Hot Weather

Not really envying two of my daughters right now.  They are pregnant.  The heat has to be hard on them and on the babies.  It's been so hot.  And it's staying that way.  It's hard for me to imagine that the temperatures in Idaho are hoovering around 100 degrees.  I expect that type of weather here in Asia but must admit I was usually cold when I lived in Idaho.  I did purchase an air conditioning unit for the month of August but it didn't get this hot.  It's been 100 degrees+ here in Hangzhou.  Fortunately we live on the river and have a nice breeze most of the time.  Today, we were blessed with clear skies.  I could see to the mountains in both directions.  Hangzhou is a beautiful place.  I am told that Macro Polo stated that "Hangzhou was heaven on earth."

One of the great paths in our garden

The gates to our apartment

Playground 

exercise area

 I love the flowers, the streets here are lined with rose bushes.  Every day, Chloe and I, walk in the gardens here at our complex.  It has lovely brick lined paths.  They don't mow here, they use a weed whip to keep the grass short.  There are all types of flowers that line the walk ways.  It's a beautiful place to walk.  The flowers on the left remind me of KC's wedding.  Almost the same color.  I have been chatting with a nice woman from India, she has two wonderful children, a girl and a boy.  The little girl seems quite taken with Chloe.

 We were also greeted today by two golden retrievers.  They were beautiful dogs, very clean and well groomed.  Typical golden retrievers, very curious and full of energy.  I thought one of them was going to pull it's owner right off the ground. Fortunately, they were on leashes not a usual occurrence here. I am constantly afraid that Chloe will get free and run off.  With the traffic here I doubt

she could avoid being hit by a car.  There are a lot of dogs here that roam free so I also worry about her being attacked by them, something that happens when she is with me, when it does occur, I reach down and pick her up!  She loves to smell all the different areas of our daily walk, I like to imagine her thinking "Hmm, Harry must have been by here earlier today" I am not sure why I wonder what my dog is thinking but she sure is amusing.  She makes life so fun!  And she waits patiently every day for her two walks with me.  I am very grateful to have such a good dog!

The skies here are sunny and bright.  I can even see blue in the sky today.  The smog here is usually so great that I usually can't see that far out of my windows.  Although it is still hazy you can see the bridge not far from our apartment building.

And this wonderful picture of our apartment building shows the beautiful blue sky. Our building flows across the sky.  We have 3 balconies and since we are on the 26th floor we have quite the view on beautiful days like today.

We found a Papa John's pizza recently.  finally pizza that tastes like home!  We have already eaten there twice this week.  There is a Pizza Hut here in Hangzhou but it tastes like China.  Papa John's really tastes like American pizza.  McDonald's is just like home expect for their shakes, very thin, watery and artificial tasting. The ice cream is go though.  Kentucky Fried Chicken is better here in China then it was in Rexburg and they recently have begun to serve mashed potatoes!  Such a treat.  Buying groceries is expensive here.  We spend about $500 U.S. on meat, flour, sugar.  Vegetables can be cheap depends on what it is.  We have fruit and vegetable markets right outside the gates of our apartment so it makes it very convenient to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables every day. (A little bit of a pain, to have to do it so often but very fresh) If you go in the morning right after they get their deliveries you have a great selection.

I knit another pair of booties, this time green with peach flower centers and white daises. I have downloaded Saartje's bootees as well as Christine's baby booties to try next.  I am currently working on the Divine Ms M for Elizabeth. I plan to watch some more Call the Midwife and knit for the rest of the day.