, “Let’s have quail eggs and cheese with the salad instead.” Huan thought that was a good idea so we headed off to the sausage shop where they usually have cooked quail eggs. Would you believe it, they were out too! My last idea was to check the freezer, I suspected we still had two days worth of pizza in there.
With that in mind we took a relaxing walk back along the riverside and through the market. This shot, to me anyway, looked quite magical. What say you?
Why don’t we finish the day, and the month, with another little insect? I have no idea what it is, but as it only has six legs it is not a spider. It does look like it is wearing sunglasses and sticking its tongue out though.
Arriving home we found that there was pizza in the freezer; that saved me from having to boil potatoes for a salad and Huan from having to make some flat bread.
Did I make my target? Well last month was 324.05km and this month was more so that is good enough for me. Here’s the summary.
October 1st Happy China National Day to one and all. How many of you know when
the
Before reaching the end of the track I found a dragonfly, one that was not so easy to see or to grab a snap of. At the same time, unbeknownst to me, Huan found a grasshopper, also not so easy to see or to grab a snap of. We both succeeded though.
Going downriver is quite a pleasant experience until we reach the end and have to go ‘upstairs’. It was easier today than it had been before I had my heart operation but we still had to take care as the steps were damp and slippery.
In fact the going was quite slippery wherever we went today except for when we were actually out in the sun. We went through the mansions on the hill instead of using the path through the woods behind; we thought it would be safer.
When we did find sunny bits we revelled in them.
We always need pictures of me taking pictures, don’t we? Well, the Artistic Director and Producer thinks so here we go again.
For me lizards often seem to be thinking while they are looking at you. I would just love to know what goes on in their minds. In this case, he is giving me a sideways look just before leaping off the edge of the leaf away from my outstretched hand.
Our route home took us through Luobote village, one of the places where shade was not available. Of course, vitamin ‘D’ is very good for you so I wasn’t worried at all, and we did both have our hats on today.
One of the reasons we were heading that way was so that Huan could see ‘her’ turkeys. There had been a lack of fowl along our route today, maybe they were all out in the fields early, or maybe they had been eaten for the Moon Festival. Luckily, that was not the case for the turkeys and we found them in their usual place. Have a look at the one on the left, have you seen one with feathers coloured like that before? Maybe it is just a young one.
Our resident family of goats is still in the cage, maybe the owners do not want them going down to the river until the water eases off. Two were out of the cage, so we did our duty and guided both back in. We’re not sure if the ‘boss’ approved of what we had done.
On our final stretch to the house we spotted quite a few more amorous couples, the same type as we had seen yesterday, but we decided not to take any more snaps. Can you imagine a five metre diameter lens poking through the bedroom window while you are ‘in the mood’? Instead, here is a solitary insect, the type of which I cannot be 100% sure.
Arriving home we had not done ten kilometres today, but then again, maybe I should not worry too much about beating last month’s target. Let’s have an easy month for a change. Having said that, and knowing my brain, we’ll just see how it goes.
October 2nd It looks like the easy month may well be on the cards. All we did today was go shopping, and we took no photographs. Only this evening did I remember that today is Monday and that means ‘upload day’. Let’s see how next week goes!
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