yesterday was October 29th

As was mentioned earlier, I received a small blue basketball from my granddaughters as an early birthday present. Well the 29th was my actual birthday and Patt took me to a nice Raleigh seafood restaurant for dinner and presents, with of course the special ball from Julianna and Lydia. I expect the other diners thought we must be very special to have such a good looking small basketball on our table. I know I thought I was.

Speaking of feeling special, that would be me, as I am glad the work week is over, and football games and nap time in the afternoon is on schedule (especially when the Panthers play). For those of you who were worried about the North Carolina taxpayer getting his money's worth of work out of me, well you did. I surprised myself and was more cognizant than expected. Some might add that is a rather low bar to set-- and I say lets not get too picky.

ttfn

this plane was the start

Getting on a plane in KM is sorta like an old 1950s add in a magazine for Piedmont Airlines with passengers in suits walking out to a set of stairs from the terminal to enter the plane. As so far as I can tell none of the boarding"gates" work. There is a lot of picture taking during this moment among those not jostling to be among the first to get to their assigned seat on the plane. As you can tell, I was not worried about getting to my seat as were a few other travelers. (There were extra seats - though not many). ShaunDong Air is a subsidiary of Air China, and puts you at the new terminal in Beijing, which is super fancy, but has has the fewest choices of dining of any airport I was ever in, except perhaps the little air strip in Bacon County, Georgia that Mark and I landed at coming back from Miami last year. It had a coffee machine and "nabs" basket, with honor system.
No walking to the plane, it among the many others was parked well away from the terminal and shuttle busses take the passengers out to the planes. ( here you see The late arrivals, arriving.).

I got home with easy, smooth connections, all flights on time, all but the last full or nearly full. My seat mate on the long flight was a Tienamen Square participant and current citizen of US living in Raleigh. -small world. Chicago was busy - gee whiz, but busy, how ORD manages to manage is amazing. Had a bacon burger in terminal B at Chili's and it was good too.

Sure was nice to see Patt waiting for me in Raleigh. It is great to be home, because I sure did miss her. The security guard did not even run her off while I gathered my bag, as she waited in the car for a few minutes (and the world did not end either.)

Work yesterday was. well work, I assume I will be paid for it, and I reckon I earned most of the pay. Today's value added will be debatable, next week ought to be a better value for the state.

and yes I sure do miss my time in China but TREASURE my memories.

ttfn

Something very very hard to do

Getting ready to leave here in an couple of hours, and my eyes are of course moist as I write this
it has been great watching a very active and enthusiastic 2 year 0ld learn and share her observations- both of which she does with great energy
and interacting with an "almost 4 T" as she calls herself, here tossing my birthday gift- (to share with Grandmamma)- has been a joy .....the 4T refers to size of clothing which she wears and she turns four soon....
and of course being part of Matt and Laura's and and this particular infants family, here with a school mate of Julianna's mother, at the neighborhood playground, has been special and much appreciated. I thank them and sure will miss them and look forward to seeing them again soon.

Disclaimer regarding the bike rides

Above is the bike I have been riding for all but the very first ride I was on. This thing is an Dian Dong Che or electric motor bike. and is a heap of fun and I sure did enjoy riding it. On Sunday afternoon Matt and I went riding into the countryside.
Matt would often let me lead the way, I think just for entertainment value. I know I was entertained. The alleys were sometimes dead ends and required quick u turns, but were always interesting, .....
See Matt get ready to swing left quickly and dodge the water buffalo, this is the second time we passed this buffalo in a relatively short period of time as my sense of direction regarding which alley way would lead us to the way out to the village was not all that good. This particular way did not. More to come later on this trip nd on why this way did not. Something to do with the location of the next water buffalo and our perception of his/her? interest in moving.

Saturday's picnic & Isaac too

On Saturday, Laura, Julianna, Lydia, Isaac, Erin Ashley, Emma Grace, Jack and I went to the city park for a picnic. Julianna rode, Laura and Erin Ashley pushed strolers and I carried a child or something. We were a sight. People stared, people took photos and we did somewhat stand out.
The little boy in the yellow and blue, took my seat as I got up to take the photo to get a closer look at us. There were times when people stood around watching. Erin had earlier suggested that we probably would not go unnoticed. She is one sharp cookie, that Erin. She probably ought to get a job making predictions or something - she nailed that one.
You will notice that I am not in the photos, that is because that is I am the only one with a moment to do something like take a photograph. We did have fun, the kids ate, played, talked nonstop and it was a very pretty Saturday afternoon.
Here is Isaac, all happy and everything like he normally is and does not even know he is wearing UNC stuff.
I have just told him that I have a Wake Forest shirt for him, and he yelled for joy and said time for us to play some ball.
Eye on the ball. I taught him that.
Things under control
now it is Sunday and Sunday dress of course.

