Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hungry for green.


We live in a city of 8 million.  It is noisy, crowded and sometimes the air is polluted.  There are beautiful parks and we live near a river, but we spend most of our time in the "city" part of the city.  We did just get back from two weeks in the beautiful grasslands of Hulun Beier, and that fed my soul in wonderful ways.  But the hunger for  green is always there and we were excited when we were invited to be part of a group that went out to the Shen Yang Botanical Gardens.
This morning, 14 adults ranging in ages from early twenties to around sixty, and five children ranging from 8 months to about eight years old, got on the long distance bus to the Gardens. Amazingly, we all got seats, which was great since the Gardens are about an hour away.  It rained hard last night but was clear and beautiful today.
We entered on the Chinese side of the park and were immediately surrounded by beautiful flowers.

Brown eyed daisies, day lily's and coneflowers!  Reminded me of  Missouri.







Beautiful little sub-gardens for different part of China.  We got in a little trouble for taking a picture of Chairman Mao as it was a place for people to post and pay to have their picture taken.  We didn't know and felt a little bad.


  
Lunch- chicken feet or peanut butter and jelly 都  可以。



Through the woodlands- green, green, green.



Water



Resting on the big, swinging hammocks.  



Cross this bridge at your own risk- no warning sign!



Warning sign for the signs for bridges across the water.  Good practical advice- Be careful and act in accordance with your own strength!


Bridges across the water.



We ignored this part of the park.



On to the children's park.



Where the "children" played.



Any of our Columbia friend's recognize this woman?



Apparently it takes a village to change a diaper.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day.  We enjoyed the garden, enjoyed being with our friends and their really fun kids and enjoyed meeting some new friends.  We are hoping to go back in the Fall to really see some fall colors and renew our need for nature again.





2 comments:

India said...

I LOVE 都可以 and I too use it often. It's easier than saying "Either is fine" or "Both are good" and it sounds a little better than "Whatever". Fun times!

Jessica Stock said...

This looks like a wonderful day! I got to visit China when I was single and so it is really fun for me to read your blog! I found the language and getting around so challenging- you seem to be mastering it well!