Nearby our home is a little park just few walking minutes away. Right from the beginning I need to say that there is usually nothing magical about this park except when you are a child or an adult looking from a different perspective than you are used to. This summer I went there with Nathan for a little walk to pass by time and thankfully I had my camera with me.
Itself the park is in a not so good condition anymore however there are still some nice spots. The whole area has been planted back in 1894 on old farmland which surrounded the city. Now over 100 years later are still few points where the old structure of the farmland can be seen such as old brick paths or also the hedge bank surrounding the fields grown over by trees.
Nathan on his way
This picture reminds me of a song from one of my favorite books.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter 1:
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Why are we here again?
Stone marker in honor of the founder of this park
Some Ewoks are building here their new home!
Alley through the old barracks to the park
The hedge bank can be seen in the background
I always wondered what this building is for
Have you found any ordinary places which changed when looking from a different perspective?
Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts.
After knowing my crazy Chinese mother-in-law for 4 years I really do believe that she must hate cars. There were just too many occasions during those years that it can not be coincidence anymore. Most of these things were just small details but they add up over time and last but not least I discovered some ‘Marks’ she had left behind in our car.
FIL the King of Cars
In China only my father-in-law is driving the cars. As I have written before he is a very careful person so he always wears a seatbelt even in taxis…well in case the taxi actually got seatbelts as they tend to be missing more often than not. MIL on the other hand is the exact opposite. There is nothing careful about her actions and seatbelts do not have any purpose in her world. So what makes me think that she hates cars? It all started during one of our trips to China when I asked my wife why MIL is never driving. I guessed till then that she just might not have a driving license but no, the demon somehow managed to get her hands on a license years back. My wife told me that the cars crazy MIL drove tend to end up with tons of scratches and dents. But the main cause to end her racing career was that she actually crashed a car into the city wall of Xi’an. Yes you read right THE HUGE CITY WALL with two lanes each way leading trough it wide enough that even two trucks can drive next to each other without problems!
How to crash against these walls? She does not even drink!
Okay so she had some little accidents during her driving time which does not yet give any reason nor connection yet to actually answer why she might hate cars. Now we fast forward from her crash some years ago into more modern times during her first visit to Finland. Back then it already started with minor things such as not buckling up. After being told numerous time she started to do the fake buckle up or blaming the seatbelt for not working properly. I guess she let out some rage during those times on the seatbelt as this poor little thing ended up broken and had to be fixed. Also I noticed huge hand and face smudges on the window where she was sitting which resulted that I had to clean the windows every few weeks. But she didn’t end there as also the nice rear bench ended up covered in drinks, food and other trash. Sometimes I really wondered how on earth she got all the dirt into the car, perhaps she was sneaking out of the house at night with a trash bag and poured it all into the car…who knows…
My baby before MIL’s vicious attacks
The car somehow has survived already her third visit but just barely. Besides the tons of trash in the car and other unspeakable things I had to clean out after she left I found something remarkable on the rear car door she always used. The car is not the youngest anymore so some small scratches might show at the doors for example due to opening them not careful enough and hit by mistake another car. Thing is though that there was only one mark prior to her last visit. This spot was shown to me at a car paint shop which I had to visit to get some other part fixed. It wasn’t anything big so my jar just dropped on the floor when doing the standard “Get MIL’s dirt out of the car” session. The scratch on the car had multiplied about a dozen times and even showed some dents. Now when You by accident hit another car with the door you remember it at least for a while and be careful from that point onwards but not her. The damage appeared more like that when she hit the other car she tried with all her might to push that other car away with my poor baby’s door! Not just once but repeatable smashing it against cars and walls. Somehow also the area around the door handle ended up in an ocean of tiny scratches for unknown reasons.
You think this is messed up during our move to Germany? Imagine this filled with trash…
Either she really does hate cars or she tried to exact revenge for her daughter constantly telling her to buckle up. I think I should just buy for the next three-month visit by MIL some broken down car for hundred Euros . Scratches, dents and the like would not matter anyways on such car and my baby would be safe from her madness. I believe the title “Destroyer of Cars” is rather suitable for her.
Have you ever encountered such a destructive force when it comes to cars?
Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts.
It’s been a long time since my last “Food Blog Post”. This was mainly due to my Chinese mother-in-law staying three-month at our apartment. She was doing all the cooking and made such a mess in the kitchen that I did not even wanted to enter the kitchen anymore let alone take pictures on how she prepared food. Now after she is already one month gone I finally got around taking some pictures of my wife’s cooking skills.
This one is called Peanut Butter Noodles 花生凉面 and can be quickly prepared within 15 min. The noodles themselves are not handmade by my wife butjust simple spaghetti noodles from the supermarket. The sauce for the noodle is as the name already implies mostly peanut butter, seasoned with garlic, ginger, vinegar, soya sauce and other dark Chinese kitchen magic. Usually my wife only uses cucumber to give the noodles a fresh taste as otherwise it would be just too soggy but this time she added also some fresh beans. The dish can be eaten both cold and warm but I usually prefer this one when the noodles are still a bit warm, I am just not in for the greasy taste which comes after they get cold.
mix them up!
boiled water on the cut garlic and ginger peaces
mixing the peanut butter
What are your quick and easy dishes?
Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts.
Crazy Chinese Family 