A Date to the Rocks

My Dear Great Ones,

Celia and I are very fortunate to live by a 44000 hectare country park full of interesting trails and things to see.  We are back home doing school via zoom due to the rising numbers of covid cases.  Painful.  Yet the chance to have a date at the Rocks after our sessions was welcome.  The weather is cooling off to 15- 20 celcius.  I know, I know how terrible!  Anyway it was to get out to our backyard.

Peeling bark trees.

Celia with her drone.

Romantic pic at the rocks.

Monkeys on the way to the rocks.

Celia perched on a rock.

Me limping along.  Knee is getting better.

Have a great week everyone.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk
 

2020. What a joke......

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

2020 will go down as one of the worst years in history.  I certainly have lamented about it and gotten down.  However, a good laugh is excellent for your health and so this is my attempt to make fun of 2020.  A rather lousy year, and it is still not done!

1. Why did the chicken cross the road?  Because the chicken behind it didn’t know how to socially distance properly.
2. Two grandmothers were bragging about their precious darlings. One of them says to the other, “Mine are so good at social distancing, they won’t even call me.”
3. Who’s idea was it to sing “Happy Birthday” while washing your hands? Now every time I go to the bathroom, my kids expect me to walk out with a cake.
4. My husband purchased a world map and then gave me a dart and said, “Throw this and wherever it lands—that’s where I’m taking you when this pandemic ends.” Turns out, we’re spending two weeks behind the fridge.
5. Ran out of toilet paper and started using lettuce leaves. Today was just the tip of the iceberg, tomorrow romaines to be seen.
6. My mom always told me I wouldn’t accomplish anything by lying in bed all day. But look at me now, ma! I’m saving the world!
7. After years of wanting to thoroughly clean my house but lacking the time, this week I discovered that wasn’t the reason.
8. If I keep stress-eating at this level, the buttons on my shirt will start socially distancing from each other.
9. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.
10. Yesterday I ran out of soap and body wash and all I could find was dish detergent. Then it Dawned on me.
11. Being quarantined with a talkative child is like having an insane parrot glued to your shoulder
12. I never thought the comment “I wouldn’t touch them with a six-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are!
13. The World Health Organization announced that dogs cannot contract COVID-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.
14. Since we’re all in quarantine I guess we’ll be making only inside jokes from now on.
15. I’m not talking to myself, I’m having a parent-teacher conference.
16. This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came into my house, told my dog–we laughed a lot.
17. Nothing like relaxing on the couch after a long day of being tense on the couch.
18. I finished Netflix today.
19. – Knock knock. Who is there? Seriously, don’t touch my door and get back 6 meters to social distance.
20. Day 121 at home and the dog is looking at me like, “See? This is why I chew the furniture!”

#7

#17

#19

#28

#34

 

Have a great week!  Only one more month of 2020!  Praise the Lord!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Dragon's Back

 Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Dragon's Back is a must do hike in Hong Kong.  Great vistas of the Ocean, mountains, and islands it is a reminder of why HK is awesome.  The following pics and video are from a trip Celia took Nov 7 with her school colleagues.  Weather-wise November is indeed the best month of the year in HK .

Find Celia!

Big Wave Bay!

Mr. D J Trump

Make America Great Again.

America first.  It was all flawed from the get go.  Making yourself first rather than serving one another is the worst philosophy you can live by.  DJT's LACK of humility,  perspective of what healthy servant leadership looks like,  how important it is to be working together and LISTENING to wisdom from experts, is ultimately what derailed him as it has countless "leaders," and people before him. Serve God, serve others, put yourself third.  It works a lot better than "me first and only me."  Be interesting to see how America will go on now.  I think once they do things:.....

.....again they will indeed be great.

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

 

Random Shots

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Below are some random shots from around Hong Kong.   

A drawing of old Kowloon when the airport was nearby and planes flew low overhead.

Note the guy sitting on the rooftop.

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk
 

Social Distancing!?

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Last weekend we spent some time with friends visiting the Bird and Flower markets plus a park filled with helpers on a day off playing volleyball.  In a way it is hard to believe that HK at present has low, single digit, covid infection rates considering it is pretty well impossible to social distance.  I think being outside a lot, lots of tracking, and masks, plus robust physical fitness has saved the day in HK.

Note the sign on the fence.

Have a great week everyone !

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

 

Tamar Park

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

I have lived in Hong Kong for ten years, but have never visited Tamar Park.  I finally did so the other day and was impressed with the fact you could picnic in the park and enjoy the views of Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour and Kowloon.  Tamar Park is also the location of  Hong Kong's government buildings.  Like the government itself they are very interesting and unique buildings.  Hong Kong doesn't have a mayor or president.  The head of Hong Kong is called a CEO (Chief Executive Officer).  There is a legislature that has some pretty raucous arguments, and radical displays of anger by government officials, but in the end the drab building next door to it really runs the show.  It is heavily guarded with a fence around it.  There is also a big red star at the top of it.  How symbolic of the cultural divide between the semi autonomous special administrative region and another country close by.

The building on the left, glass covering orange, is  Hong Kong's legislative council complex.  Home of some very entertaining arguments. The amazing building in the middle is the east and west wing of the central governments offices, and behind the trees, just beside it is the office of the CEO.  You are not missing much not seeing it.  It is a pretty bland rectangular box. 

Going underneath the central building.

Some interesting art pieces in the park.

Picnic time still in late October.  25 C.  Perfect.

Exhibition Center by the water.

There behind the trees you can see the CEO's rectangular box.

I was there!  Like a good Hong Konger I was wearing my mask!

The building (bunker) next door to Tamar Park.  

Well there you have it.  Tamar Park is a great symbol of Hong Kong's incredible potential of what a good government can look like.  A place for citizens to gather in peace, proud to be part of a wonderful society.

Have a great week!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk