Here’s an update on the garden, if you’re into that sort of thing. I had thought that it hadn’t grown that much in a week, but when I looked back at the old picture – I could see the growth.

Grow Garden Grow!

I was a little too happy to find this tomato.

This little cucumber must have been growing for days, but I didn’t see him because he was hiding under a leaf. He’s about two or so inches long.

My blackberry bushes have flowered and are now starting to produce berries. They are all green berries at the moment, but they’ll turn red and then black soon. I can’t wait. I love blackberries.

My little kitty, Morgan, is always hungry.  She climbs the screen on the door when she’s starving.

Another self portrait. I think I look better in black and white.

Just in case you wanted to know, there is a new pano listed in the photo section.  Click on the photo tab at the top of this page, then panoramas, and in the list of panos, you will see Goodale Park.  Enjoy.

Phil and I wondered off into the middle of nowhere and found ourselves at Goodale State Park. We thought we were going somewhere new, but as soon as we entered the gates, we discovered we had been there several years ago. It’s a pretty place and it’s free, so we weren’t too terribly upset.

We walked down to the water to get some pictures of the really unique trees, when we noticed that the grass was moving. At first, I thought what I was seeing was lots of insects jumping around, but then I figured it out. The grass was alive with hundreds of little, itty, bitty, baby frogs. We actually had to stand in one place, for we were afraid that one step would smush four or five of the little critters.

I bent down and picked one up, and had Phil take a few pictures. It was quite difficult. The little frog kept wanting to jump off my hand or up my arm. I don’t blame him, though. He probably thought I was trying to eat him.

He finally sat still long enough for Phil to get a half decent photo, but it took a number of tries. Thank goodness I have a digital camera, or I would have wasted a roll of film.

“Oh, please, don’t squish me, ” the little frog said.

You are just going to have to forgive me. I’m a tomboy and I like to play in the dirt. Focus on the frog, and forget the dirt under my nails.

I got bored. And then my batteries died.

I’m not particularly fond of any them. I just thought I would post some pictures.

I couldn’t decide if I liked this one . . .

or this one better. Eh. Neither one is fantastic or anything.

And this one isn’t fantastic either. I don’t really know why I am posting it.

This Wisteria was not cooperating with me or my camera.

I would have taken more photos, but Phil looked perturbed.

I don’t know why, but I really like this one.

Phil and I were driving around one Sunday. We managed to drive to Camden, SC somehow.

I thought this sign was interesting. I’m not sure why there is an Indian on it.

I went over to my Aunt’s house to attend our family Easter dinner. When I got done eating, I went outside with my camera and started taking pictures of the pretty flowers blooming in the back yard. Since I am not entirely sure what these plants were called, I haven’t included their names in this post. I’m not a botanist, so shoot me. And since I can’t think of catchy lines to describe each and every flower I have listed below, I’m just gonna let you look at them and go, “Aww.”

Phil and I took a trip to Sesquicentennial State Park this past Sunday. The last time we were there, it was freezing outside, and a dog was swimming around in the lake trying to catch the geese minding their own business. He must have swam around for a half an hour trying to catch those geese before he gave up. For a while, I thought we were going to have to call the fire department to swim out and save the dog. It was a rather funny sight. It would have made one of those funny animal TV shows for sure.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures on Sunday. There wasn’t a whole lot to take pictures of really – just a lake, the geese, and the trees. Since I hardly ever put any pictures up anymore,(besides that of my baby plants) I thought I would put up at least the two that I took and liked. I wish the Downy Woodpecker that I saw had been closer to me. He was just too far away for my camera to properly focus on him. Maybe next time.

A lake side view.

A close up.

The following pictures are from our little excursion to the Taiwan Folk Village during our May Holiday. I apologize in advance if they suck. Five minutes after we arrived, my camera decided to collect all the moisture that Xiamen has to offer(which is a a lot) in the very center of my lens. Luckily, Phil had his camera, but then his battery decided to die half way through the day. I don’t think God wanted us taking pictures or something, but somehow, we ended up with a few decent photos. Take a gander and enjoy.

Religious figurines chilling on a hill.

This little moth attacked Phil’s foot before we headed into the village and wouldn’t get off. Phil shook his foot real hard too. So, I coaxed him on to my finger and lead him to safety. Hopefully, he liked the bush I chose for him.

This little guy just doesn’t know how to play fetch.

There were countless statues all over the place.

Lantana. It’s every where I look in Xiamen. A very pretty flower.

More religious offerings. This would make a super cool bird bath.

Buddha. Enough said.

