A New Year Has Begun!

February 6^th Are we finally on the mend? It would appear so. This bug has been unlike any that we’ve had before. Invariably, when I catch something I drink gallons of water, starve myself, go to bed and sweat a lot, eventually going onto coca-cola and ready salted crisps to recover. For Huan it would be similar, except she wouldn’t starve herself she would have rice soup instead. This bug didn’t affect our appetites at all; it didn’t give us any fevers so no sweating was involved. All there was to be felt were sore throats, sore chests and aching bones causing severe exhaustion. Hopefully we are now on the way up!

Having said all that we were just couch potatoes today, well couch for Huan and office chair for me. We decided that another full day of rest would not go amiss.

February 7^th Well, we made up for it today, three walks, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening after dinner. There was an ulterior motive for the boss, at least for the first two; she needed to visit her counting house to put some shekels in there. Arriving at the bank we found it full of snowbirds so Huan rescheduled her visit and walked with me. Our one and only roundabout has been given a make over for the New Year.

Today’s car decals were very impressive for the amazing colours.

With the imminent arrival of the New Year I decided sausages had to be bought before the shop closes for a few days. When we arrived at that market it looked as if every one and their dog had all had the same idea, snowbirds everywhere we looked.

At home we both had to admit that we are still not 100% and have the usual naps. After that we headed off to the bank again. On the way Huan found two lizards, one got away, the other didn’t.

Our trusty weather forecasters, the phone and the computer had both let us down again. Where was the blazing sunshine and blue skies? Still, it wasn’t bad walking weather.

At the bank there were still people but fewer than this morning; Huan decided to wait in the queue so I continued for a solo walk, just to make up for yesterday’s laziness. On my merry way I thought you should see a view of the river we haven’t showed you before.

Signs of the New Year were all around, people off work and playing麻将 (májiàng), lanterns hanging outside the corner store.

Further down there were balloons for the children and offerings for the ancestors.

On my way I passed the small agricultural store and had a chat to the rabbit. Knowing that his days could now well be numbered I thought you should see what a handsome beast he is.

Meanwhile, back at our gate Mr. Lu, our head of maintenance, was busy painting the sign.

To my surprise, I arrived home before the Minister, Not to worry; she had already cooked dinner before we went out. After eating, we then had to venture forth one more time. We wanted to go to the New Year market by the river in the evening, to buy our dragons and to take some photos with the lights on. On the way I received ‘advice’ about a tree!

Down at the riverside we were disappointed. As we were arriving many stalls were packing up for the evening, there were no lights to be seen. We didn’t ask why, we just got on with what we had to do. Back on the shopping street we did find some stalls with lights.

Did we find what we wanted? I guess the answer would be ‘sort of’. We wanted dragons for the year of the dragon and we ended up with a golden one (金龙, Jīnlóng) and a cartoon one (卡通龙, kǎtōng long). Here they are for your glorious gratification and joy.

February 8^th We forgot to check the weather before leaving the house and when we got outside it looked as though it would not be as nice as we had hoped. As a result we decided not to head for the countryside as planned but to just go around the river. On the way we found a few birds, as usual at the limit of the camera’s range.

At the last bridge Huan asked if we could go down lizard alley, I didn’t really want to but I agreed anyway. She was very happy I did, she found eight lizards to my one. Here are the nine.

Today’s walk finishes with a public service announcement, beware of low flying aircraft!

At home, after lunch, we practiced a bit more at being oldies. We are getting quite good at those afternoon naps now, we’ll have to be careful they don’t overrun into the evenings! It was my turn in the kitchen today, a nice simple western meal, steak, baked potato and broccoli. No photos required, the steak was mediocre but no complaints really. After dinner we put the New Year decorations up, I almost prefer them to the Christmas ones.

Just like Christmas New Year includes sweeties!

And of course the front door needs decoration too.

February 9^th We ended up doing not a lot all morning, or should I say that I did. Before I got up Huan was already busy in the kitchen preparing various delicacies for this afternoon. In China, the ‘big meal’ part of the New Year celebration is on New Year’s Eve. Looking out of the window we could see how quiet everything was, people had either already left town and gone to visit their families, or like us, they were already at home preparing. While Huan was busy I just watched “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, not a bad movie at all.

After dumplings for lunch, and then a nap for both of us, it was time to put the chicken in the oven. Eventually everything was done and dinner was ready. The photo didn’t come out so well. We also made a video toast, which to my shame, was just as abysmal. It doesn’t help that the LCD screen doesn’t work but at least we tried.

February 10^th What a miserable day! By that I mean the weather turned again, we had 30⁰C just a couple of days ago and today we were back down to 13⁰C. It made us both feel sleepy most of the morning but, after our nap we decided we had to go out in the afternoon. Along the riverside a chap was showing us photos of the bird he had captured using his Nikon (full frame) DSLR so I was obliged to try for Huan. Of course my LCD display doesn’t work so I couldn’t shame myself by showing him how much worse my photo was than his. Even the kite was probably not as good as his little bird was!

Before long we were getting worried that the heavens would open.

I was going to ignore this car, after all the decal on the side is nothing very special. However, on walking around the back I changed my mind!

More ‘instructions’ followed before we reached home, i.e. “Look at those two birds!” What can I say; I followed orders and tried, again.

P.S. I spent the evening watching “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”; I have to say that I was not at all disappointed.

February 11^th Spring Festival? Not a chance, it was more like a dismal autumn day in the UK today. It was so dismal that an executive decision was made and we didn’t go anywhere.

February 12^th What a difference a day makes! Spring was definitely in the air this morning and we needed no excuse to go out, off we went. Just look at that sky!

SWMBO then had me taking photos of birds on top of trees, from too far away of course.

The more we walked the more we marvelled at the difference between yesterday and today. There wasn’t a cloud in sight anywhere and the temperature was perfect, just right for walking.

Next up I thought I would try for some birds without being ordered to!

We headed down a road that Huan had forgotten, we were not the only love birds out today!

This was where we were headed, the end of the road. It goes around the village and back to the same place, this sign at the village entrance. At this stage the boss remembered.

Ever the explorers we tried a new road on the way back.

Soon we found ourselves back on roads we, or at least I, knew, passing small farms and then slightly bigger ones. Quite a lot of farmers were busy today although we didn’t snap them.

And here’s a little smiley face putting all her trust in my navigational skills.

During the course of our walk someone, who shall not be named, had pointed out tomatoes on more than one occasion. This time I thought I would follow orders!

The rice fields were my choice but I’m glad to say that the director liked the result.

Yet again I tried for a couple of birds, without being prompted.

To round off a wonderful morning’s walk Huan managed to find two lizards on our way home. One was basking on a rock in Luobote village, the other on a tree on the road to somewhere. What better end to a walk in the country!

After that walk we both needed an after lunch nap! It turned into two hours and for me it probably could even have gone on longer. Some of you might be wondering why there was no shopping today. Well, just like Christmas in the UK, we have been eating left-overs since New Year’s Eve. Not complaining though, left-overs meant neither of us needed to work!

Hopefully you all had a peaceful New Year like ours; let’s hope the rest if the year stays the same and perhaps even brings health, wealth and happiness! Bye for now.