Day 900 Cane Grinding Festival in Ortona

I have lived all of my adult life in small town, rural, east central Indiana, and I LOVED it.  It was the perfect place to raise a family.  There's nothing like small town living, where everyone knows your name, (and your business!) and watches out for your kids. The country school my kids attended was the hub of the entire community....most of the town folk came out for the local football or basketball games. When the kids arrived for prom night dressed in their finest, the town folk lined the sidewalks with their cameras looking like paparazzi.  Henry County was home to tractor pulls, the Middletown Fair, antique car shows, the local queen contest, and more.  We were surrounded by cattle farms (we had a small herd of 40 cattle with my ex father-in-law), corn fields and soybean fields.  Every season was beautiful in the country, but the bonfires of the fall were probably my favorite.

Fast forward thirty years....my children and step children are grown, I now have six grandchildren with another on the way in September.  They are spread far and wide....currently in Indiana, Florida, and Alabama.  By the time I fly home in July, I will nearly cross paths with two of my kids who are heading East as I head West.  Life is funny like that.  

Carissa and her husband and children (currently in Alabama) will be headed to South Korea on a new assignment with the Air Force.  Grandbaby #7 will be born there.

Ellie will be leaving her job as a news
reporter for WINK in Ft. Myers, FL to join
her boyfriend who is a pilot in the Air Force.
They will be flying East for a two year stint
on the island of Okinawa, Japan. 

While my kids are starting a new chapter in their lives,
I am starting another chapter in my life when I fly home to
Ortona at the end of this school year.  My home in southwest
Florida is equally as rural as Indiana...small town living once more. 
Only now, I am surrounded by cattle ranches, orange groves, and
sugar cane fields.  I now live in Hendry-Glades County, FL, rather
 than Henry County, IN. I still wake up to cows mooing in the fields.
Again, life is funny like that, and I LOVE it.  

Here in Florida, I see all breeds of cattle like
I have never seen before back in Indiana.

Meet some of my neighbors :)

When I was home last winter for CNY, I missed
the Cane Grinding Festival out at the Ortona Indian
Mound. I was bummed. I love a small town festival!
This year, I wasn't going to miss out.  Interestingly, my
home in Indiana was just a few miles from Mounds State
Park, another Indian burial grounds. we camped there often.
Life is funny like that, isn't it???

This park has a beautiful lake that once connected to Turkey
Creek.  Len and I's home is in the Turkey Creek community.
We'd like to bring the canoe back and do some exploring here.

It looks beautiful (him, too :)

Since we have our new FitBits, we decided to ride our bikes
to the Cane Grinding Festival.  Sure enough, they were
grinding cane.  I had to try a glass of cane punch, which was
the sugar sweet cane mixed with sour orange juice. Delish!

The Cane Grinding Festival is the Ortona Volunteer Fire Dept's
annual fund raiser.  Kind of like in Middletown, IN, the good
ol' boys were smoking and selling chicken BBQ dinners :)

Next year, we'll know to bring our lawn chairs :)

So we can listen to the bluegrass music comfortably...

...and watch the little girls clogging from the
dance studio in town (LaBelle, FL).

It was my kind of festival, the small town living

I am used to.  It is world's apart from Beijing, China!

As Len and I walked through the park, I was beginning to really settle in to the idea that this will be my new home. This is the next chapter of my life, when I leave China in July.

It feels right. 

After I left home last summer, and returned for the school year, Len started working on a song.  He collects stories of the places he has been, the people he has met, the experiences he has had, and he sets them to music.  It's one of the things I love about him.  To understand his songs, you need to hear the stories that go with them.  People love for him to bring his guitar where ever we go.

Anyhow, after I left last August, he started working on another song.  It's not finished yet, but he played it for me a few times while I was home this winter break.  It goes like this...

Coming Home to Stay

I can still, feel your body, in these sheets.

You're far from Ortona, you haven't been here in weeks.

You need a light burn, a right turn,

Someday, we both will learn,

what it means to be Coming Home to Stay.

The second verse goes, "Well, I see cane smoke, risin' in the sky."

"White birds on the cattle, see no reason to fly."

"They got a good deal..."

...a next meal, sometimes, that's how I feel,

"..when I think, you'll be Coming Home to Stay."

I have much to look forward to, a country life richly blessed.

Next year, I'll be home for the Swamp Grass Festival and parade.

I can't wait, lol!!!

G'nite, y'all!

Day 899 CNY in Florida; Road trip with Ellie!

After nearly two weeks of working on the house, and Ellie being
tied up with her job as a news reporter and having company of her
own in Ft. Myers, we finally got together for a girls day out!
I didn't care what we did or where we went, it just felt good
to be out on the open road, windows down, country music on
the radio :)  Ahh, 'Murica!!!  She had a special day planned for us :)

We were going horseback riding near Lake Okeechobee!

Savannah, our adorable guide, got Ellie all
saddled up on Dolly :)

She and Dolly were best buds....
this pic cracks me up!

My girl was Blondie, a 17 year old rescue horse,
and the horse Savannah grew up with.
She was the sweetest girl <3

Miss Dolly was Stanley incarnate!  Stanley
was the horse Ellie road to the bottom of the
Grand Canyon when she was seven years old
on a family vacation. Stanley knew he had a
sucker on his back, he couldn't go twenty paces
without snacking.  Dolly liked to rest and snack,
too- Ellie said Dolly was her spirit animal, lol.

This was my view all. day. long.  I loved it :)

Say cheese!

Blondie and I have similar backsides, lol.

Happy Momma :)

If you look closely, you'll see an armadillo up ahead.  I counted six that day!