Going into town to see a friend, by myself, by bike

This is a student friend of Matt and Laura's that I have known for several years and the young man who has asked me some of the hardest questions I have ever been asked. He is currently studying for his LSAT (their version) and still asks hard questions. I thought I could ride the 15-18 kilometers into town - no problem, well it was no problem, but I had friends and neighbors by quantities you can not imagine. --
I am next in line and there are more behind me and we do move and move quickly too- that is a bus to our left.
this actually is a misplaced photo from an earlier ride when I thought I was going onto a quiet country road - more later.
going into town, lucked into a bit of contrast here as I rode past the airport.
of course town has lots of tall buildings, and just close your eyes and you too can cross the wide expanse of an intersection
on a side street not everyone is in a hurry
and I did take some side streets, got a bit turned around more than once, I thought I knew where I was, just off a block or two, some of them looked so much alike too
just more tall buildings
this is from that quiet ride into the country I mentioned earlier
on which ride I did see an old train crossing station, note guy sitting on tracks.



more from the quiet ride into the country. I was one of the fastest moving vehicles around
and this was as far as I went on my quiet county ride, Matt and I are going to try another one.

My ride into the city went very well, just took a long time. But lots of fun. More later about riding. and of course more later about who I am visiting

Happy Birthday Grandmother/Florence/Mama

There are some people I have in mind when I write this blog, and my Mother-in-law is one of them. Florence, above with Patt, who refers to her as Mama, (and Laura and Stephen who refer to her as Grandmother) has a rather special 90th birthday today. So from a somewhat far away one of your sons-in-law, come a very Happy Birthday wish ! !



This is the view from Florence's back porch where I have my Cheerios in the morning. Kind of nice isn't it. Yeah , I think so too. It is one of the many reasons I enjoy my visits to see Florence.
So Florence from your son-in-law who has to remind you to keep the tall cold ones out of sight, Happy Birthday.--Love from Paul, -- that would be me -- and when I get home we will go ridin' again.

a few more from being with the kids

Julianna and friend and friend's grandfather heading down the walkway (he too was enjoying himself - ( I knew)

Enjoying an evenings entertainment

and being with my kids is really really nice, I think I have mentioned.

spent some time with the kids

I spent a good amount of time with the kids today, and sure did enjoy it. Isaac and I talked a played a bit - he is getting quite loud, not so many words, of course he may never get a chance to use any with his two older sisters. He will have a lot to laugh at though and he does enjoy laughing and playing very much and is so easy to be with and around.
Lydia was the last of the girls (for a while there were three as Emma Grace was visiting) to leave the coloring table, I had done a little to help with Strawberry shortcake or whoever - concentration helps and not worrying about lines does too. Colors, now that is what I learned is important.

we were looking intently for an insect of some sort that had been seen in the vicinity of these bushes in the recent past. The concentration and effort at finding said insect was unrivaled in the field of science. Alas, no insect was discovered. Not for lack of trying. Earlier, Emma Grace, Julianna, Lydia and I had spent time riding a scooter, sorting gravel, running down a sidewalk, whispering with one another, getting an emergency pants change from EA, (not mine) and generally having a grand time.

More from the zoo plus two

you will note that the elephant really is riding a tricycle. yes you got that right, a tricycle. One dunked a basketball, ate an orange out of Matt's hand, stood on back legs and walked and a number of other show tricks elephants do. We were amazed. and the kids have talked aa lot about them - they were the hit of the zoo.
the bears in one of the exhibits while we were there were not exactly getting along for few exciting minutes and went snarling and dust creating and rolling down the hill in mid dispute. Quite dramatic.

I think I mentioned two Pandas. At least one of which appeared to be very much alive and entertaining. The other, well this is the other. I think he is full of bamboo.


the elephants were a hit and still have Lydia talking, as does most anything. In addition to using her voice and words to express thoughts and ideas, she uses her face, her whole face- (heck sometimes her whole body) (there is no guile in her)- you know what she means when she says it.

You can tell who got the special seat on the zoo tram. That would be me.


See what I mean



Back at the apartment. Can you find Isaac in this picture?

How can I not post this picture?

like normal

other things I notice around here
Lydia and friend and fellow two year old Emma Grace entertain themselves playing together in the walkway in front of their apartment homes. They are neighbors and objects of curiosity and pure T examples of cuteness and full-of-itness too. They each come with younger brothers which ought to help too.

The Moms, Laura and Erin Ashley deal with aforementioned children plus of course Julianna, and husbands, speak in tongues foreign to me, deal not a few inconveniences, do about a dozen different things including working on bringing about either whirled peas or world peace, (I could not figure out exactly which) and counsel number of folk- including each other I think.

not all roads are busy and buildings big

yes there are modern streets and tall buildings but also there are small streets and with just plain walls or no buildings at all

and often with very little traffic as I encountered on today's bike ride

yes, I was momentarily behind a horse drawn cart,

just a street to ride down - and very quiet at that