Grab the Tail of Spring 抓住春尾巴!

去年我苦等春天，結果感覺春天才剛到，夏天就來了。

今年我終於明白，這就是江南之春： 狂風、細雨、霧濛濛， 時常酷寒、偶爾溫暖。如果以為冬天還沒走 ，春天還沒來，就錯了。害怕錯過一年之春，我們把握少見的春陽，踏青去!

The Spring in Suzhou is mixed with rain, fog, wind, coldness and warmth. According to my observation from last year to this year, in one typical spring week, we have only 2 days good weather (with sun shine) and 5 days bad (rain, fog, dark clouds, coldness)  on average. That means we can only enjoy fewer than 30 nice days, then Summer will soon arrive.  Last week we had temperature drop from 20 to 3 degree Centigrade. We experienced ice rain on Wednesday. Knowing it is spring, I mentally felt OK in this terribly mixed weather.

Last year, I made some plans for spring.  But the weather was so unexpectable.  My plans were always re-planed or cancelled. This spring, I do not make any plan. We grab every chance to go out whenever the sun comes out.

 

Saturday (4/17) Winston and I rode out bikes to take pictures of the statues around Gold Chicken Lake.  I also took some pictures of the flowers and maple leaves in our neighborhood.

Ancient Man watching the modern girl using a computer

                    Ancient Vs. Modern     Men Vs. Women

Sunday (4/18) morning we accidentally found a tulip field and rape flower field on the way to Lotus Island.  We were very surprised at the big field of flowers. We walked around the fields and ran out of time. So we canceled our visit to the place nearby-- the lotus Island. Maybe save it for next time.

 

 

Picture taken by Winston

At noon time, we went back to our neighborhood and took a walk at a newly constructed area --the Moon Light Deck & Port. Few minutes later, it started to rain, and we ate in an Indian (Hindu) Food Restaurant.  We enjoyed the Indian decoration inside and the food which was rich with Hindu herbs flavor.

 

The Door handle --Winston found it and took a picture of it.

The bronze faucet outside the rest rooms---Picture taken by Winston

Checking what we got for the morning.

In the evening, we went swimming and had supper in a Germany Food Restaurant. We called it a great Spring Sunday.

Spring comes and goes in a glimpse. The rains stop many people from outing.  The one-day sun or half-day sun comes sometimes unexpectedly, and people easily miss the chance to go out. The good thing about living in Suzhou is that we can reach many nice places in 20 minutes. So we are not fooled by the weather. We live and play with it.

~Enjoy~

Morning Statues

There are hundreds of statues in Su-Zhou Industrial Park.  I only got to see some of them. I enjoy recording my life with my camera even on my bike. This morning I rode my bike out and found some more.

The picture of a dog pulling a boy's pants looked familiar.  Some of the pictures posted before were pictures of samples displayed in Su-Zhou Art and Science Museum.  This time the picture was taken in a park.  Look at the deer family, you may feel the morning mist in the woods.

 

 Statue in the Park

 vs.

Sample Statute in Museum

 

 

Good Day!
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寻友启事：Richy的高中同学Ted立仁，June的大学同学小锺，你们的e-mail没有在身边（有一个好像停用了），请e-mail June (junecyut@gmail.com）. 或留言栏留下您的e-mail address. 

Morning Tranquility

I woke up at 5:30 am and rode my bike around North Gold Chicken Lake. Sun was still hesitating to show up.  I took some pictures on the road. Here are some more pictures to share.  The most impressing one is the Water Drops.  If you watch it with eyes half opened, you would find them so real. 

 

Now inhale... exhale... slowly, and enjoy the morning tranquility!

 

Sun is hiding in the earling morning.

 

Water Drops

 

  Water drops on lily leaves

 

 

吸氣..吐氣..不要憋氣!

Statues

Here are some of the pictures of statutes to share. It was weird that none of the statues had names of artists, signatures, or dates on the display. So I can not provide enough information about these art pieces. I only know that most of the large version of these statutes were placed around Gold Chicken Lake and the Industrial Park. And even in their located places, I still did not see the names of the artists on the statutes. I hope someday they will put artists' names on the art pieces.

Have a great day!

East Gold Chicken Lake, An Easy Fun Day

Yesterday is the first Mother's Day for 3 of us celebrating together and also is the first time in China.

Morning we went to the Science and Art museum to see the display of small samples of all the statues in Su-Zhou Industrial Park. Some of the statues I had already seen and recorded them with my camera, but some I still need to find out where they were located. They have two live statues displayed by real human dressed in white and Golden suits. I was annoyed when I saw visitors or kids trying to touch the live statues. Some parents even told their kids to joke on the statues. I told the visitors not to touch the human statues because it was very tough for them to stay still while people touching or pulling their clothes or hats. I could not understand why the museum workers could ignore those mischievous behaviors. Richy was afraid that somebody might punch me when I step out of the museum door. Anyway I walked out safely.

Winston pretended to be one of the live statues in display.

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Since it was hot now, we stayed home in the afternoon doing what need to be done. Then we went out to the east side of Gold Chicken Lake for a walk in the evening. The east side is not as crowded as the west side of the lake. However, I am afraid this peace may not last longer because the Ferris Wheel Fun Land would soon open and draw noisy crowds. The Fun Land was definitely not my favorite place to visit. However it was so close and I could not help but take a few pictures of it. It was really huge. They also had roller coaster and kids' bumping cars on the ground.

We walked until sun set. Took some more pictures and enjoyed the summer evening breeze along the walk. Then we saw water dance in a plaza surrounded by exotic restaurants. The water danced along with lovely music. Some kids ran in and out of the water, and so did we. Winston and I tried the outer circle and got out dry and safe.

Richy observed the water moves and thought the very center of the water fountain was the safest place to stay dry. So he ran in, but just after he ran in the water changed its dancing moves. He was stuck by the water wall. We could hardly saw him and when he got out he was completely wet. Fortunately, he could get in my extra-large long- sleeve shirt for a warm change.

To me, this was a very precious moment to see the change in Richy who jumpped into something without thinking at least 3 times (no matter at work or for leisure) . He used to be the one who stopped us doing something crazy, silly, and funny like this. Although he got out wet, I was happy to Richy so relaxed and having fun.

On the way home, Richy saw a Mexico Food Restaurant and we checked in. We ordered Fajita and assorted BBQ. The food was fresh and tasty but a bit greasy. We took a feast and ended our Happy mother's day.

After our stomachs were all full, we saw a Korean restaurant full of eaters. We supposed it to be a good one and checked the menu at their door. I sighed at the expensive menu but Richy said that was not so expensive. Ha, I giggled in mind with the thought that we might have the chance to sit inside next time.

散步金鸡湖（一）---湖之北North Lakeside Statue

上次独自去金鸡湖北边發现金鸡湖另一面的美与悠闲，于是今日Richy和 Winston也一起过去走走。中午直接在湖边的金海华餐厅吃港式饮茶，上周吃壞肚子的陰影未散，很担心食物不新鲜， 本来我坚持不外食的，可Richy一直想试试传说中的金海华，只好抱着姑且一试的心情去试。还好，食物一点也不像Local餐厅，清淡不腻，服务也很好，Richy还试了苏州有名的碧螺春茶，结果午觉一直无法入睡。