Our China Story Continues...

Love the fruit markets! Especially the fruit that is in the very front of the picture.

I can't remember the name of it but it was delicious!

 Not sure if the bicycle is bringing produce to the market or

delivering it to someone from the market. Either way, I love the bike!

These are very common means of delivery.

Just inside the guard gates of Hangzhou Normal University,

where Clint attends school. His dorm room is just beyond these tall buildings.
Did I mention that his room is on the 6th floor with NO elevator?
I wish I had counted all of the steps during our entire trip. If I could count that far.

We walked past a small grocery store on campus and went inside to look around.

All of the clerks knew him and were so friendly. We met one of his professors and she was so sweet.

I love the flowers in the photo. These were all in separate pots.

Hum...who would have ever thought of that?

Notice I have a pink umbrella in my hand. You know what they say -- "when in Rome".
Well when in China it's ok to use an umbrella to shield yourself from the sun.
Smart idea if you ask me. So if you see me walking around town with my umbrella
in the sunshine, don't think anything about it. I tend to like that practice. ;-)

Clint and Dad on campus. We were very impressed with the school.

After we visited the university we walked a block or so to a KFC a had some lunch.

It was almost just like in America. We enjoyed our lunch and then went to visit a couple

from Knoxville, Tennessee that are in Hangzhou teaching English and doing mission work

through Laurel Church of Christ in Knoxville. Such a sweet couple.

Clint and Linli and others meet there to study Bible and spread the Gospel with the Chinese 

people that want to learn English. 

Meet Ron and Marti...

Did I mention that they live in a 4th floor (or was it 5th floor) apartment with no elevator?

They are troopers. See how tired I look? I sat down to rest on a rock wall while Clint went

in a store to get us a bottle of water on the way to Ron and Marti's. Something stung my backside!

I never did figure out what it was but it gave me cold chills for a while.Scared me just a bit.

But by the time we arrived at Ron and Marti's I was fine. Exhausted but fine. 

Marti and Ron's apartment was small and sparsely furnished. Just enough to get by.

Ron and Marti were leaving to return to Knoxville the day after we visited.

Ron is a retired dentist and they own an antique shop on Campbell Station Road in Knoxville.

I hope we can visit with them next time we are in Knoxville.

Street Scenes

Bikes and scooters and cars, oh my!

Notice the fancy buildings and huge digital billboard in the background.

Hangzhou is a beautiful city with lots of trees.

It's a huge city but all the trees make it feel very much like home.

 Not sure if I could ever drive there. The cars go basically wherever they want to.

If they decide they need to go the other direction, watch out, there will be a U turn!

Didn't see one wreck the entire trip though.

And gas stations - only saw one the

entire time we were in Hangzhou.I should have taken a picture of it.

You know I would notice that since we own one in America. ha

Normal traffic...no it wasn't a wreck. Just normal.

 Bikes and scooters have their own lane. Better watch out if you're walking though.
You have to watch every step you take or you could get run over. Not a fun thought.

Ladies doing aerobic exercise in the park in town...

More again later...

China before the wedding

Linli and Clint stopped a boat for us to take to the old part of the city.

We had a pleasant ride. Hangzhou is so beautiful!

 

Love the sun hat Linli!

 The scenery along the way was spectacular

After we got off the boat we walked and walked. Then we went down a huge escalator

that took us under the street. The largest escalator that I have EVER seen. when you get 

off at the bottom you go back up a huge escalator. Only one problem...we got to the bottom and 

the escalator going back up was not working. There are seventy-seven steps to the top. Trust me.

  I counted each one as my leg muscles burned with pain.

Wow! There were shops and street vendors everywhere.

This area looks like what you might envision "China Town" in an American city to look like.

 Here we are in a herbal pharmacy that has been there since the 1600's.

It was totally amazing. People bring the prescriptions from the doctor and pick up their herbs.

They were getting huge bags of herbs. Linli said each bag was one week of medicine.

More in another post later.

Traveling to China for the wedding

My husband and I left very early the morning of May 15 to begin our journey to Hangzhou, China to see our son and Linli Xu get married. After more than 24 hours of travel and a slight delay we met Clint and Linli at the airport in Shanghai. Due to the 13 hour time difference it was really late at night. They had arranged for us to all spend the night in Shanghai because it is about a 3 hour trip to Hangzhou. We managed to have absolutely NO jet lag.    I. Was. Amazed.

