Day 195 Spring is springing at Sculpture Park

It's starting to look and feel like spring in Beijing, so on
Sunday afternoon, I decided to take a walk in Sculpture
Park which is right next to our apartment complex.
I had only been there once, early last fall, when I joined
some old folks that had gathered for some aerobicise  :)

This time they were practicing their Tai Chi,

which I know nothing about- not yet, anyways ;)

Sculpture Park reminds me a lot of Millennium Park in Chicago,
which is one of my favorite places to go.

The Chinese love their fish.  I see people walking with bags
of goldfish all the time....so much so, I have often wondered if
they eat the damn things (like Cousin Eddie and squirrels ;)

I LOVED this one- "Whales."  Pretty cool if you ask me :)

Sometimes, the Chinglish translation doesn't quite make it.
This one was called "Rocky Roll."  It made me giggle.

Very few shrubs and trees are flowering yet, except for
these little yellow ones.  I asked one of my Chinese teacher
friends what the flower is called.  His answer?
"Oh, that one is called 'first flower'."  Of course it is.
Kind of like our crocuses back home, only different.

Something else that makes me giggle is seeing random
Chinese women climbing into the shrubbery to strike
even more random and ridiculous poses :)
Lolllllzzzz.  Every. Single. Time.
She had an audience of people snapping her pic- geesh.

Many people took advantage of the warmer weather
(nearly 60 degrees) to practice their instruments in the
park.  I saw many guitars, a saxophone, a trombone,
and several traditional Chinese instruments.  They weren't
playing for tips; they were simply playing for enjoyment.
Any day I get to hear live music is a good day :)

I stopped and video'd this husband and wife. He played

some type of traditional Chinese flute, and she sang

along.  I don't know what it was about them; the fact 

they they were an older couple, or maybe that they

shared the love of music together, or maybe it was

simply the joy on their faces...whatever it was,

all of a sudden, I was moved to tears.  It was a 

beautiful moment.  I didn't know the right Mandarin

words to say, but my smile and hug to the both of 

them hopefully communicated my sentiment.

Some days I love Beijing.

The park has several ponds, with paddle boats and such.  I watched this boy
play with his remote control boat for several minutes.  You know me, any
time I see a boat, any kind of boat, it is sure to make this girlie smile :)

This pond had these crazy blow up toys that the kids played in-
like log rolling, only different.  What if they fell in? That water is still COLD!

Underneath the Pegasus statue (above, right) was a grove of Magnolia trees.
I didn't notice the trees at first, as I was distracted by the 30 or so Chinese
people with their cameras on tripods.  I couldn't figure out what they were
doing, until I saw one of them take their camera up to a tree branch.
They were all watching and waiting for the magnolias to begin opening
up in the afternoon sun.  Something so simple, and yet so beautiful.
I love how the Chinese live their lives so fully present in the moment.

This sculpture is called "A Beautiful Life".  Yes, yes, it is indeed :)

I think all the Chinese children are beautiful.  These little
electric cars are for rent to cruise around the park :)

I don't even know what this little girl was riding, but it was also some
sort of electric toy.  It moved like an inchworm, kind of looked
like a sheep, but had a Hello Kitty face.  There's just plain weird in China, too.

There's a huge open area specifically for flying kites.
You can rent a kite for the afternoon if you don't own one.
Many people own kites in China; they love to fly kites :)

Again, the simple pleasure of a father and daughter 
flying a kite together moved me to tears.  Beautiful :)

A little boy running in circles trying to get his kite to launch made me smile, too.
Actually, I saw many of these 'multiple kites' high in the sky.  It does work!

I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

It beats grading papers any day:)

G'nite, y'all!