Out to the farm

Another "current event" report that's not quite current, but I'm posting anyway because the photos turned out nicely - we went with our friend Jessie out to our friends the Gao family's organic farm last month when they had their twice yearly open house for their customers.


The kids usually get the media attention in our household, so leading off is a photo of Jane and me and Jessie.



...which doesn't mean that the kids weren't entertaining ...





Here are Xander and friends doing dishes. "Rinsing" the dishes in a basket of old rice husks first gets rid of the grease and eliminates the need for extra hot water - important when everything is cooked over wood or charcoal.





At the time (early April) the 油菜 (youcai - rapeseed or canola) were in bloom, so we were surrounded by a sea of yellow blossoms.



Jane got a lot of good pictures of all things blooming - here are a few:





Spring has since started to head full blast into summer around these parts, but I figure that in a lot of places where people are reading this, it's still going on or just getting started. Happy May, everyone!

Texture Tuesday (All hail Green!)

Fashion Sense

Spotted on a recent outing to Chengdu.

Public Service Announcements

Also spotted on our field trip: This rather faded message board on the edge of the town square near the police station, with some fairly faded posters exhorting citizens to behave safely and properly. My Chinese is still a bit sketchy, but I think I've progressed enough to give you a rough translation of some of the lessons to be learned.



"If you are planning to jump off of a tall building, make sure that you spin sideways or keep your tongue sticking out."



"Don't leave your television set unplugged, or else a cartoon dog will force you to do jumping jacks with your eyes closed."



"Always make sure you apply conditioner BEFORE leaving a burning building."



"If you and your friend work together diligently enough, you can make a school bus pop a wheelie."

Have a good weekend, everybody, and hey hey hey...

Let's be careful out there.

Glimpses from the China Cave

One of the cool bits about China sometimes is that I can choose to live under the proverbial rock if I want to, as far as overhyped Western media events are concerned. For example, wasn't there some sort of wedding going on in England recently? I've posted about the tempest in a teacup effect before - how living in another country makes all of these so-called "major news stories" seem like so much nightclub smoke, and so many disco lasers bouncing off so many mirrors.

Another advantage is that, even if you haven't been swept away by the hype in the first place, you do get to sometimes read some pretty enlightening comments as the thing is winding down. An example from Scott Adams, writing about a recent bruhaha over a ... birth certificate? (Have I got that right? And is Donald Trump seriously a political contender?) Anyway, his point, albeit sarcastic, is that such media nonevents are actually good for our democracy. Read the article as well, but here are some good quotes to get you started...

It's healthy that we average citizens have some sort of topic in the political realm that will keep us engaged while also siphoning off some of our activist energy. It reminds us that we have a role in government. It reminds us that we have a constitution. It reminds us that we're in charge, sort of. And it gives the news media something to talk about on slow news days, which is important for keeping that vital institution in business.

And furthermore...

The birther issue is sort of like letting your toddler have a toy steering wheel in his car seat. He feels as if he's doing something useful and you don't have to rely on him to keep you out of the ravine.

There's a first time for everything...

I had a field trip out with my students about three weeks ago. Not a particularly glamorous one - we just went to the local market, then outside the university gate for a bit. We talked about observation, not taking things for granted, sensory vocabulary, and so on.

Quite appropriate, then, that on that day, I saw:

A) The first Porsche that I've ever seen in our neighborhood (though not the first in China by a long shot: more on that in another post); and...



B) A guy with a trained monkey, that he kept on the end of a leash and forced to do tricks for passersby, asking for a little change in return.



Now, mind you, I'm not condoning either practice. Indeed, quite the opposite. (Which is worse? I'll leave that for the comments...) However, it is quite interesting, and more than a bit strange, to be in a country where one can take these two pictures within 200 meters of each other on the same day...

Gettin' by with a little help from my...

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Ysa, I couldn't pass up posting this group of photos that Jane took of Ysa taking to the streets with Yan KaiYue, one of her best friends...





Fun, right? As always, click to enlarge...