The Buddhist Temple was built on 14 acres in 1923.
It is known as the Monastery of Bliss.
The pagoda inside is seven stories high (98 feet)
Tours of Jile Temple
https://youtu.be/wj_7dr5B2Hw
https://youtu.be/B5Npfve54Is
https://youtu.be/7g69UEqzGrA (best)
Next time we will try making Bamboo Tea!
A parade of Hotdogs with mustard and relish...melon...chips and dip...hamburgers...ice cream...sweet tea and lemonade...root-beer floats and the occasional bottled Coke.
The end of the Summer Foods!
The Summer Patio garden ready to give way soon to the mums and pumpkins of Fall...my very favorite time of year.
And these...which just arrived on the scene...
A must-try soon.
Lost a friend and neighbor suddenly this week-
I will miss Sue.
A lot.
Her death coming 7 months from Rita's (...who we also lost this year...)
It really didn't sink in fully until they removed all her Colt's stuff and patio plants/bench/table.
It just seems so bare.
I believe her son took Sophie (her chihuahua puppy).
sigh
John's MRI came back clean so soon he meets with the thoracic surgeon and gets a plan of attack.
We have been so lucky...despite the cancer diagnosis because
1. If he had not got pneumonia we would have never known it was there until he was symptomatic.
2. Because they caught it so early it has not spread...at all...any...no lymph involvement...no other organs.
By the end of the year this might al seem like a bad dream.
He has been biking..a lot...along with working out at rehab.
Hoping to make it to the trail together the Fall for a walk and Dairy Queen.
Ya gotta have a plan.
The bike.
And after a particularly long ride..
'You're HARDCORE, Guy!!'
So are the scientists, apparently.
They've come up with a synthetic mouse.
They are working on building one.
Watching the mess from Mar-a-lago unfold.
Seriously...look at this opulence...
He must be the most miserable rich guy I've ever seen.
After listening to his story evolve concerning the classified documents...and now reading the affidavit...
Yeah...thinking he may end up spending the rest of his life in prison.
ANYWAY...
John and I watched The Chief's last pre-season game together...and they looked good.
Anticipating the Colt's last pre tonight against the Buccaneer's.
We are looking forward to seeing Ryan (our new QB) and dusting off Brady (to see how he looks this year).
Must catch a Miami game as well..now that they have Tyreek and Waddle on the same team.
Still laughing over the Penguins in the endzone!
Have a Great Weekend!
Love,
Carla
Sunday Update:
Leftover cold nachos...breakfast of champions.
Still recovering from last night's Colts-Buccs and Miami-Eagles games.
The pre-game season is over!
Brady is in better shape than he was last year!
....at 45....I think he has an aging portrait in the attic..
Third string Ehlinger was a monster...and Reich should move him into Foles place...but, of course, he won't.
Remember he is the one who gave us Wentz.
sigh
Tua and Tyreek fit together perfectly in Miami...
and absolutely kicked Eagle ass last night.
Sure...I'll miss Hill playing with the Chiefs...but this seems like it is going to work out well.......and Miami is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year!
Now to finish these nachos and start my day!
Still too early.
My bamboo is nearly a foot tall, now.
The hummingbirds have feasted on pink petunias all summer...even preferring them to the two feeders. The babies have grown from bumblebee size to nearly as big as my thumb.
They love the petunias, too.
Diane is finally back home from the hospital. Her doctor believes the recent heart problems are a lasting effect of two bouts with Covid. She must be feeling better though...she wants to get together for KFC as soon as possible.
My grand-daughter tolerate her surgery well and is on the mend...they have a PET Scan scheduled soon to make sure the cancer did not infiltrate anything else.
John and I celebrated the return of his PET Scan midweek with Brunch at Almost Home Tea Room. So happy...the scan showed absolutely no spread to anything.
After his MRI next week...we should know more about surgery and treatment for the lung cancer. It is fairly confined and may only necessitate the removal of one lobe.
Charlcie put the house on the market and immediately sold it! She is transitioning well to living with her daughter...and has even hosted a couple of Euchre games with The Usual Suspects...lol
Soon, John and I, are going to spend a night and day up there and take her out a bit.
And after several of the primaries...
"Holy Shit...What have we done?"
LMAO.
Dawn breaks.
They may have won their primaries...but they are too far out there to win a general.
None of the Democrats will vote for them.
Very very few of the Independents will.
And some of the Republicans won't either.
Ergo..we win.
All we have to do is show up and vote.
Have a wonderful weekend...
Love,
Carla
"I'm on it..."
Winters here are very long and cold.
Ice City is open from December to the end of February...the opening ceremony on January 5th...and costs around $50 USD to see. Carriages are available...but it can be walked through in an hour.
www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/harbin-ice-and-snow-festival.htm
Tour
https://youtu.be/TLy5B4m6MAc
The month of December reserved to create the enormous city and life-sized snow sculptures.
