From Grits to Chopsticks

After a very busy week, we were looking forward to a peaceful hike around this nearby lake: Unfortunately, a grumpy guard in this shack told us to go away: So we continued our walk along the noisy highway (click for a sample – Street Walking): But even along the highway, there are always interesting things […]

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In the past few months, the bike rental business has descended upon our city in a big way:Three main companies are competing for the market with their silver, yellow, and blue/yellow bikes:The theory is really good: use your mobile phone to scan the bike QR code, transfer a deposit from your on-line bank to the […]

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Last Sunday afternoon, we visited Daguan Park on the south side of our city.  The entrance of the park has displays of large vegetables, foreshadowing (hopefully) an abundant harvest: This park also has some peaceful scenes: On the north side there is a very tall sky wheel (a 30 minute rotation for 30 RMB): We rode the sky wheel and […]

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Last week, we took our Sunday afternoon walk in the local zoo.  As we approached the ticket booth, we had an inkling that it might be a bit crowded:and yes, there were a lot of people inside: This time of year, they don’t come mainly to see the animals – they come to take photos of […]

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Gifting is a big part of Chinese culture, and it seems that the dominant gift here is food.  We’ve received a number of food gifts lately, including sugar cane to munch on:bell apples and star fruit:“pancakes” from a northeastern province:and a huge bag full of Chinese red dates:To make good use of the dates, Susan […]

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The weather was still cold when we returned to China a few weeks ago, with indoor and outdoor temperatures often the same (our part of the country doesn’t have central heating): But things have now warmed up a bit, giving us the opportunity to enjoy the local parks.  At the entrance of this park, you pass […]

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For the first time in seven years, we saw fire engines roll by last week with their sirens blaring: I looked out across the horizon and saw the plume of smoke rising in the distance: My camera zoomed in to reveal fire blazing from an apartment rooftop (click Fire for video): In this densely populated area, nearby […]

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We are truly blessed that we can travel to the other side of the planet in about 30 hours (door to door).  Our typical flight plan takes us from Atlanta to Seoul to Kunming.  When we left Atlanta, trees were sprouting leaves and flowers were blooming:Suburban landscapes stretched for miles outside of the plane window: […]

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We have been blessed to share a wonderful Stateside visit with family and friends.  Our youngest son and his wife returned from China and are now living in Arkansas.  It was great to spend time with them and their new son: We also enjoyed playing music and strolling together: On December 17 we were able […]

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Here are some more random pictures.  This semester, my classes met in a large classroom with a messed up chalkboard.  It appeared that people had been taping notices onto it for years, rendering it almost unusable.  Before and after classes, I started peeling and scraping it.  I then brought gloves and solvent, eventually getting it to […]

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