Horrible slimey thing in the kitchen

It was hanging from the ceiling by a gooey thread but by the time I had got the camera it had dropped to the floor. We've been getting great fat slugs as well, but a line of salt by the back door has literally stopped them in their tracks. Slugs I can handle - I chuck 'em back in the garden usually, but these flatworms, no - they have to die... 

Our neighbour's construction project

Bang! bang! bang! Drill! Drill! Bang! Bang!.....The nightmare begins. Notice the condition of the brick wall on the first (ground) floor - that was built only a year ago but it looks like a 20-year-old wall. You can see the previous landlord in one of the pictures smearing cement over the outside of the wall. He only did that because it rained heavily and rainwater leaked into his kitchen. This 2-storey metal box will be rented out to university students according to the workers who are building it.

Take aim......

A trip to the market to buy maternity clothes.  

Xiao-jen's baby girl

The following pictures are of Xiao-jen's baby girl. Xiao-jen and her husband own a tea shop restaurant nearby. We go there quite a lot for lunch and J plays with Xiao-jen's niece. I posted these pics here so they could have a copy for themselves. Actually, I've since helped them set up their own photo blog (click here.)

This pic is slightly out of focus, unfortunately, but I think it's still a nice pic. 


Cute - and chubby! 


Xiao-jen's baby girl a month (or two?) later... 


Sorry, this one is not focused properly. 


This is Xiao-jen's baby. 

Jason collage

Another collage of J pics. 

Terra Rossa in Da-du

K probably won't thank me for posting a pic of her bottom for the world to see, but I really took this to show the characteristically red stony earth of the area (this part of Da-du, which literally means 'big tummy', is not so far from the Dong-Hai area). 

Can't resist wild flowers

These are pretty hardy flowers. You find them growing anywhere. I ought to find out what they're called. 

Look yonder!

J was a bundle of energy on the trail, nimbly scampering along and chattering the whole time. 

Over the hills and far away

It doesn't look very exciting but the hills of Da-du made a nice change from the type of vegetation that you normally get on hiking trails in central Taiwan. I could hear many kinds of birds but unfortunately I wasn't able to identify them. Next time I must bring the binocs. Saw a hawk hovering and then go into a dive and we also saw a large eagle gliding about. 

Puff, pant...

Just a little bit further. Actually, K did amazingly well considering the weighty cargo she was carrying. 

The "Great Wall" trail of Da-du

K posing with the [ahem] so-called "Wall of China" path snaking off into the distance behind her. 

Hiking in Da-du

It's Sunday. The weather's nice. So what do you do? You head out into the hills of Da-du is what you do. We had a little trouble finding the start of the trail and ended up driving up a very bumpy trail and having to reverse back down some of the way which was a little adventure of its own. The trail is not very well known as it was only built last year. This is a good thing. I suppose it won't be long before it's discovered and then people will be arriving in busloads probably, which will attract the street vendors and the BBQ litterbugs.  

Mullberry scarecrow

Mullberry picking again. Wouldn't you just know it my camera battery died (I still haven't got round to getting a spare) soon after we arrived but I did get this nice shot. Lillian, Jocelyn and Willy helped us pick two large bucketfuls. K cooked some up in a big pot and I had some covered with plain drinking yoghurt. 

Moo!

I am saying nothing about this picture, except that I took it at Chung Uni campus. I'll just let your mind boggle.... 

Strawberry stinky tofu

This is supposed to be together with the strawberry pictures. I made a joke to K that as every product in Miaoli county seemed to be related to strawberries that they should have strawberry smelly tofu - and lo and behold, there is indeed a shop that sells the stuff! 

Lantern tree

Pictures taken an instant before the battery dies are always that much more satisfying, at least to the person who took it. Oh, and look, traditional lanterns in trees look great in the daytime as well as at night (see below).  

Lantern festival

Random picture from Lantern festival. It's a pity that so many lanterns and lantern displays are just plain tacky when they don't need to be. I do like trees filled with traditional-looking lanterns like this one. Can't get enough of 'em.  

Dragonfly 'fossil'

Check this out. J and I were skating at the outdoor roller-rink at Chung Hsing uni campus when he spotted this poor creature actually embedded in the surface. It looks just like a fossil don't you think? 

J & K

aww, how sweet! 

Dusting for prints

The break-in. Came down at 8 in the morning to discover someone had broken into our house. They (he?) only took cash from my wallet - they left the camera (phew!) and everything else.

I should point out that we now have bars on the kitchen window, extra locks and bolts as well as a sensor with light and alarm for the back garden and a sensor with light for the upstairs balcony. The landlord even made a special trip up from Tainan to help supervise the installation.

Here we have Taichung C.I.D. on the case, dusting for prints. Pity I didn't manage to get a shot of his box of forensic equipment. We then had to take a trip down the cop shop to have our own prints taken. I couldn't help thinking how ironic it was that we, the victims, were having our prints taken when the burglar was out there spending our cash. J enjoyed himself seeing the inside of a real police station.

 

How stupid can you get?

The council is cutting down a long row of lovely trees just over the road from the main entrance of Chun-Hsing University. Why? Because they want to make way for a park made of concrete and plastic ! There's no need for a park anyway with the beautiful campus nearby. Students and staff at the uni are protesting and there are signs attached to some of the trees blasting the council for this downright dumb idea. 

Fusing fashion and function (!)

It was cold a couple of weeks ago - that's all I can offer by way of explanation.