January 30th And so begins another week down at the ranch; or something like that
anyway. Phones and computers told us it would be warmer today so I set off
walking without the boss but with my shorts. She still needed a bit more time
to recover. It felt good, not being alone, but to be back in shorts again. I
wonder how long it will last this time.
I’m not so sure if you can wear shorts when driving a beast like this though. Someone in our area has a big bike. If I understand correctly it is 1600cc, far too dangerous for me.
I would probably be better off in whatever this was. 希望好运不请自来, Xīwàng hǎo yùn bù qǐng zì lái - I hope good luck comes uninvited.
My route today was down to the edge of town where I spotted the clouds over the hills.
I had been worried when I left home that all the weather forecasts were wrong but by the time I got to three legged dog junction I was plenty warm enough. In fact some one family had even found a new beach in the river!
At the other side of the river the water spraying truck was in action, we see them almost every day now. I wondered if he was watering the verges or refilling the river!
On the off chance of finding a lizard for Huan I walked back via the usual market. There was no sign of a lizard anywhere only what seemed to be hundreds of snowbirds. Huan read somewhere that numbers are down this year, I think whoever wrote that had no idea. Passing through the complex I took this one to show her indoors, another lily pond looks like it will disappear.
Nearing the house I found someone who didn’t want to be disturbed. I behaved!
At home I still needed a few extra metres to avoid a long walk later on so I had a wander around and took some views that I don’t think you have seen before. In the first view, the bridge from Xiǎo dǎo looks quite good. Can you spot the problem in the second view? The third one shows the other side of the villas, the ones that we would love to be able to buy one and live in!
I still had to go out after lunch but there were no photos worthy of sharing with my distinguished readers, only for showing Her Majesty my (short) route. Also, because she was still not up to par I was back in the kitchen today. There had been some soup left from yesterday, without noodles, so I had suggested we have rice soup today. All I had to do was use some green vegetables, it looks like romaine lettuce, one potato chopped up small and a handful of dried fish. Once the vegetables were cooked the fish was thrown in and a few minutes later the precooked rice. Huan is quite a fan of rice soup, more so than me, but I liked this too.
Much to Huan’s disgust I added a few raisins to my dish. Looking at the bottle I decided you needed to see it too. No translation is needed but check out the English.
January 31st Both of us felt like we needed more rest this morning so we bode our time until after lunch. I surfed the ‘camera’ web, nearly drowned! When we did finally venture out the boss suggested the nearby countryside. As she was still not 100% I concurred. Crossing the little island was a disappointment today but Huan did find a bug not long after. For some reason it reminds me of ‘steampunk fashion’.
Outside was not quite as the computer inside had told us it would be, in fact it was much cooler than yesterday. That was probably a good thing for the convalescent, and it made for quite a pleasant walk for both of us.
Huan found us two scenes that had no power lines, although if you enlarge the first one there is a low level line in front of the trees in the centre.
And here is the lady herself. Is she feeling in the pink or is she a pink lady? I had to explain both of those and do an internet search for the cocktail when we got home. PS She is wearing a mask to protect those around her until she is sure she is fine.
We took a little detour on the way back so here are a few more scenes for you.
Happiness was guaranteed when Huan found a lizard.
As we approached town I sent Huan off home and did what was needed to reach our target for January. I daresay we will not try so hard in February. Well, I will be older then!
Huan was the chef for today so it was back to www for me.
February 1st We had no idea what the weather forecast was for today, I had removed MSN Weather from my computer because it kept opening pages on Chrome for no apparent reasons It didn’t matter in the morning, I woke up far too late for a morning walk. We did get out after lunch and after three quarters of an hour or so checked our phone weather. Surprise!
Just before checking the weather we noticed the New Year flowers are being installed.
I also noticed someone ‘using’ the hotel car park, I wonder if they know.
We were on a lizard hunt today, mostly to avoid Huan having to exert herself too much, although I didn’t tell her that. For a change, here’s a vertical view from the riverside.
The first lizard we found was very well camouflaged; I had to tweak the photo a bit.
Huan then found a bird just about at the limit of the camera’s ability; this is a 15% crop.
She then completed the hat trick with this one, an even smaller crop.
There was another bird, one that you have seen before. Huan insisted that I talk to it while she took far too many pictures. I chose these three to put together.
At the same spot we had a not very unusual occurrence. The ‘grandparents’ kept pushing the boy to speak English. He was shy and eventually came out with “hello, my name is---”. I told him not to worry and that his grandparents should be the ones practicing so that they can help him. The little girl was far too young for English yet so I told her that her brother could teach her.
This next one was taken a few seconds before the subjects scarpered.
