After Abi left for school this morning I went for a walk.....I took my camera with me to keep me entertained....this is what I saw...

Out the elevator and into the lobby...
Past the mail boxes....ours is on the right on the top row
out the back door....
to the walking path that connects our buildings...
this path goes past three buildings...
drivers lined up waiting for passengers....
bikes bikes and more bikes....

Ah...we are now on the street...
walking toward the ferry station and the river front...
entrance to the river park....


path to the river park...
basketball court on the river....not much basketball being played today....mostly just sitting..
ah....the river...

the view from the river....
people excercising and visiting....

This guy is popping up all over town...he is the mascot for the world expo that will be held in Shanghai in 2010..

more river...

river park with the city scape behind...
in the park....
big ships passing....

axelias blooming....makes me a bit home sick...
back on the street....the river walkway is not finished so you have to exit several times along the way....
back to the river walk....

trees are very pretty.....
workmen on the river walk..
more green things...

park decorations....
a lighthouse.....
metal trees with feet...

exit the walk way again onto "pee street"....this is our nick name for this section of street because the taxi drivers like to stop here and use the bushes.....gross!!!!
on the street again...
construction work on the new tunnel....

bus station....

construction work around the bus station...

more work....
more construction....
second ferry station....people getting ready to board...

more buses...
floating restaurant...
city scape....

pedestrian walkway....
City shop....our import grocery store...
back side of the river park...

on the street for a while longer....
up the stairs....
ah....the river again.......with a huge white ship passing a smaller red ship...

watching the river...
resturants and ....coffee shops!!..do you recogonize those green umberllias?
STARBUCKS!....no time to stop today....

More resturants....
and.....a very small McDonalds...
outdoor seating for ice cream.....

this is the newest section of the river front walkway...
more outdoor seating...
view of The Bund.....

more green space....
the world globe building....
the river bend.....

the end of the walk way.....time to turn around....
Wow!...there are a lot of tall buildings here....
more of the river....

looks very different going this direction...
ah....almost home....these are our buildings in the background...
more green space...

back on the road again.....
our street.....
more of our street....and now back to the lobby....

Happy Mothers Day

Special wishes to our moms.....

Thelma Fitch and Pat Spofford!!

Abi and I got up early (6:30am) this morning and went to Jinqiao to meet some other people for breakfast and then we all went for a long walk. The weather was beautiful and it was refreshing to have clean air and blue sky.

Abi was a really good sport to get up so early on a non-school day.

This is the area where we walk. There is a canal with walk ways on both sides. On one side of the canal is the Thomson Golf course where the BMW Open was held a few weeks ago.

Ceyda, Abi , and Kathy
Mother and Daughter....aaaahhhhh!

Hello from Shanghai

Brunch at Xiantindi


Yep! We had breakfast twice today!

Happy Mothers Day everyone!

I am sitting at the computer in our living room looking out the window.....its a pretty nice day....three bridges and a very slight outline of a factory. The river is full of ships....I just counted 96. This is a very busy river! Did I mention that a ship shank while we were gone to Malaysia? It is still sitting in the same place. A very large crane appeared on Monday so maybe they are thinking about trying to move it.....I will keep you posted...

Tim is on his way to Vancouver on Friday. His last trip was cancelled at the last minute because of urgent business issues and this trip has been pushed back one day already...hmmmm....I wonder if he will get to go? I know he is looking forward to seeing Tucker and being at home for a day! The rest of his time will be spent in Texas. We all made a "wish list" for him....including Xiao Zhang. She went through our cupboards and made of list of things we need. I love her!!! When we came home from Malaysia she had taken my winter clothes out of my closet and put all the summer ones in. Oh my gosh!....I am getting soooooo spoiled!

Yesterday I took a break from "teacher" and attended a workshop to be the "student"! I like being the student best!!! We made transportable quilting workstations. Basically they are a padded book that has a place to iron, cut, and trace. Inside the "book" is a cutting mat, a piece of sand paper and a clear sheet of plastic to protect the sand paper. I bet you are wondering what quilters need sand paper for..right??? I have never used it but apparently it works very well to hold your fabric in place while you draw applique patterns.....who knew? I think it will be very handy....