Tour at Night
https://youtu.be/o_kzIDOUpbk
Highlights of the Ice Festival
https://youtu.be/ctcBLN0hfS0
Next week we will explore Jile Temple and learn to make bamboo tea.
Until then...
All the great stuff out there you never knew existed.
For instance (pictured above) Heilongjiag's Ice City.
Who knew???
Today's province is Heilongjiag (pronounced hay-laang-ji) in the northernmost and easternmost corner of China.
Its name means Black Dragon...and the river, of the same name, runs through it.
Twisting and turning much like our Mississippi.
Most of the province is covered with mountain ranges...with only a couple of flatter plains areas.
It is a cold place..rarely getting into the mid-seventies in summer and down to minus 20 degrees in the winter.
...yeah...screw that...
Travels here are by the vast road system, plane, train and water.
The economy is mostly construction, energy, manufacturing, and food processing. Pharmaceuticals play a lessor role.
The province also boasts of 14 million acres of rice, corn and soybeans.
These are not small family farms, but all owned by Heilongjiag LTD.
This area is also responsible for most of the petroleum in China.
Daqing Oil Fields
Most people here are either non-religious or practice Chinese Folk Religion. A small sect are Buddhist.
Jile Temple
https://youtu.be/7g69UEqzGrA
The long cold winter is a perfect backdrop for its Ice Carving Festival...which we will explore more fully later.
Until then...
But all is well now.
The Weekend was great...with Sisters Day and BBQ ribs and beans, mustard potato salad, Cantaloupe straight from Tina's garden...peach cobbler and later
Every bit as decadent as it sounds! Like rich cold chocolate with a kick!
(...we had about 4 ounces left...and I'm pouring it into a stem glass...adding a little ice cream and whipped topping...and taking it to the tub for my bubble bath...)
Tina brought me eggs and fresh sweet corn from the garden!
And we enjoyed Sister Time and chat....laughter and catching up.
Sunday was pizza and pop with most of The Grands!
Two Sophomores...One Junior and a third grader, now.
They grow up so fast.
The older ones sharing visions of becoming a nurse, graphic designer, physiologist...
and Grandma Rose Time.
The end of last week...and the beginning of this fairly stressful.
John's biopsy coming back malignant...although non-small cell...which is good.
Hannah's biopsy on her neck lymph nodes coming back malignant...and immediate surgery yesterday which she tolerated well. Will be talking to her when she has recovered more.
John's PET Scan today at ohmigod it is early...we talked before it started...and getting the results back an hour ago...no further cancer found anywhere else in his body...the MRI of his brain scheduled for next week...but we are expecting that to be clear as well...celebrating at Almost Home before the week is out.
Such good news.
He is back to biking, now that the heat has passed!
Usually taking me along through photographs on his 8 to 11 mile rides.
His MRI and follow-up...then the treatment plans made for the mass in his lung.
We are taking it all day by day.
And then there is The News.
Now I don't have a crystal ball...but I think he (...and by extension...the GOP...) are greatly and truly fucked.
We will see.
Already there seems to be a great flurry of rats leaping off the deck of the sinking Trumptanic.
The latest being Fox New's Laura Ingraham.
...who saw THAT coming???
Waiting patiently
"Et tu, Tucker?"
Want to close this on a happy (bear) note.
Otis seems to have found a yearling to mentor in all the salmon-fishing ways...he is very tolerant of the young bear and occasionally even flips him the remains of a salmon he has caught.
Love,
Carla
"G'way...I'm napping."
The nights are getting cooler...the hummingbirds filling their tiny tanks before leaving...the cicadas are getting louder...and the fireflies are beginning to dwindle away.
My patio garden, particularly the pink petunias, are leggy from all the rain...spilling in a pinkish profusion down the sides of their containers.
Later today, I will be planting the dwarf sunflower seeds that will fill the space with sunny yellow faces in late Sept/ Oct.
But today is a Cinderella Saturday...and there is cleaning to get done first.
John got the biopsy done yesterday...and so we wait...until the results are back next week.
He sent batches of photos from the Museum and State Fair Adventures.
A wonderful time spent with the kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids!
"I'm telling you, honey...this WILL be your legacy!"
Like our fireflies...the salmon run is starting to end, as well.
The salmon-cam near Brooks Falls.
The bears are getting fatter and fatter...and after the spawn and die off will go into a feeding frenzy on the corpses until it is time for hibernation.
I have identified another bear this week 919 and her cub (919 Jr.)
Who she sent up a nearby tree to wait...while she fished on the lip of the falls.
"Come on, Mom..."
"Hey! She GOT one!!!"
And she dragged the huge salmon down to her waiting cub.
Apparently, parking the cubs in this nearby tree is fairly common and the regulars call it the Nanny Tree.
Have an outstanding weekend!
Love,
Carla