Day 370 Rain continues, as does the cabin fever

Seriously, the minute the parade was over, the
bad air climbed, the clouds formed, and it rained
steadily for two days.  So the two days I had off
work with public transportation back in operation,
 Mother Nature chose to not cooperate at all.
It was flooded around here.
Honestly, the rain is good for Beijing, as it is
exceptionally dry here, but I wish my last two
days of 'summer vacation' had been a little nicer.

By about 5pm Saturday, I had about all I could take, and I decided to venture out, umbrella in hand. Five minutes into my walk through the apartment complex, I saw this little scene...Daddy was holding his daughter and explaining to her the earthworm that was crawling across the sidewalk.

As I watched them and smiled, I was gently reminded 
to 'breathe' and to appreciate the little moments in life- like this one.
Thank you, God :)

My mission for the late afternoon was to find a fresh basil plant.
There were two places to check within walking distance. One
is this funky little alley market on Lugu Lu.  Though many
stalls were closed, either due to the holiday, or the weather,
there was still plenty of interesting things to see.  It was
much like the bird and fish market I visited in the spring.

There were adorable puppies...

...cute little kitties...

...guinea pigs, rabbits, and this squirrel...

...and even chipmunks!  How many of these damn things have I
shot or drowned in my chipmunk swimming pools?!
Who would even want to buy them?
Maybe Cousin Eddie, he probably eats the damn things!

Suffice it say, I have been so homesick, and a bit starved for companionship, that I almost came home with a goldendoodle puppy, a grey striped kitty, AND a red squirrel!

I refrained.

Though I really wanted the grey striped kitty.

Truth be told, she wanted me, too.

And I didn't find any basil plants.

Next I crossed the street to a huge building that
carries fish and all sorts of plants.  Hopefully
I will find some basil here.  I strolled through
all the aquariums. There were many species
of fish I have never seen.  Watching the
baby octupuses was pretty cool.

The plants all looked super healthy.

And it smelled like walking in to a greenhouse!  What
a refreshing scent for living in a city of 23 million :)

I stopped and watched several ladies, and men,
arranging elaborate flowers- the Chinese way.

Most of them appeared to be wedding arrangements,
complete with a teddy bear bride and groom on top.
But, of course.  

For three bucks, I got the Chinese ceramic pot on
the left (for the rosemary plant I already own),
and I got some sort of flowering plant for the
yellow pot that I also already had, too.
Still, no basil plant, but it was a pleasant afternoon,
cool rain and all.

G'nite, y'all!

PS.  Very late that night, (nearly midnight) I was having trouble winding down to go to sleep, so I went for a walk in my complex. On a bench was the black and white puppy I try to feed. Actually, it wasn't the momma puppy that you have seen pictures of, but her black and white puppy (the only one that survived) that is now almost a year old.  I spent about twenty minutes, ever so slightly easing in closer to her. Both dogs are super skittish around humans as they are usually getting scolded and shooed away.  This puppy would look at me and yawn; I would 'fake yawn' back to her.  I tried to get closer, but she moved down the bench, curled up, and laid back down.  So, I laid down on the bench perpendicular to her, and continued to 'baby talk' her, to reassure her that I wanted to be friends.  I quit looking at her because it was making her nervous, so I looked up at the stars, and told her I was just going to lay beside her and watch the stars if that was okay with her.  I was pointing out constellations...to a puppy.  I was naming animals in the cloud formations. Soon I stretched out my arm, with my palm up, and continued to talk to her.  She was about a foot away from my hand. Before long, she belly crawled to my hand and touched both of her paws on my fingers.  We sat there like that, for only about a minute, but to feel the warmth of her paws...it felt AMAZING!

Would I have done something like that back in my busy American life back home?

Probably not.

Which is one of the things I am so grateful for in making this move to China.  It has really taught me to SLOW DOWN- to look, to listen, to smell, to taste, to touch- to take ALL of my surroundings in. At first, it was a matter of survival.  I was on sensory overload trying to make sense of this new life, this new language, this new culture, this whole other world.  Now, it is just how I try to live- fully present, and in the moment.  There is where you will find peace, y'all, by simply living in the moment. It is where and how I have learned to CHOOSE HAPPY, and it has delivered me from my homesickness.  

I am ready to take on 'the China' for another year, stay tuned :)