This Is What Saturdays Are For!

I usually try to stay on top of the weather report, even though they are not very reliable, so that I can see if Saturday is going to be a good day to goof off or not.
If it turns out that luck is in our favor we will usually hop in the "rag top" or hop on the "hog" and cruise around the back roads taking in the scenery!

Of course you have to start off with a clean machine and it just so happens that one of our local hangouts has started up a new service that helps us out! Just take a look:

What better way to get your bike clean?



My buddy STEB had to work, but since he took such good care of my bike while I was in China of course I felt obligated to make sure his bike got cleaned too!

And after all the dirty work is done, and you've worked up a hunger, you have to take a ride to a favorite dive.

This is Lightnin posing next to our clean machine, and in front of the Old Brick, which serves some of the best fried chicken in the world.

This time however, frogs legs were the choice.

So if we get the laundry and yard work completed on Friday's we try to use Saturday's for their intended purpose: Having Fun!

The Little guy

Just thought I'd update our blog...partly because I'm getting tired of seeing the same pictures! This is our wonderful Grandson from Memorial weekend, complete with the poptart and chocolate milk mouth! He sure is a pleasure for us! His Grandpa is working this week in Iowa or at least that's what he tells me, he did mention something about watching the corn grow and making shampoo so maybe he really is working!

Birthday Celebrations 1 Year and a World Apart!

Last night we helped celebrate the birthday of my good friend, and ex-boss, Joia. It was a fun evening at a little trendy restaurant in northern Kentucky. The food and wine were both good, and the conversation hilarious at times!



It was an interesting group of folks who had all overlapped at one time or another during travels and the connection with our mutual friend!



This was 1 year ago in Beijing!



And here we are in the US today! Me being 40lbs lighter and a bit raccoon looking from riding the bike with proper safety eye wear, and Joia not looking a day older!



Ta shi wo de yong yuan de peng yo!

Spring is Here!

This weekend was definitely spring like, with 80F temperatures on Friday afternoon, then rain on Friday night and Saturday morning, and finishing with a low last night of 45F.
It was a great weekend for brewing beer and motorcycle riding (sorry no photos today)and we took full advantage of this and did both!
Now this week it's supposed to be sunny and get progressively hotter each day. Yep a sure sign that spring has sprung and summer is on it's way!

Small Town Life

Every now and again Lightnin and I get asked: "Why do you guys live so far out of the city and drive so far to work each day?"

Well there are several answers:
1) Most days we drive across traffic instead of getting caught in it, because the main work week traffic heads north and south, not east and west.
2) Everything we need is located about 10 minutes from home.
3) The airport is about 20 minutes away.
4) It's usually quiet out our way.
5) Well because you just don't see this type of stuff if you live too close to the city! ;-)




You just gotta love small town life!

Mother's Day, Motorcycles, and uuumm Lobster?

Yesterday of course was Mother's Day and since our sons all live away from home, and we live too far from home to just pop over, I decided to cook up something special for Lightnin(I bet you think it's lobster, but that's later).

I whipped up two of her favorite dishes from over in Beijing. XinJian style orange beef, and SiChuan style green beans. They came out fantastic, even if I say so myself! ;-)

After lunch we decided to get the bike out a run around on it for awhile. the weather was beautiful and we had a good ride.

At one of the stops that we made we ran into three young men who were having entirely too much fun celebrating one of their birthday's. Now to go on any further I have to explain that this restaurant has the little arcade crane game that is usually filled with stuffed animals, but this tank is filled with live lobsters. Well as luck would have it one of these three friends won the game, and this is the result of too much fun celebrating a birthday with your friends, and a lobster!

WARNING: If you're squeamish don't go any further!




And to think this is some lucky mother's son! ;-)


I hope all you mother's out there had a Happy Mother's Day!

The Blessing of the Bikes

Yesterday started out a bit iffy, looking like it was going to rain once again, but it cleared up and became a perfect day for the bike blessing event!
There were hundreds, if not thousands of bikes there and I tried to capture a few shots to give you a feel for what we experienced.

Our baby parked with some good company

Just some random bikes to give an idea of the size of the event



Friends and more friends


It was an all day event, starting at about 9AM with a semi-organized ride (scramble format), which we decided to pass on because I just didn't feel comfortable riding in a group of several hundred riders that I didn't know. There was a live band and also food, and drink available for purchase. At 3:00PM we were given the instructions of how we were to line up and ride through the long procession to have the rider(s) and the bike(s) blessed by a Catholic priest. It all went pretty smooth and much quicker than I expected, a big thumbs up to the quality of the organizers of the event.

Afterwards a few of us went out for a ride and to grab a bite to eat before putting the bike away until the next clear day comes along.

Now That's A Wrench!

I was working at another site yesterday and couldn't resist posing with this thing.

It's actually a 3-1/8" wrench and I'm guessing it would take at least 3 people to actually use it!

Brewing Again!

Well I finally put away all of the stuff that I dragged home from China, so it was time to get back to brewing!


With the help of a couple of friends (STEB and Gary), we produced a double batch of Wo Bu Zhi Dao Red Ale. By the way that's STEB in the "Beer Security" hat, and he was doing a good job of securing the beer. ;-)


It's name is derived from the fact that I couldn't get the hops that I usually use for my red, and since it's been so long since I've brewed I really don't know what this one will turn out like! (Did my hint help you with the translation?)

Let's keep our fingers crossed that it comes out good and I'll let you know!


Oh I almost forgot, the hops are growing like crazy again this year too!

My New Office

It's small, functional, and for the first time in 9 years I actually have a door!


Yes my new office actually has a door that locks and everything! This will be short lived however because they plan to make this area an "Agile Office" space in about a year from now. Hey so I'll enjoy it while it's here! ;-)

The somewhat sterile walls will eventually be covered with calendars, comics, and/or photos, but they won't stay blank for long!

He's baaack!

Just a couple of pictures of Thunder. He's back in the states, adjusting quite well and playing with his toys and friends! The weather is supposed to be nice so we are riding on Saturday with a bunch of friends. Should be a good time!

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! ;-)

Close Encounters in Beijing!

Do you need more proof that they exist?



Definitely!

I go past this structure nearly everyday on my way in to work and I finally had my camera ready on a fairly clear day so I could get this shot.








If you look close you can even see the mountains in the background. I think I'm facing north when I took this, but I have to confess that since I've been in Beijing my sense of direction is failing. I think it's because my internal compass might be running backwards over here! ;-)

Signs in Beijing

Just thought I'd post a couple of pics from right down the street. We don't know what the one says but the other is very obvious! We went in to see if they really were "probably" the best show club in town or not....NOT! We ordered two beers and
got popcorn instead! Too funny!

Fun in the Snow

A couple of days ago we got hit with a blast of cold air coming from Siberia, which mixed with the warm moist air that we were getting from the south creating a few days of snowy weather.
My regular driver had to go to company meetings today so I had to try to hail a random taxi off the street. During snowy weather the early bird gets the worm, and apparently I wasn't early enough, because I stood outside for 30 min with no empty taxis in sight. So it looks like I'll be working from home today!

A young artist took advantage of an abandoned vehicle to show off his/her talent
(STEB/Taco - I thought you guys would especially enjoy this one!)

Wintery Precipitation

No that's not the usual thick haze and particulates (oops I mean "clouds") that are normal here in Beijing, it's actually snowing!

Not much accumulation, but it was still sort of fun to see it snow here for the first time this winter!
A few flakes that landed on the railing of the balcony