Sunrise at Pensacola Beach

Just a shot of the sunrise here at PCB!

The past few days have been beautiful!

We actually did something productive while we've been here, we went over to our friends house and helped them build a deck!
Yep that's me doing some manual labor, and you thought I just sat around in an office all day!

Of course we were lucky to have some experts on hand that knew what we were doing, and I wasn't allowed to touch any of the power tools! ;-)

26 years together

For those of you who follow Pure Florida blogspot here are a couple of pictures from our vow renewal. 26 years ago on St. Patrick's day Thunder took me on our first date. We decided it was the perfect time to renew our vows with friends in Cedar Key. What a beautiful sunset and the vows we wrote weren't too bad either! We are just starting a new chapter in our lives together.

We've moved a bit further north now to Pensacola Beach where we're enjoying the beach, but not until after a brush with a venomous armadillo! Just look at the size of this thing and note the menacing look in it's eye! For an absolutely hillarious video of the encounter please check out www.pureflorida.blogspot.com/2009/03/attack-of-killer-diller!

"Bear" feet?

Just a quick post...for those of you that also follow Pure Florida we are spending a week at the Headquarters. Here is Bear and Katie. Today we are headed to Paynes Prairie State Preserve to do some gator watching. Watch for more photos!

Talked to the builders yesterday and everything seem to be on track to get our new home started. We also got to meet what will be our new neighbors. Vicki and I forget his name because as he was introducing himself we met our first resident snake! Needless to say I was slightly distracted! Oh well, once we get things going there will be plenty of time for chatting over the fence!

Zaijian Beijing!

It was a good night having dinner with friends, but saying goodbye is always bitter sweet!


I am here in my empty apartment as my bags are packed and I'm ready to leave. Well, OK my bags are packed and I'm leaving. ;-)
I look back on this year and I cannot believe that it has ended so soon. It has been the experience of a lifetime! The weird thing is that as I shed tears for Beijing the city seems to be shedding tears for me too, because as I take the picture (below) I feel droplets of rain hitting me slowly and in no particular rhythm as if they were tears falling from the sky!

They say that you can never go home again and now I know what they mean, but I'm going to give it a try anyway! ;-) I think that it's really that you will never look at the world the same way again, and that's definitely true! This past year has stood my normal views of the world on it's side. Wo bu zhi dao (I don't know)what is to come, but I think I'll be up to the challenge

Zaijian Beijing, for I will not say good-bye because I know I will be back some day!

What the????

Just a quick post to show the aftermath of living abroad for 6 months! Whew, I've only unpacked two of 5 suitcases and I only have three days before Thunder drags in his own! Gotta get busy, time to clean up the carnage, no time for blogger today!

Spectacular Sunsets!

Yea I hear ya what's up with all these sunsets, but take a look and hopefully you'll understand some of my fascination. Since I've been here for a year now I have tracked the sun from it's furthest position to the north during summer and it's furthest position south in the winter and now it has returned to the spot it was when I first arrived. The "clouds", oh wait a minute these really were clouds, can help give a very colorful display.

Just see for yourself:

In this shot I utilized my polarized sun glasses as a filter (a trick I learned from a certain Florida friend), and it worked!

In the few minutes following this shot we actually watched the sun moving from window to window until it dropped out of view! The light was a bit too low for me to get the additional shots, at least for my talent with the camera anyway! ;-)

Before and After at CCTV Beijing, China

I just thought I'd share a before and after shot of the building that burned down during the Lantern Festival fireworks celebration this past month. I think it shows why it's a good idea that most big cities ban the use of fireworks within city limits! You may need to click on the photos to enlarge them to see the major differences.

Before



After

Pretty vivid reminder to be careful on the 4th of July! ;-)