My Baby's pictures from Beibei - part 3

The infamous Hot Pot dinner. This is served at nicer restaurants with delicacies cooked in hot water on the table. Second picture: Son Andy conversing with a group of students in the English Corner, a gathering spot on campus where English is spoken and they are anxious to talk to the American.

My Baby's pictures from Beibei - part2

Chemisty building and lab at the university.

My Baby's pictures from Beibei -part 1

Left: Andy's foreign student dorm. He said it is like a hotel and has A/C, a plus in their hot summer. Above: grad student partner Linfeng and son Andy at Southwestern University, Beibei, China. Note statue of Mao on the mall.

Bonfire of the Vanities

We are invited to a picnic/bonfire tonight. To describe this as a picnic falls short. Joann is one of the best cooks I know. We will feast on her cuisine and all bring a dish to share as well. The bonfire is timed to enjoy the full moon over the lake. They live in the country and own their own small lake. It is more than a pond and they own all the land around it. Three times last year they invited our group for a bonfire on a full moon night but were rained out two of three tries. Tonight the weather is going to be perfect.

My walking buddy also lives in the country and her family has a tradition of a winter bonfire to burn all the stuff they want to get rid of. She has invited us to add anything we want to the pile. We don't have an old vanity to burn yet, but when we get around to replacing it in the upstairs bathroom we may contribute it to the pile. We now have a small fire ring in our backyard, but the city regulations dictate that to stay a smaller fire. No vanities or old furniture to make the flames leap high. There are some advantages to living in the country.

Car Wars

Jon's home town of North St. Paul, MN had it's first Friday night Cruising with the old cars last night. They had around 500 vintage restored cars in the old village. There is no admission. People flock to get up close peeks at these treasures. The junk food vendors sell their wares. Purveyors of nostalic collectables set up shop on the sidewalks and everyone enjoys a nice summer night. We went with Jon's sister and our daughter and son in-law. The son in-law is a motor head who spent his youth working on cars with his dad and uncle. We all love the ambiance of old cars cruising slowly down main street with their mostly vintage owners. The streets and parking lots are lined with old vehicles some with hoods popped and owners nearby to talk about how they restored the car. We had our favorites. Last year I spotted a 1949 white Chevy like my mom had. Last night I saw a red 1958 Chev similar to one my dad had. Someone was cruising in an old panel truck like the one my sister and I grew up with. It only seats two in front. When we went as a family we sat on a wooden bench in the back. What would the safety police think of that now? I didn't spot any kids in the back of that truck last night. The "piece de'resistance" last night was a 1950 Buick in cherry condition. Jon's first car was a 1950 Buick and we lingered a while talking to the owner. Now if we could find that at a garage sale for $2800 we would definitely make room for it. Did you ever see "Rain Man"? Tom Cruise drove a 1950 Buick he inherited from his dad. Nice wheels.

I May Have Created A Monster

In the past week and a half we have been working hard sprucing up the home place. I even painted the old family room. We have moved and removed furniture to clear space for the carpet and new kitchen floor. Jon has been touching up paint. I've been "deep cleaning" and generally been busy.

Earlier in the week we had days of heat and high humidity followed by an extremely gusty, windy day. The next day we spent time cleaning up the yard of downed twigs and leaves blown off the trees. Yesterday was a day of low 70's and clear blue skies. The humidity was down. No wind. We took the day off to play.

We started with a bike ride. That turned out to be a short distance when we stopped to go to an estate sale in the neighborhood. This sale had lots of tools and guy stuff. Jon found a nearly new fertilizer spreader at a bargain price and some other tools and four DVD movies. Then his eyes lit up as he spotted a vintage 1977 full size ice blue Buick for sale at a reasonable price. $2800 or "make an offer" the sign said. The woman running the sale was a former co-worker of Jon's at 3M. The car belonged to her father in-law who was going into a nursing home. She said he was the original owner and he had always taken of it. The upholstery was in good shape. No bumps of scratches or rust on the vehicle. Jon ruminated but realistically had to back away with the line I usually use when I find bargains, "Where will I put it?"

Last week I found I sweet little antique secretary desk at a garage sale. I think these recent finds whet Jon's appetite and when we made our cheese curd run to Ellsworth it was Jon who would spot the garage sale signs and ask, "Do you want to stop?" I may have created a monster.

A nice one. Next thing we may have to have a garage sale to lighten up on our stash.

Park It Here

I stole this picture off my daughter's blogsite. It is an actual space saving parking garage in Munich. Leave it to German ingenuity.

This morning at my Curves workout we discussed high school graduation pranks. In past years, Stillwater was known for some doozies. In the early 80's they put a car on the (flat) roof of the old high school. One of the women exercising said her husband was vice principal at the time and administration never figured out how they got the car up there.

When I asked Jon if he remembered the car on the HS roof, he said he did. Then he reminded me a similar thing had happened to him. When he was in college he had a summer job working in the warehouse of Boise Cascade. At the end of one shift he could not find his car, a little Austin Healy Sprite. Finally, someone took pity on him and told him to look up. Someone had used the fork lift to stash it up on a top shelf.

I'll bet those high school kids had access to some big equipment or some big weight lifters to get that VW Bug up on the school too.