Memorial Day...

Hi again:

I am sick today.  I have not eaten at all today.  I have a stomach bug.  I have a bad stomach ache.  I apparently have a stomach bug.  As I write this it is 5:20 pm today.  Nothing eaten at all today.

The picture one of the teachers' problem.

I slept last  night and then slept again this morning.  I then slept again this afternoon.  I guess this is what being sick entails.

I am not feeling well at all.

I hopefully will be better tomorrow.  I want to mow the lawn today, but I cannot do it today.

I want to go the library tomorrow also. 

Not much happening today...obviously.

Steven



Sunday today

Hi again:

It is Sunday of the 3 day weekend.  It rained earlier today so I stayed home.

I finished reading The Jefferson Key last night. It is quite the page-turner and I may read the last 50 again to make sure I got everything. 

I am reading on my Kindle today.  I am reading articles I put on it. I finished four of them today.  I will go the library on Tuesday to pick up some books there. 

I leave for China on June 15 and it will take me 29 hours to get to Kunming. I have an eight hour layover in Beijing.  I hope I got through Customs in Beijing.  When I get to Kunming I can get off the plane without going through customs there.

I will continue this blog once I get to China.  I will take quite a pictures to post here so you can see what Kunming looks like. 

I may go to Xi'an to see some friends there. 

The two pictures here are again optical illusions. 

Tomorrow I will start up the grill to make some hamburgers.

Have a good holiday weekend.

Steven



Back here on H

Hello:

These pictures are optical illusions, obviously.

I have not written much the last few days as I could not type right with my right index finger in gauze and tape.

The cut was very bad but now it is healing.  It hurts if I touch something in the wrong manner.

I am still reading The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry.  It is a good book and I may spend the weekend reading if the rain continues. 

If we get a nice day I will mow our lawn again. 

Not much else happening here, but hope you enjoy our coming 3-day weekend.

Steven



M here

Hi:

What do students think?  More tomorrow.

I am reading The Jefferson Key.  It is a good book, a great page turner.

I cut my index finger opening a can of cream of mushroom soup. The lid would not open all of the way so I took a knife to open the lid and used my right hand. As it did not open easily so the more I pulled on it; it then bounced back, cutting my finger deeply. It happened more than two hours ago and my finger is still bleeding. The cut was not deep, more of a deep scraping into the skin.  It still hurts and makes typing problematic.

I made shrimp and rice dinner tonight.  The cream of mushroom soup was the filler for the shrimp.

Have a good week.

Steven

Sunday today...

Hi again:

The top picture is another grave marker.  The bottom picture explains itself if you look at it closer.

I am still reading The Sixth Man. It is not a page-turner like most of Baldacci books, but is a good book.

I will finish the book today, then on to another book. So much to read and so little time to do it. 

It is not raining today so I went to Starbucks to get some coffee there. I asked whether their gift cards work in Starbucks in China. The young coffee maker said yes, but I doubt it.  Starbucks in China is owned by a different company.  Plus black coffee in China costs so much more than in the U.S.  A big cup of black coffee costs over $3.00 in China but only costs me $1.50 in Stayton Starbucks.

I am taking a five pound bag of coffee beans with me in a suitcase.  I will buy a coffee grinder in China to grind my own coffee there. 

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.

Steven

Weekend is here...





Hi again:

Yet another grave marker.  Probably in New Orleans.

I have been listening to podcasts this morning but after lunch I am going to read my book. 

Some of my clothes are outside on the cloths line. 

My Kindle has been using too much battery power, running down to next to nothing in a week. It should be lasting a month between charges.  I heard a comment on the Kindle Chronicles podcast this morning to reset my Kindle to see how that works. So I did this and now it is charging.  I hope to see my Kindle back to normal soon.

I do hope your weekend goes well.

Steven



H eve now...

Hello again:

Here are two more grave markers that explain themselves.

I have The Jefferson Key waiting for me at the library. I may go there tonight or tomorrow to pick this book and three others waiting for me. 

I want to get into The Sixth Man before going to the library.

I bought a new pair of 501 jeans today to take with me to China. I washed them today and will start wearing them tomorrow.

Tonight we go through Part B of the long poem for the seventh time.  We seem to find mistakes every time we have the Kindle read it to us.  We shall see tonight if we find more wrong words or mistakes.

Nice day again today, but I hear rain is coming back for the weekend.

Steve

Mid-week or Hump Day...



Hello:

These are actual grave markers, both you can see for yourself.

I am now reading The Sixth Man.  I am only about three to four pages into it.  I will get into it deeper tonight.

I was busy today, first editing the second part of the poem and then working with my client, who is Southern California and will not get back here until the middle of June.  He will get back just around the time I am heading to China.

I am not eating dinner these days; I am eating my lunch later in the afternoon these days.

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

U now...

Hi again:

These are pictures of the world's largest plane, made in Russia.  It certainly is big.

I am now reading a New Yorker article from 1987 on the Mississippi River.  It is about the Old River system and the Atchafalaya River that tried to capture the big river and send the water down it.  Locks were put in to keep the big river in its channel. 

I re-worked the poem again today.  We will go over it again tonight for another time.  Once we finished it I will put together with Parts 1 and Part C.  Then it will be all together.  We will listen to it again in its full form. This is the longest of the three poems, twice as long as the other two.

I went to the library today to pick up The Sixth Man, a new novel by David Baldacci. He is my favorite mystery writer. 

Hope your week is going well.

Steven

Early in the week...

Hi again:

This picture speaks for itself.  Wonder where this is?

