Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 165

Only 7 1/2 days of school left. Mondays are not always fun, today no exception. She left conditioner in her hair after her bath lat night so this morning had to jump in shower to rewash which left her with wet hair and a wet shirt for school. Oh well, just a few more mornings!

"Jump!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 164

Natalie has been singing since yesterday's performance practice and it cracks me up! Some of the kids that were in the play have volunteered to sing at our School director's retirement party in a couple of weeks. Yesterday they practiced the three songs and Natalie kept practicing at home. Funny how hearing a child sing can make you either cry or smile! I took a couple of poses, but this one seemed more "Nat" since she was mimicking funny hand gestures for the song!

"Do the Monkey..."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 163

Thursday. 9 1/2 days of school left. One month until we leave China. Doing a picture each day should be helping me "get closure" on our time here, but it does not seem to be helping. Spending time with friends helps. Making plans for when we return to the US helps. Clearing out a room of all the junk we have accumulated over 5 1/2 years helps. But in the end, there is still the notion that you are walking away from a big part of your life. When we came here it was different as we walked towards something new and unknown. It was an adventure. The repatriation is more of a return to what we had so you have to reconcile that with who you have become. I know there are those of you out there who know exactly what I mean. Thank goodness or it would be difficult to keep on a forward path! 


Well, no time for melancholy today! At least not until later. We are christening my new dining table and chairs with a "clean out the pantry" Girls Night at my house. I have three kinds of beans soaking, 4 oz of teeny pasta, 3 cans of sweet potato puree, 7/8 bottle of wheat germ, two jars of pumpkin baby food, 3 cups of oatmeal, 4 kinds of crackers we didn't like, 5 kinds of Chinese hot pot spice packages, a can of crab meat, and that was just the first two shelves! Lots of new recipes to be created today!

"Sweet Potato Oatmeal on Crackers sounds like we are ordering Sherpa's, right?"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 162

End of year results in not so thought out pictures. Only 10 more left...

"Designer Toes"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 161

Up since 2:40 today. (What is up with that? Too many things bouncing in my head!) So no clever chit chat with Natalie this morning. Hence just a picture of her finishing her math homework.

"I love Geometry"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 160

Today she wanted to show us a card trick. Worst trick ever. Cards were right side up when she had me pick, cards were all in numeric order when I placed my card on top, she shuffled when she could see the faces on the cards, and then she didn't get my card right. I think she needs to watch that Youtube video again. Not magic at all.

"Here, let me show you a magic card trick"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 159

Yes, all of the Daily Blogs were backed up. No internet for about 36 hours. Yuck. Back on now. And it's Friday!!1 So off to breakfast. There is a special guest for this morning, though not sure who will be here to meet them. More later...

"Stop or I'll shoot! with my bamboo pole"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 158

She is still at it. Still practicing after school and in the morning. Waiting for the first spill that might indicate the end of the risky sport, but so far, so good!

"Swoosh"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 157

I think the retro look will make the picture resonate with all of my friends my age who might of also refused to look at their mother in the morning before going to school. Cause: Mathematics Homework completed in morning.

"Pan Balancing problems not fun"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 156

Yes, this is Natalie's new thing: skateboarding. The fact that her lessons in this activity are coming from me does not bode well for her at all! However, we figure this will its course in a week or two. She has been "riding" since Sunday. Today she wanted to ride the board to the gate to catch the bus. This probably would have taken her 30 minutes as she is not, well, she is not much of a risk taker. So going more than 2 mph causes her to jump off the board. 

"She had a pretty face but her head was up in space.
She needed to come back down to earth. "

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 155

Only 17 1/2 days of school left. 28 Days until our shipping day. 41 Days until we leave China. 

"How to complete 3 months worth of Handwriting homework in one weekend"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 154

My new table, chairs, and benches arrived yesterday. And that is the "orange" buffet in the background. No one is allowed to eat or touch anything in the dining room for now. I am overall pleased though the fabric on the chairs seems bluer than I was expecting. Especially in this picture today. More pictures later when I get a chance to get organized. Though I fear that is not going to happen until the movers come to take everything away!

"Breaking in the NEW TABLE"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 153

Another close one! No drama yesterday morning, just forgot! Played with the some PS actions that I want to use for portraits. And a good photographer would have removed the Dog Wreck Scar from her face (that's that little scar above her left brow she got from her dog walking job this winter!). And I totally made up the caption in honor of, well, myself, since Mother's Day is Sunday.

"I Love my Mom"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 152

These are the flowers she received after her final Nightingale performance on Saturday. Still processing some video and pictures from the weekend for that. The caption is a shout out to my Streisand-loving friends. Today I am off to a warehouse where shopping is done with a flashlight in hand. I will miss Shanghai shopping...

"You don't bring me flowers... anymore...."

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 151

Natalie feeling a little run down this morning. I think she had  low-grade fever last night. Thought maybe she was teething (that is a joke and the standard answer I give her when she runs a fever with no other symptoms). So we used the Four-Faced Buddha to help. Four-Faced Frank was originally facing Sad Sack, but I see she rotated to Angry Dude.  


