Happy Birthday Ah Cheung (Macau)

Senado square - spot the family

nice weather on the Spanish Steps




Cocktails before the House of Dancing Water (spectacular show worth seeing even though it is exhorbitantly expensive)



Macau Tower - people preparing to skywalk round the edge (beats bungy jumping)



nice view from the tower



nice food in the tower



nice family photo after lunch

Yangtze river (Sept 29-Oct 2, 2012)

Chong Qing (aka Stratford on Avon)

chillis to keep out the cold

the universal human condition

The Red Pagoda - yes, we did climb to the top

the mouth of the Three Gorges at about 7.45am - hazy, but stunning nonetheless

Food for thought on Friday

After reading umpteen research articles about a variety of topics, including many suggested models, theories and graphic representations to explain different issues: researchers who strive to coin new terms are like haute couture designers: most of the time you only see what they produce in one place (on the catwalk or in their article) but occasionally after a few years you see it everywhere, e.g. in H&M or everday language. (But only for a while, till something else comes along.)

By the way, before today the dates of this blog were not synched to HK - the clock was 15hrs behind - E coast of US.  I tried to change it, but it reverts to default every time I post a new blog.

Natural wonders #7 posing praying mantis

 

A baby praying mantis from Saturday's barbeque at the beach - it actually turned its head around to stare while Julia took its photo.... Thank goodness these little monsters are only small.  Imagine what they'd be like if they were the size of a giraffe.

I love our little beach down by Wu Kai Sha... and now we can take fab photos of it at night with Julia's new i-phone 5 - I never expected to be so excited by an i-phone but now I'm taking photos again the offerings from my trusty little camera pale in comparison.  Another month or two and I think I will capitulate and buy one too. 

Look at the moon!

 

 

Funny

What are we teaching??
From school: Grade 1 question - What would you do if God asked you to make a sacrifice like Abraham?
Answer: Listen and if God said to kill, I will.

Grade 6: How can your body be a temple of the Holy Spirit?  My body is a temple and I would let the people inside my body offer sacrifices to you inside it.

When you design something as nice as this....   (pond with fish , turtles, palm trees, wooden bridge in Po Lam Metro City shopping centre)



Why put one of these on it????

 

Food for thought from last Friday

Settle down before you melt down; look up before you give up; make up before you blow up; chill out before you burn out.

Marriages of convenience between Confucianism and Com. end in acrimonious divorce when they no longer see eye to eye, and produce offspring that are formidably stubborn and vicious to boot.

Richard from Birmingham

Yesterday we had a great time catching up with Richard before he heads back to Birmingham next week.  He found some great wording on T-shirts in Temple Street -  'Before we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash.  Now we have no jobs, no hope and no cash.'   Also 'God doesn't believe in atheists'.  By the way, Ah Cheung and Jonathan do not have metal teeth, Richard does not have a stud on his lip, and I do not have mini spotlights attached to my glasses.  It's just the flash working overtime.

Natural wonders #6 butterflies and monkeys

Butterfly sunning itself: this is the first time I've seen a butterfly at rest long enough to take some decent pictures!  We saw it around midday, at the end of another walk around our nearby mountain.

 

In the afternoon, I was HORRIFIED to see a MONKEY right outside the front door of our block of appartments. That's a first - and I hope it's a last. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural wonders #5: shy grass

Shy grass - the flower is like a fibre optic pink powder puff.  The leaves close if you touch them, hence the name... See the lower of the two light green leaves above?   Now look at it below after touching it lightly....

 

 

Here is the view from the mountain over the Bay where the blue crabs were last year.  Probably won't be able to take a picture of it from here after the new appartment blocks are finished. 

Natural wonders #4: in the gloaming

 

Last night we walked down to the beach at Wu Kai Sha, and along the walkway by the coast line.  We saw lots of bats.  Unfortunately it was too dim to take good photos, and the bats were flitting around so randomly that I couldn't catch them in the camera's sights anyway.  So instead here is a picture of Ah Cheung, who gallantly stepped up to take their place (unbatlike though he is).

Crazy hair day, May 2012



I never thought my thick, unruly hair would defy gravity and stay up like this - it looks kind of messy but at least it stayed put for most of the day!  (With the help of Karen - who is also in the photo - she will jam an empty coke can against your scalp, and tie your hair tightly over the end. )



homes down the generations

28, Bollo Bridge Road, Acton

Mum grew up on the 2nd floor.

Next door was a factory that made ?

Photo taken June 2012

To come:
Our house in Ealing.
Grandma's house (Mum's Mum) in Edgware Road.

Retro special

Is it the clothes, the dancing or the music which ring your chimes (or sends you running for the bathroom??)     

Hip hop, you cannot deny your roots.
John Cleese and your Ministry of Funny Walks, I now know your roots.

Natural wonders #3

I was hoping to take a photo of the little blue crabs which covered this beach the last time we went in February 2011. 
Today there wasn't a crab in sight; instead the beach was covered in these tiny whelks (?) which were crawling creepily
in all directions. Will try for the crabs again either at a different time of day (not 1.45pm) or during a different season (Chinese New Year again). 

Natural wonders #2: typhoons and trees

Pulled up by the roots during last month's typhoon (a no. 10, which is hurricane strength).  I was surprised at how shallow the tree's roots were - no wonder it didn't stay up.  40 foot high, but no depth - lots to show on the surface, but no foundation.  I'm sure lots of meaningful analogies spring instantly to mind. 

This one didn't bend, so it snapped half way up.  Keep those inspirational life applications coming.  You never know when you are going to need one!

Recent Shopping Trophies

Psychdelia rules - two bargains from export shops in Wanchai

 

Top: $20 (HK) from the Shau Kei Wan Salvation Army Shop
Skirt: half price at the Laura Ashley outlet in Citygate

 

I was very tempted, but in the end decided against this stylish beaded string vest and red satin loons from the North Point Salvation Army shop.

Never seen one of those before...

Alternative carparking in ShenZhen - December, 2011

Natural Wonders

Spotted these fiery seed pods walking down the hill from Shing Mun Springs in July 2012.  They were huge - about 6 inches across.  Haven't had time to name them yet...  Finally Feb 2013 they are called Lance leaved sterculia!

Spelling bloomers



Its' B: B for Buebelly.  That's Buebelly, not bluebelly or blueberry, let alone Burberry.  Spotted in ShenZhen, July 2012 



Treading water or Walking on water?

Treading water: you stay in the same place; survival mode (tiring)

Walking on water: you move around, preferably forward;  progress mode;

(invigorating, exciting)

 

Remember to ask for help if you start to sink.

So, are you treading or walking on water?

Entirely fit for a tasty tea room

                                       Julia's creative cookie decorating know no bounds....


Christmas 2011: first batch

 

Followed by more over the summer (2012) - bought a special crown cutter in recognition of the Diamond Jubilee

New cutters from Ealing - the tiara and the airplane