I’ve never stood so close to a Tiger before. If you can see through the ring cloud, you should be able to notice the cataract in his left eye. Poor thing. I thought at first that they were just letting him sit there without any chains and that made me super nervous as I took the picture. However, I saw later that there was a very short, older than sin chain that attached his neck to the table – which somehow didn’t make me feel any better. I have a feeling he could have easily dragged the table with him as he made the crowd of on-lookers his dinner.

Once again, if you can see through the fog that is my lens, you might be able to tell that this is no ordinary leaf. It’s actually a butterfly. We found him in a building called butterfly world. It is the best place to go to get photos of butterflies – if your camera is willing to cooperate. I thought it was pretty cool looking.

If I had been on the other side of the road, this picture would have turned out better. All things considered though, it didn’t turn out to shabby.

Lantana over-taking the beast.

Popcorn clouds. We never had this many blue skies in Fuyang. Never.

Most everything in the village was man-made, but it was still impressive.

Everyone thought it was normal for the local Chinese to get a picture with the gigantic Taiwanese statue, but when the laowai decided to do it – everyone had to stop and stare as if I were doing something wrong or exotic.

One of the best pictures to come out of day. No matter where we go in China – there always seems to be stairs in the way of my destination. You would think that I had gotten used to them by now, but no, I still hate them as equally if not more than before I got to China.

Here is that moth chilling on Phil’s shoe. I think Phil could have walked all throughout the village and he never would have budged.

Probably the cause of the moisture attacking my lens.

Pretty mountain side.

Actually, I take that back, I’m pretty sure this was the shot that destroyed my camera for the day. If you forgive my finger intruding on the left over there – the picture didn’t turn out half bad.

That’s the Beach Road and the ocean relaxing in the background.

I’ve been trying for days to get these uploaded, but it seems that Blogger hates me no matter what city I am in. I kept getting a timed out error every time I tried to upload them. I’m guess it has more to do with my sucky internet here than anything. It is very difficult downloading things as well. The files always get corrupted. If the internet was just a wee bit better, Phil and I could use the Slingbox he bought off Woot to watch all of our TV shows from home, but no. Our internet sucks just enough for the Slingbox not to work properly, and I seriously mean, just enough. It’s very aggravating. Well, here they are – a few more pictures of relaxing and beautiful Wanshi Botanical Gardens.

When I go home, it will be things like this that I miss – The architecture of China. Even the simplest things are beautiful.

The incense was very strong here. These little guys were all sitting in a little alcove in the rock face. It was a worship site of some sort.

We tried really hard to get out of the park before the sun set, but we got lost. But hey, we at least got a pretty picture of it as if fell behind this building.

Whenever I can get close enough to one, you better believe I take a picture. All Chinese cats run for the hills when I even think of wanting to pet one. Since coming to China, I’ve had to remind myself that not all kitties and puppies are safe. The first cat we ran into in Wanshi must have had rabies or something cause the damn thing tried to attack me. It could barely walk, but it definitely had murder in its eyes. Thank God I had a water bottle in my hand. I used it as a shield to give me and Phil enough room to run the other way. The cat actually tried to pursue us but gave up after awhile. Really, really creepy I say.

I really liked this picture until Phil said, “It would be perfect if it wasn’t for that.” The that that he was mentioning was the piece of trash chilling on the lily pad. When I took the picture, I didn’t even notice it.

During May Week, Phil and I decided not to try and fight the billion and one other people trying to travel, so we stayed in Xiamen for our vacation instead. During our time we went to many of the tourist spots Xiamen has to offer including the Wanshi Botanical Gardens. It is a very beautiful place and much larger than I thought it would be. The entire time I was walking around and up the mountain side – I had a hard time believing I was actually still in the middle of Xiamen because it sure as heck didn’t feel like it. Here are some of the pictures that we took. If you get a chance, I would go. Bring nice walking/hiking shoes with you if you to walk the entirety of the the park. It’s that large.

Oh, and watch out for creepy looking, possibly infected cats with rabies. One tried to attack me, but I’m not sure if he was old or sick. I’m just glad he wasn’t able to bite me and have me find out the hard way. I get shivers just thinking about it.

The rain forest mist and the rays of the sun. I say rain forest because it was all an elaborate hoax to make you feel like you were somewhere you weren’t. There were sprinkler heads every where spitting out mist to give it that rain forest feel. It was called Rainforest Valley or something like that and made me laugh.

The Spider Flower of Death! Heh. It was purple. It was pretty. I took a picture. 🙂

For a second, I thought that this odd looking wall of fog was coming to get me like that mysterious, evil smoke that likes to kill people n “Lost”. But then I remembered it was just the massive amounts of mist being sprayed from the army of sprinkler heads.

If you look closely, you can see the outline of the mosquito that Phil slapped dead.

A pretty purple flower lily.