You find these four-faced Buddhas's everywhere right now in Shanghai. Fake market, luxury stores, furniture stores, and Dongatai Lu is just silly with them in every stall! So of course I had to get one. But then I started wondering why these are so popular nowadays? You used to see the Laughing Buddha ( 布袋; pinyin: Bùdài) everywhere but he seems to be replaced by this more "utility" Buddha? I mean if I can use the Buddha not just for  Ready for an insight into how complicated "Buddhist" culture is here in China? Did you know that the worship of this particular Buddha is quite common by nin-mainland Chinese in Macau, Hong Kong, and especially Taiwen? The Buddha is actually the Thai representation of the Hindu god Brahma. (yes stole that from Wikipedia). In Thailand is is referred to as Phra Phrom. However a little research indicates that current popularity is probably due to the XUAN TIAN SHANG DI 玄天上帝 popularity in Taiwen. The Shanghai temple (sorry, couldn't find the name, just the description) is actually considered Taoist. The Laughing Buddha, much more of a Chinese Culture Buddha, who generally represents "contentment" seems to have been replaced by a deity representing "prosperity to industry". That is a very interesting shift (indicated by foreign shopping zone stock). Of course,  there is no easy answer as to "why is the four-faced Buddha so popular" but perhaps it is simply due to the number of foreigners purchasing it from cheap icon stalls thinking it represents ancient Chinese culture (it doesn't) and Chinese shoppers purchasing thinking it represents ancient non-Chinese culture (it does). Or it could really represent a deep shift in Chinese Culture from peasant contentment to industrial greed? I guess we won't know the answer to that before I get my sea shipment, so Four-Faced Frank will get a spot in the new house.

"Omkarabindunatam uppannam brohmasahapatinama atikappe su, a, kate pancapatunam tisva namobuddhaya vandanam. Siddhi kiccam siddhi kammam siddhi kariya tadakato siddhi teco jayoniccam siddhi labho nirantaram sabbakammam prasiddhime sabbasiddhi bhavantu." (Traditional Thai prayer used for Phra Phrom)

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 150

Ha! You thought I was slacking and forgot yesterday's picture, right? Nope. Opted not to take yesterday morning as Natalie and I "disagreed" about her math test results. I have to sign the test and send it back. Which I did not do because her results were terrible and she still couldn't solve but she told me she knew it and why was I making her do it again and why do we wait until Monday morning to tell me she had a bad test?  So, waited until cleanup after dinner last night. Yes, I know it is blurry. But Daily Picture Done.

"Dad is loading the dishwasher wrong, AGAIN!"

How Complicated is the Chen GuangCheng issue?

I thought this NYT article was a great summary of the controversy surrounding Chen Guangcheng UNTIL I read the second to last paragraph:

"The deal appeared to resolve the diplomatic crisis. But it was unlikely to silence a fusillade of accusations that the Obama administration had bungled Mr. Chen’s case by essentially handing him over to Chinese authorities without ironclad assurances that he would be safe. And it only underscored the degree to which Chinese violations of human rights have become the lightning rod in the two nations’ ever-more-intertwined relationship, despite Washington’s best efforts to the contrary."

Shame on the NYT for oversimplifying this situation into a statement that an average American will read and place blame on not just on the US government, but the current administration is misleading and inappropriate. This is not as simple of a situation as it seems. I am not suggesting that Chen is not worthy of our support. But as a reminder, this is the activist that is loved by the US Media (in Newsweek cover in 2002, visited by Christian Bale (yes batman) last year. For anyone to assume that China relations should pivot on this particular issue as opposed to something like, I don't know, the fall of Bo Xilai, is interesting.  Why not make that the headline or even reference it in any articles? Or is that not reaching the same entertainment value as Chen? The goings-on in Chongqing, alignment on Iran, economic equity (which some would argue is the root cause of local corruption which initiated the Chen case in the first place) are ultimately much more indicative of where fundamental change should be focused and I think that Secretary State Clinton might have better spent her time focusing on Billions rather than one. Yet 90% of the media coverage was focused on Chen successfully negotiating for escape, I mean to study at NYU. Well, I guess all is right with the now. Whew.

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 149

Today is the YEP Fun Run and Splash! Day at school. Natalie's class is dressing in Red and Green, hence the Christmas stuff. Tonight is also opening night for the Nightingale production. I think all the kids are going to sleep good tonight!

"Santa Splash!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 148

Finally, sun in Shanghai. Today is the final dress rehearsal for the ES Play so Natalie will have a long day. Glad some of it can be spent outside in the sun at recess. And nothing like looking at a picture to see that the part you attempted on your daughter's hair was quite crooked and goofy. I will call that my "contemporary" style.

"Let the Sun Shine"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 147

Back to NORMAL. FYI, this is a picture of Tom's "Old/New Oaken Bucket".

"There's a hole in the bucket Dear Liza"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 142-146

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know! I went away for a week and did not make arrangements for a daily picture! Last year it would have freaked me out. But the new calmer, more adaptable Shelly is totally cool with missing a measly 5 pictures! In fact, I have "adapted" the theme and included 5 of my favorite old pictures of the little twerp! I think they capture the future personality and cover for last week quite nicely. Enjoy!

Day 142

"Always with a book!"

 Day 143

"Piano Player"

Day 144

"Dreaming of China way back when."

Day 145

"First Class Travel is a normal thing!"

Day 146

"She has always been and always will be my favorite GOOFBALL!"