Western Talent on the Yangtze

Not everyone on the riverboat had Chinese talent.

Our folks had a lot of their own.

With 80 % of the riders being Chinese (or Chinese tourists form Singapore, returning to visit their country of origin) ..... 
it sure felt good to hear a little American music!

And, for the Americans, being a little "old", it was quite pleasant to listen to some classics form the 50's.

But the young amongst us also showed their talent.

Watch out Chinese women....
Mr. Casanova from Chicago is after your hearts!

But, frankly the one who stole the show was this young lady. 
She was about 18 years old, I'd say. She played a wooden flute.

Four times the music CD which was accompanying her suddenly stopped. 
And each time it took about a minute to get it rolling again.

She stood perfectly still, maintaining her composure as she waited to re-start again and again.
Only one time could you see a tear develop in her eye as she waited.

But, she finished a great performance.

Can you see the expression of the Chinese crowd?
There was one lady in the background who was actually crying at the end of her show. 

Talent on the River Yangtze

We had a talent show one night, as we travelled up the Yangtze on our river boat.

The crew participated with their own acts.

They claimed it was part of the crew. But they sure looked good to me.

I apologize for not removing the purple color cast from all of these pictures. 
But there is a limit to the time one has to do this, even in retirement. 

I just chose to process and color-correct a few of them.

Anyway... As Ed Sullivan might have said, they had for us a "Really Great Show!"

And as usual, the Chinese were very pleasant and humble. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll put up some pictures of our participant in the Talent Show Along the Yangtze!

Back to pics from the good old USA (for those tired of my China pictures))

The local photo club wanted pictures of "windows" this month.

Here is what I submitted.

They were taken form the cabin in Colorado.
The first few are after a storm passed by, which later created the tornados near Dallas.

View out the front door window.

Grandchild in the car, ready to head back home.

Window of the car. 
The brighter area is light passing form the diver's side window.

Dog, playing in the snow.

Dog, warming up, after playing in the snow.

And finally......on the way home: 
Window at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, near Amarillo. 


Next month's subject is "curves". 
I wonder what I should shoot!

Where in the world am I now?

So here is a pic I'd like for you to guess where it's at!

Yep. Those are bananas.


And these look like papaya plants!

I'll tell you it's in winter.

No, I didn't go visit Cuba after after Christmas. 

Some buildings look dilapidated enough to be there. 

And these are not city people farming in the city limits of Havana

It's China.

Who would have thought the such tropical plants would grow in November in China?


I used to think of China as being further north than Korea...and lots of news clips from the Korean War showed that it was awful cold there.

Yes, Beijing is further north than that.

But the area of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are only 30 degrees North of the equator.

That means it is only slightly north of New Orleans or even Austin, Texas. 

It looks pretty darn tropical even in October and November. 
But, in reality, the temps were in the high 30's in the morning and rose to the 60's in the afternoon.

Anyway....Guess that's why there was so much fruit in the markets of the big cities to the north, even at that time of the year!

Christmas Day storm, 2015

Here is an aside from our China Pics.....

Remember the tornadoes that hit east of Dallas the day after Christmas, 2015?
I think 9 died from that event.

Well, that storm front passed by our cabin in southern Colorado on Christmas day.

Here is what it looked like there.
Not deadly when it passed us...except perhaps if you were outside without proper clothing.

PS I included scenes form the day after the storm, towards the end of the video.
It was surprising to me how pretty the next morning looked.

And it reminded me of the morning after the tornadoes that hit near Chicago last Spring.
That front passed over us as we camped near the Illinois-Iowa area.
When I took the dog out for his morning restroom break, the colors looked so peculiar. 
I came right back in and got my camera.

Aren't those colors eerie?

There is a similarity with the colors after the Colorado's front. 

Working on the China pictures

I have not abandoned my project of posting on our China trip.

But it can be  difficult to clean up these pictures. 
Here is the finished project of a pic along the Great Wall.

And here is what that picture started as:

They said it was mainly "fog".  But, the "fog" did not clear as the day progressed.

Pollution was only 8 when we got to Beijing and it only climbed to 100. 
I don't know what the top of the scale might be.
The tour guide says he has seen it up to 1,000 (yes, 1,000).

If we were at 8 and it goes over 1,0000........
Maybe that is why they have these in our hotel rooms:

From what I hear, these are not just "Fire Escape Hoods". 
They are there for when the weather is real bad.

Anyway, I'll get more pics on the blog someday.