The next morning we took a taxi to the train station and caught the "fast train" to Hangzhou. Did I mention that the train was fast? ;-) About a 3 hour car trip in only 40 minutes! Wonderful. We loved the train. It was shiny and clean and FAST. Did I say fast? ;-)

 Lots of folks waiting on the train.

This is actually just a small area of the train station -- it was enormous!

Clint and his Dad waiting on the train

We checked in our hotel and then went to meet Linli's parents. We had talked with them on Skype but had never met in person. They were awesome and wanted so much to make us feel at home. Lvyi prepared the most wonderful lunch for us. She is an awesome cook! I hope I get to experience her cooking again sometime. They were very gracious hosts.

See what I'm talking about? The dish in the foreground was my absolute favorite!

Yummo! I can still taste it. The drink was wheat grass tea.

And we learned to use chop sticks. Well, sort of.

Why didn't we practice before we got there?

One of Linli's bridesmaids came over to eat lunch and help with some wedding "stuff".

 Visiting the secret place at West Lake. Beautiful!

Clint, Linli and her parents.

 Another view of the secret place. We loved it there.

It drizzled rain and was such a peaceful place!

More on the trip later. It was awesome.
Please come back and see more photos as I have time to share with you.

Random

Thanks to Tammy for ordering these shirts for her grandchildren!

Terry caught a few brim ...

He cleaned them.

Then I "cooked 'em up"!

Notice the cute fish shaped hushpuppy ;-)

Thanks to Beverly for ordering Tucker a burp cloth!

Our bathing beauty!

Making a few drip castles.

The Hyders (minus Chris who had to work, bummer)...

Our "beach bum"...

He's such a cute dude!

Julie and Chris...

Digging a hole to China...

Kirsten's first knitted dish cloth...

A few gifts for upcoming occasions.

Putting the Cricut to good use!

And that's what I've been up to lately.

Plus a couple of smocked baby dresses.

More on that later!

Oh, working on a quilt also ;-)

April Showers...

Ready for spring

I needed some bright, spring colors outside our home...

At last...

I finally completed my first pair of knitted socks!

I took a "sock knitting" class at Et Cetera

It was so much fun!

Linda Bradford was a fun instructor.

My first pair was somewhat less than perfect

but I don't mind.

I'm ready to start my second pair

I figure repetition will help me perfect my sock knitting abilities.

Been waiting since Dec 2010 for this bulb to bloom!

I must say, it was worth the wait!

Thank you Mimi for sending me this wonderful gift.

March quilt block...

Confession of a slacking quilter

Last year I signed up to do the block of the month

"Seasonal Splendor"

at Quilting At the Cherry Pit

in Sevierville, TN.

I confess ~ I have not stayed on top of this project ;-)

(Surely none of you have ever NOT completed a project!)

But I must tell you 2011 was a record year of "busy" for our family.

Not that I need to make excuses for myself, we really had alot going on.

I'm back on track now and working on my quilt.

Here's the block for January

minus the button eye for Mr. Snowman --

I didn't want the button to be in the way when I get to the actual quilting part!

Did that sound like another excuse?

And here's the February block ...

No button or other details left out this time.

I actually have the block for March and April complete but,

I'll save them to show you during the appropriate month.

I'm going to make a conscious effort

to stay ahead and get this baby complete this year!

What do you think?

Can I do it?

I think I better finish it.

Or Mr. Stitches may say I shouldn't do

another "block of the month" quilt anytime soon!

Happy Friday!

Love and Stitches!

Patty

Happy Valentine's Day!

New creations...

A few of my latest creations are below.

I failed to make photos of some. :-(

The hand-smocked bishop below was ordered by Shirley Hyder

for her soon-to-arrive great niece.

Shirley requested for the baby's initials to be monogrammed

on the front of the dress.

It added a nice touch, don't you think?

Sweet Vickie Mitchell ordered a blanket for

her granddaughter that is on the way!

She chose a flannel blanket with hand-crocheted trim

and we monogrammed "Maddie" in the corner.

Jamie Jaco had me monogram this tiny apron for Livia.

The apron is MUCH smaller than it appears in this photo!

Happy Valentine's Day Livia from your Mom!