finding Moganshan in China with X-Plane

We've been busy today finding our way over China! X-Plane is a flight simulation program, and it is very good at forcing one to learn geography. We wanted to fly over Moganshan, plus other places, but to get there, we had to find the nearest airport, and then which direction to go. With the aid of online maps we were able to do it. It'is both very entertaining and educational. Jon then wanted to fly on to Beijing, and it was so far away, he left the plane on autopilot and went outside to wash the car. When he came back he was almost there. How surreal is that!

Here is a map zooming in on Moganshan (introduced to us in China Cuckoo by Mark Kitto).

before and after - on top of the fridge

I was really very fond of this collection of stuff. It has taken many years to get as good as this. Because there was no where else in the house that was suitable, it was with great difficulty that we decided this was the only possible spot to put our new snail pond!

So this is what is on top of our refrigerator now. It's like a glowing 3-D television set, but much more interesting!

To decorate the pond is a rock of red jasper from the Gwydir River, a fossil leaf from the hill behind our house, and an antique silkworm chrysalis jade carving from Xi'an in China.


Hi Yoriko!

grass

Crop-dusting at Llynmollie

This was a fun way to start the day. I filmed all of this from our garden. See, we really do live in the middle of a farm. It is not our farm, so we have all the benefits of a peaceful country life without the worries. We are very lucky!

copper mask with geranium lips

This is an embossed copper mask that I made a long time ago. It was pensioned off as a garden ornament last century! The other day it came to life with fresh pursed lips of a geranium flower!

Brown snake in our garden

The birds always let us know when there is a snake around. Once, we saw a brown snake swallowing a honeyeater in this same part of our garden. They know the snakes are a real threat and they ban together to call us so that we can scare it away!

Butterflies at Llynmollie Cottage

Butterflies in our garden.

Male feeding the female

Watching our friendly Scrubwrens, it looks like the female builds the house while the male (who is slightly bigger and brighter) feeds her!

Watch it for yourself in the movie.

Scrubwrens in our garden

We have these beautiful pots of flowers hanging from our clothes line. That big white bunch of petunias on the left has a new nest of Scrubwrens.










Here is a Scrubwren emerging from her new home!










Watch carefully as a busy little bird takes in nesting material and leaves quickly for more.

Guilin Art Museum - 桂林美术馆

Last January, we spent 3 very enjoyable weeks touring through China. While in Guilin, we visited the Art Museum and watched this demonstration of traditional Chinese painting of bamboo. It was very interesting. I hope you like it.

Bamboo painting by Huang Shouqi - 黄寿奇

我很喜欢学习汉语！

 (Wǒ hĕn xǐhuan xuéxí hànyǔ!  I love learning Chinese!)

I am trying to learn Chinese, I like it very much, but it is extremely difficult and takes a lot of time.

我享受挑战! （Wǒ xiǎngshòu tiǎozhàn!   I enjoy a challenge!)

。。。

Shirley Peters

We went to the opening of Shirley Peters' first one man show last night. It is at Brunswick Street Art Gallery in Fitzroy near Melbourne. She had a fantastic collection of rather large oil paintings, mostly depicting the unexpected combination of modern secular people, such as young runners and surf swimmers, in St Peter's Basilica in Rome!!! Even horses! They are great paintings, each one is amazing, but all together it really was impressive. She sold 3 paintings on opening  night!!!

Here they are:

Elizabeth Barnett - etching

Last night we went to the Bruswick Street Gallery near Melbourne, to an opening night of a whole lot of exhibitions. At one of them Jon and I bought an etching by a local artist, Elizabeth Barnett. We really liked the gentle nature of her work that was rather narrative, and mostly collages. Here is a photo of Elizabeth and the etching we bought called 'saying goodbye'.

Preparing for a trip to Sydney tomorrow

It's always nice when we go away from home to leave the garden looking good. Hopefully, it will still look good when we return! So today we spent most of it outside mowing, and trimming, and digging up burrs that like to grow outside our fence in the paddock... where we also mowed. So the place is quite a picture. Too tired to take one though, you'll have to imagine it!
We had dinner underneath the trees and it was wonderful.

Back home

Had a beautiful trip home yesterday. The Gwyder Highway is such a pleasure to drive. It took about 7 hours.
Today we went to Tamworth and picked up some shelving for our new studio and shed (2 shipping containers). Funny to say what I just said in a such a short sentence, because it means so much: our new lives are almost about to start!!!! Once we have our space re-organised this little bit, we will be able to do so many things that, in the past, we have not had the space to do ...  you just wait and see!

Have a look at our 2 containers being delivered on this youtube video.

Waves at Wooli

Tonight Jon and I had a delicious meal at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the Wooli Wooli River. Because we have daylight saving here (it's summer!) we had plenty of daylight to watch the river and the birds, and the clouds and the sunset.... while we ate beautiful food that someone else cooked!

Here we are:

ps. the lawn is mowed!

Wooli

We drove to Wooli today, it took 7 hours. Wooli is a lovely beach side village where we have a rather oldish house that needs some work ... but we're here to mow the grass.

Here is a photo of a plover sitting on eggs with ibises keeping a safe distance, all happening in a park next to our house after some very heavy rain, last September.

Yellow Mountain

A bird I photographed recently on Yellow Mountain in China.

Apple snail called Xiao Luo

.
May I introduce Jon's and my first pet in many years, an apple snail named Xiao Luo.
(The music is "Dance of the Yao People" composed by Peng Xiuwen)