I worked on the second part of the poem all day today, putting in periods and commas at the end of each line.  I also made corrections that Nolan made over the weekend.  I did change some words in it too.

Reading the last story in Apologies Forthcoming.  All of these stories are so interesting as some take place just after the C.R. ended, but the last three are happening during it.  Some are sad, others are not so sad. None are funny.  But it is such a good book.

I have another David Baldacci book waiting for me at the library.  I will pick it up tomorrow. 

Not much else happening here.

Steve

Raining today...

Hi:

This is the Three Gorges Dam in China or the Three Georges Dam as one newspaper called it in its English version of the newspaper.  China had to move over 2 million people for the big lake behind this lake.  Unlike here, people in China got very little for their farms as the private contractor and the government tried to keep the money away from the people.

And to think the government in China calls it national congress The Peoples' Congress.  What a joke: no one is elected to that congress as all are appointed by the local communist officials. 

I am reading  book of short stories based in China.  Apologies Forthcoming is authored by a Chinese author who now lives in the United States with her husband and family.  She grew up on Chongqing. The stories are all set during the Cultural Revolution (the "Ten Disastrous Years, as the Chinese call it) or within a few years after it ended in 1976 with the death of Mao, the world's worst dictator.  The short stories are so very good in this book. I got this book on my Kindle and it so easy to read. I recommend this book to every one.

The author also has a blog called Inside-Outside China and I read it every week.

Enjoy the remaining hours of our weekend.

Steve

The weekend nears...

Hi:

I have not been able to post here due to maintenance by this blogger site.

This picture shows andromeda, one of the earliest blooming plants in the spring.  I know the name of this plant as we had two of them at our home when I was married. 

I have been busy this week, working a Kindle project.  We now have part 1 and part C of the long poem by the late Raymond Geraths. This is the third poem we are getting ready to publish this on the Kindle page.  This poem is Sanctification.  We have previously published Creation and Redemption.  These three poems are religious in nature as Ray was a strong Catholic.

If you have a Kindle look for the first two poems on the Kindle page.  If you have a Kindle 3 you can have it read to you.  This is a good way to read a long poem. 

I am now reading Fire in the Hole, the short story by Elmore Leonard.  This story story is basis the TV show Justification.   I want to see what the story says and compare it to the TV show.  It is one of my favorite TV shows. At the end of this season, its second, three of the main characters were killed.  I wonder what next season will bring.  I will have to find the DVDs of the show in China.

Have a good weekend.

Steven

Sunday today...

Hi:

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers who read this blog. 

I did finish Postcards from Tomorrow's Square last night. It is a good book on China. I recommend to everyone.

I have three books here to read, but I have not decided which one to read next.

The picture here is an elk crossing in Alberta. Canada.  It was made for the elk.  They have adapted to it quite nicely. You may have to click on it to get a bigger picture.

Have a nice day.

Steven

Weekend is here...

Hello:

Another picture from across the street.  Very pretty flowers.

The weekend is here. 

I am making some special candy. I am letting the mixture cool for four hours now before I make it into balls. Chocolate, heavy whipping cream and bourbon.   I will roll each ball into crushed cashews.  I was suppose to find pecans but Safeway did not have any of those nuts.

I nearly at the end of Postcards from Tomorrow Square. I do not know what I am going to read next.

I am going to Mass tomorrow morning.  I do not believe much of what the church teaches but I feel I must get back to attending Mass.  Go figure...

I do hope your weekend is going well.

Steve

Weekend nears

Hi:

This picture is across the street from us.  I don't know what the white flowers are but the red ones are obviously tulips. 

The weekend is near.  What are your plans?  I may see if there are any garage sales around here tomorrow.

I am more than half way through Postcards from Tomorrow's Square.  It is a good book but the stories are from 2006 and 2007.  The author is coming out with a new book on China.  I will get it as soon as it comes out.

It has been wet here the past two days.  It is not raining right now but it sure likes like it could start again soon.

Hope your weekend goes well.

Steve

H today...

Hi:

It is early spring now.  I was nice for a few days but today it is spitting rain.  I was going to mow the lawn today but the spitting rain stops that plan.

I am about half way through Postcards from Tomorrow's Square.  Good stories on China.

I am making chili later today. I have all I need to make it now.

We are working on Raymond Geraths third long epic poem.  Unlike the first two epic poems, this one is over 90 pages long.  I broke it down into three parts to be easier to edit.  We have edited the first two parts but part two needs further editing.  We will be doing that later this weekend. 

I am wearing my cowboy boots today. I am thinking of wearing them on my 20 hour flight to China in the middle of June.  I will wear my boots all day today to see how they feel to wear for along time.

Have a good week.

Steve

Yet another nice day...

Hi:

This picture shows some tulips among my garlic.  My peas are far to the right of this picture, but not shown.

I am now reading Postcards from Tomorrow's Square: Stories of China by James Fallows.  I got this book on my Kindle about two years ago and I am now reading it.  This book is a series of articles he wrote for The Atlantic magazine. Read two stories so far. One on some the billionaires in China.  The second article was a reality show on China TV, called Win in China.  A very stupid show as far as I can tell.

In six weeks I leave for China.  I am leaving on June 15. 

Hope this week goes well for everyone who reads this.

Steven

Sunny day for Sunday...

Hi:

This picture is me early in the morning. I am wearing my long blue robe. 

It was very sunny today and will be sunny this week. This is good...finally.

I am not reading a book at this moment.  I will start a new one tonight.

I froze some prunes last fall and now they unthawing. I will cook them up as I love cook prunes.  I found some frozen strawberries in my freezer.  I eat them on my cereal in the morning. 

Not much else happening here.

Steve