Here we are hard at work.....
More work....
Ta-Dah! All finished!!!
Most of these are traditional fabrics from China or were purchased in Korea. BTW....we are planning another trip to Korea in the fall! Yippee!!!

Quilting class on Monday...

Students busy working on their blocks...


We are making a row quilt so we can learn lots of different techniques....each row has a different block....some are traditional (blah!) and some are more free form (yeah!). This week we made the flying goose block which is a very traditional block and can be used to create some very interesting designs.

Concordia (Abi's school) had an auction to raise money for the school and for a variety of charities....

Tom, Mike, Tim, and Brian.....Wow! These guys clean up very nicely!

Tim and Deb....

The event was held at the Shangri-la Hotel and we spent the night at the hotel because we were childless for the evening....Abi had a sleep over and a baby sitting date.

Day Five...leaving the island and returning to KL....

Sights from our trip to the airport at Kota Kinabalu

Beautiful waterways...
Government building.....
with a contrast of houses on the river....
Many... many...Amazing Mosque(s)
Overlooking the city of Kota Kinabalu

Abi and Tim...


Arrive in KL.....

City scape....note the twin towers on the right...
We only had one evening in KL and we did not waste time in the hotel.....We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner (we needed an American food fix), found the Hard Rock Cafe so Abi could buy a T-shirt, went to Starbucks for a very large ice tea (it was very hot and muggy in KL) and then we went to Central Marketplace and the night market. This is a great place to buy traditional handicrafts from Malaysia and surrounding countries.....

Then it was back to the Petronas Twin Towers (our hotel was just a few blocks from here) to see it at night......WOW!!!


Abi and I in front of the towers....

Fun Facts about the towers...they are

88 stories tall and the walkway is on the 41st story.

There is a huge shopping mall in the bottom of the towers....Oh darn!

Abi found two dresses...one for prom and one for the next dance...when ever that is! I was very happy to have them purchased and ready and waiting for the next occasion!!!!!!!!!!! We started calling her "27 Dresses" (plus or minus 25).

Party dresses....
Dress details....
Abi also bought this T-shirt at the night market. It must get a little smoggy in KL like it does in Shanghai.....too funny!!!!

Day Six....

We left our hotel at 6:15 this morning and we arrived in Shanghai at 2:30 this afternoon. We all went for a foot message and Abi studied for her SAT.

Tim has a golf date tomorrow morning (very early) and Abi will be leaving the house at 7:00am for her test. I think I will sleep in and play with my new fabrics...

Day Four in Malaysia....

Tim went golfing this morning and Abi drove his cart.....I think she was feeling "the need for speed!".

This afternoon we swam and then went to the nature reserve. The reserve is very close to our hotel and was created to rehabilitate monkeys that have been captured and domesticated.

Trivia question......How do you spell O-rang-a-tang?
Answer....Orang Utan No kidding!!! It is two words and that is the correct spelling. It means "man of the forest" I know you were very curious about this.....right?

Anyway...the reserve takes young Orang Utans and teaches them to live on their own in the wild. They come to this reserve first (64 acres of jungle) and learn to feed themselves and live on their own and then they are transferred to another reserve if they pass rehabilitation. I can hear it now.... "Hello, my name is Johnny Orang Utan....and...I am have been feeding myself for three months." (Can you tell it is late? I think I might be a little jet lagged.) We hiked into the jungle a very short distance and found several small gray monkeys and three Orang Utans. The ranger said there are 7 Orang Utans in this reserve. The three we saw are all about three years old and OH MY GOSH.....they are soooooooooooo cute!!! I wanted to brake one of them out of rehabilitation and bring him home with me. To heck with a handbag puppy.....I want a handbag Orang Utan!!!

Sooooooo cute!!!

Are you sure you want to be rehabilitated?????

Their view from the jungle...maybe this is not such a bad place to be rehabilitated...
Just "hanging" out together...
We decided to leave the "babies" in the jungle...

then and we went for a cold drink and a game of cards.....

Another full day on the island..