CARMEN LEE--LIFE IS NOT A VACATION, IT IS A JOURNEY

Day 87, "Every picture has a story"

One day in January of 2013 I received an e mail which advertised a great deal on a trip to China.  I asked Terry if she wanted to go to China and see the great wall.  She said, "If I can have a glass of wine on the wall!"  I said you are in and we made plans.  We drove to Washington D C in mid April hoping to see the cherry blossoms as we prepared to fly to China.  They were late and one lady said she had been in Washington for over 20 years and she had NEVER seen them so late.  Such was our luck and little did we know that luck, in some form, would follow us to China!  Before I get into details I want to say I am so glad we went and seeing China and the Great Wall was a wonderful experience BUT the trip did have it's downs!  We stayed with friends, Bruce and Anita, the night before we flew out.  They again picked us up when we returned which was so so nice.  We flew to Toronto Canada and and then flew non stop to China which was about a 14 hour trip.  I will NOT go into many details BUT the trip was one to remember for sure.  As you can see, we did have a glass of wine on the wall so that was good.  The air in China was perhaps the worst I have ever seen.  On some of our day trips the smell of the streets etc was BAD.  As we were leaving for the airport to fly home we were in a mini bus.  I looked out the window and there was a guy on a small motor bike in traffic with exhaust so thick one would think it was foggy.  I said to myself I wonder how long that guy will live!  Some of the "not so good" stuff on our trip was getting sick and missing a leg of our trip, having our tour pretty much stop at a different place each day and then being asked to BUY and then the ride home!!!  It was a non-stop flight from Beijing (I think that was the city we left from) which put us in the air for 15 hours.  It was a Chinese airline so of course they served things like pickled eggs etc. and in the seat behind us was a mother with a toddler who pretty much cried all the way only to go to sleep as the plane started to descend for the landing in Washington DC!  So we have been to China and experienced the wall, walked around Tiananmen Square in cold weather and chilly wind and seen much of the culture in China.  Oh we also saw the "Bird Nest' stadium that was for the Olympic games.  The food trucks outside the stadium---do not eat that food!  It was a time to remember and a time to forget some of the experience.

Home delivery, maybe from Target?

the nest

I suspect the protein may have been rat rib meat!!!

Taxi? 

How about a 1300 mile hike?

A cool start to the second Friday of 2019.  Tennis at 10:30 so it should actually be nice to play.  Had 1:30 tennis yesterday and except for the wind it was nice.  Not a lot is happening.  I did get in a swim yesterday in our pool.  The water was nice but it was a bit nippy when I got out.  I had my super duper breakfast sandwich for the second day in a row this morning.  That may be enough for a while.  

We took out a 20 pound turkey today to allow it to defrost as we will make it for our villa party next week.  Terry and I will be doing villa parties in January, February, March and April of this season.  We usually get 25-35 people coming and it is always a fun time.  It is kind of strange as most people here are retired but yet so many of us seem to be busy and visiting is not in the mix much of the time so parties are a time to connect and visit.

Saturday I have a short team gathering, Monday a team practice and then it all starts on Wednesday.  I THINK I have compiled a fairly good team.  Regardless of winning or losing I know we will be competitive and have a fun time.  With the experience of one season at 3.0 and several players who take tennis seriously in terms of improving I have expectations.  Now I know that so many times expectations lead to disappointment but then if you have NO expectations what is there to gain or lose?  In case brother Dave reads this don't worry, I will have fun!!!

I just drank the last drop of FP so time to move on for the day.