Savannah was adorable....she told stories of her high school,
growing up a local girl in redneck country, where the boys hunted
wild hogs on the weekend. She is the reigning Miss Rodeo queen,
and worked as a ranch hand for a year.  She was paid poorly and
working 14 hour days, so she recently returned home to help her
Momma with their own horse ranch and trail riding business.
I love a girl that drives a stick shift dually diesel truck,
pulling a trailer full of horses, just like a pro! Go Savannah!

It looked like bush country, which was beautiful in its own way.

Blondie insisted on being the lead, and she never missed a
turn- the old gal has been on this trail a time or two :)

I loved hearing her rescue story, and she must
have known I am a sucker for hard luck stories
of children and animals...we were fast friends <3

Elliebug is always ready for riding horses-
she did that a lot at her friend Karlee's growing up.

Thank you for a lovely day, sister.
Your momma loves you always <3

(and it was a much needed break from house projects!)

G'nite, y'all!

Day 868 More sights in KL, and plans for the new year

I fly out this evening, back to the cold, polluted
air of Beijing, but I can't think about that right now.
I had a tropical rain forest to explore!

I hopped another train to FL Forest Eco Park,
an 11 hectacre rain forest preserve right in the
middle of Kuala Lumpur.  It was free admission,
and the canopy walk was stunning.

The photos really don't do the place justice.

I wandered around on some jungle-y paths for a few
hours until I found this one that lead me to the park's
entrance.  Thankfully, I didn't encounter any vipers-
though I saw several warning signs for them. Yikes!

I made it out with just a few mosquito bites :)
Consulting the city map, I headed off on foot
to see a few more sights on my list.

About 30 minutes later, I made it to Masjid Jamek, KL's
oldest mosque. The red and white minarets are beautiful.

   

Sadly, I couldn't go inside, as the mosque is
undergoing a renovation :(

I love the 'onion' domes.

The mosque was built at the sight of the first settlers, where
the Klang and Gombak rivers meet.  It opened in 1909.

I love the contrasting architecture of the old mosque and modern skyscrapers.

I walked around to the heart of the city...

...Merdeka Square.  It was here that the Malaysian
flag was hoisted for the first time at midnight on
August 31, 1957. The large park area is now the
sight of public gatherings and the annual
National Day Parade.

Beautiful architecture all around.

I then made my way back up to Petaling Street...

...also known as Chinatown.

I wanted to visit another temple...

Chan See Shu Yuen was built in 1906, and was
the Chinese community's early place of residence
when they first immigrated to Malaysia.  It still
is a place of worship for the Chinese who live in KL.

Though I was in Chinatown yesterday, I went back because I
was on the search for this place- Sri Mahamariamman Temple.
(I have no clue how to pronounce that!)  It was built in 1873,
and is the oldest Hindu temple.

What is impressive about this shrine is the five tier gopuram (tower) that is
decorated with 228 brightly colored figurines from the Indian epic, Ramayana.

Believe it or not, I was hungry for some Chinese
food, so I ordered sweet and sour chicken,

...and enjoyed my late lunch with a view of the
Hindu temple in the background.

It was a leisurely 45 minute walk back to my hotel after lunch.
Rain clouds were beginning to roll in the city.  Notice the names
of the hotels in my neighborhood, Hotel Alibaba, The Golden
Palace, and my place- Simms Boutique Hotel- which was all
of $11usd/night, with breakfast included :)

Before the rain rolled in, I sat on the sidewalk to soak up the last of the warmth from the sun.  I think I am part reptile in that regard.  I will warm myself on a rock, or the concrete, with my face to the sun, anywhere in the world :)

I looked across the street, and there was a jumbotron screen across the way from me, with repeating scrolling commercials.  One in particular caught my eye.  It was an ad for a mental health agency, something you do not readily see in this part of the world.  Click on the link here to see the ad: https://youtu.be/2XkgDng7lJQ

It just felt like one of those 'signs from the Universe'.  If you followed the link, it begins with, "I'm not feeling sorry for myself. Depression is not a choice. It's like there's a cloud following me around, and I can't make it stop."  This semester, no doubt, has been very difficult, grieving the loss of my momma, and having to continue to do my job here (alone) in China.  I was in the throws of grief through October and November, and felt THIS CLOSE to a true clinical depression myself.  I dreaded the six week stretch of holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year's, but you know what?

I MADE IT.

2017 is officially here, and I pray I am beginning to round a corner in the grieving process.  I have much to look forward to in the coming months, beginning with Chinese New Year starting on January 20th. I will be flying back to the States on that date for some much needed time with Len, (and my daughter Ellen in Ft. Myers), where we will simply continue to settle in to our new home and new neighbors in south Florida. It is a much needed and long awaited month-long respite, for sure.

When I come back to school the end of February, I essentially only have nine teaching weeks left before the AP and Alevel exams commence.  My new friends and neighbors, Karen and Marci, will be here for a China visit the end of April through May 11.  Then my daughters, Emily and Ellen arrive the toward the end of May through June 4th.  Once they leave, Len arrives to ride out the remainder of the school year with me, and to help move me back home. Lastly, toward the end of June, my other bestest friend, Susan, and her husband and two daughters will be coming to China, too. You can bet that with all of those visitors, there are many travel plans in the making- I am beyond excited :)))

With all of this to look forward to in the coming months, it was time to take care of first things first. I changed from summer to winter clothes, slung my backpack on my back, hopped a train to the airport, and caught my flight back to Beijing.  I have less than three weeks to go to finish out this long drawn out semester, and then I am home free...at least for one month :)

Cheers to 2017, from the happiest girl in China!