Here’s one of the trees by the side of the road as we were walking back home. Can you imagine what they would be like if all those roots actually reached the ground and did their job? It would be like an impregnable fortress.
Back on the little island this fellow kept sidling around the tree whenever we got close.
We’ve had no flora for a while so here’s a pretty flower for you. I did try and photograph a whole bush full the other day but I was not impressed with the result. This is much better.
Our last photo of the day was chosen by Huan although she didn’t know what it was. I was just as much in the dark as she was because I could barely make out what I was photographing. Back home though, with the aid of trusty old Picasa and Google I found out that it was some kind of long horned beetle. There are far too many species for me to be more accurate I’m afraid.
Once we were safely ensconced at home it was back into the kitchen for me to finish off the curry that I had started this morning. It was only chicken, onion, garlic, potato and egg plant with side dishes of raita, raisins and desiccated coconut. You’ve seen it all before so no piccies today. An early night was called for by my body, I think SWMBO has passed on her bug!
February 2nd Confirmation has been received, my body can hardly move this morning. No walkies, just stay at home and look out of the window instead.
It was the good looking chef’s day in the kitchen and she made a fish curry.
Huan insisted that we have more photos so she took a few of me changing my phone cover. The old one had fallen to pieces. If you look at the third photos you will see what appears to be etching. Initially we thought it was something on the cover. We were wrong. It turned out to be the results of me throwing my phone on the floor yesterday while falling down a step! PS What is a thickening balloon?
February 3rd It was my turn to wake up bad, my throat felt terrible, almost as if I had been eating sandpaper all night. However, it was a Saturday morning and a trip to the market was on the cards to buy the salad makings for the weekend’s dinners. Just outside we could see that New Year preparations are well advanced.
Here we were waiting for the cat to pounce. It stood for ages in the same spot, occasionally flexing one front paw and then the other. I was hoping for an action shot. Eventually, after taking this shot, it disappeared into the bushes.
With not many photos from yesterday, or today, we decided another view of the river was called for. As you can see, the weather was absolutely spiffing today, shame I couldn’t really enjoy it.
On our way back to the other market we went through the New Year market. We’ll go there again on an evening so that you can see the colours and the crowds.
February 4th My throat was a little better this morning but my brain was AWOL. Why? The Prime Minister had decided that we had to get up while it was still dark and drive to Sanya. Our tenant had moved out and another had taken her place for the next three months. I really don’t mind driving at all but my body was not ready for early mornings yet!
This was me just after eight o’clock double parking outside our apartment waiting for the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Finance to finish her business. I was not alone in this flagrant breach of the law but at least I was with the car.
We thought we would take a different route home and maybe stop off at a tourist place. Our plan backfired and before long this was our only view.
There had been a traffic accident ahead of us but the traffic was still slowly moving and the police were doing a good job. Even better was seeing how they prevented all the drivers who had driven up the cycle path to try and bypass the jam, rejoin the traffic stream. Once we had cleared the area and because of the time and fact that we were both still tired, we gave up and drove home. This was our welcome as we came off the highway into Wuzhishan.
Afternoon naps were required followed by dinner and then an early night.
February 5th Last night we had an intruder! It was a very small, very green intruder. Does that make it an alien? It can bite humans but is not dangerous at all, it is a Green Lacewing. As the Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, Huan got rid of it, poor thing.
After a fitful night’s sleep, two weary souls are still not all there although Huan did wake up earlier than I did. Delayed shopping was the order of the day but a trip to the market was planned for this morning. On our travels we tried for a plane!
This year, as we walked around the streets and the market, and maybe for the first time, I felt the ‘spirit of the New Year. I couldn’t tell you why I never felt it before. It felt good. Nearer home more decorations were visible too.
Afternoon shopping at Baijiahui was still a nightmare, too many snowbirds in the run up to New Year. Inside wasn’t too bad but parking was terrible. It is only a small place but it probably took us between ten and fifteen minutes to get a space. Leaving was worse! It took nearly half an hour to get out, how thankful we were that we had done the market in the morning.
After dinner we still had to go out again, we had failed to get potatoes or eggs at the supermarket. It wasn’t our memories, they just didn’t have any. If you imagine what Christmas shopping is like you get a hint of what happens here, just a little hint mind you. Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year if you prefer, is a very traditional family affair requiring many more people than normal to be catered for. At least we got what we wanted this evening.
Now
I am sure there is confusion all over the place about spring, with questions
like: - “Do they have spring in
So from a city with no winter, from two people who have just seen the first day of spring pass by, and who will shortly be celebrating Spring Festival, we wish you all a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment