Travel post #2

Have been wading through photos of the trip to China. My husband took almost 3000 and I took almost 1500! The joys of digital photography! This is a picture taken at the Great Wall- yes the only day of 16 when it rained.

Still pretty amazing but we were so disappointed that we couldn't see the spectacular vistas and appreciate the immensity of the wall. I am reading feverishly to finish A Tale for the Time Being. Book club meets tomorrow night. I really like the book. It snuck up on me. When I first started reading I was not convinced that I would finish. But now I am intrigued by the cleverness of the author and how she is connecting the spiritual, and real life situations. I think it could be a very thought provoking discussion. On another note. I do believe this is one of the best Falls in quite a few years. The foliage has been incredible. So pretty. Lots of reds, oranges, greens and yellows.

Travels and catch up part 1

Been away for several weeks. It has been a hectic 4 weeks. Last August, 2013, we booked a trip to China, a country on my bucket list (in particular seeing the Forbidden City, Great Wall, terra cotta soldiers for starters). We planned to take a tour as it would be easier for us to get around and not worry about the language, hotels, etc. Then in September, our son's friend (and ours also) announced his engagement and the wedding was to be the week before we started our tour. We rearranged our flights so that we could attend the wedding and then continue west to begin our tour. So. We flew to Phoenix and had a great time at the rehearsal dinner and wedding. The weather was hot and sunny. The wedding was at the Phoenix Zoo and the reception was in the Orangatan House. The zoo had recently started renting space for special occasions. There was a bit of free time Friday and Saturday afternoon and, in spite of the heat, I walked around Old Town and found the civic center where the community buildings were located. It was lovely and the library was huge. Lots of fountains and flowers everywhere. I loved this sculpture -thought it was appropriate for our stay,

. Thought the wedding cake was pretty special-

. We were so pleased to be included in this special occasion and it was great seeing our friend so happy.

We stayed as long as we could at the reception as our son had a very early flight back home the next day. We had a few hours to pass before we could leave to board our flight to Los Angeles.