August 2020

The coming of September means that there are only four months left in 2020 – what! Heck, what a year 2020 has been not only for me but for everyone in this pandemic-stricken world. Hopefully we are still keeping a positive outlook as we step into the final trimester of the year. August was also REALLY hot and I’m glad I survived another Wuhan summer…!

Leisurely cycling after dinner one evening after a short period of rain, a rainbow appeared above us. Nearly everyone stopped to take a photo and so did we – I think it was my first encounter with a rainbow after moving back to China!

We continued cycling and when we reached Yujia Lake, we saw fiery clouds in the distance that illuminated the dusk over the horizon, like an oil painting coming to life. Nature is too beautiful!

Photo taken at the exact same spot as the last photo, with the golden globe getting ready to sink into the horizon beyond Yujia Lake. Yep, we are frequent visitors to Yujia Lake, alright.

View from the bus from Hankou station as we crossed a bridge over the Han River (not the more well-known Yangtze, which also traverses Wuhan) on our way home.

Amazing cloud patterns seen outside my workplace as I was getting ready to go home.

Group photo after weekly gathering at my place – it’s great to finally be able to see friends face-to-face again!

Fooooooooooooood! Summertime (plus COVID) means that J gets a break from teaching and so we cooked a lot more at home in August than we’re used to. Apparently taking a photo of every home-cooked meal has become a habit and a ritual. I’m so thankful to have such an excellent cook as my husband! ❤

Despite cooking more, we still ate out from time to time, especially during our weekly date on Friday nights. Top left: pizza and curry chicken rice with friends; top right: sizzling-grilled steak with pasta and egg; bottom left: best beef noodles ever in Xiangyang; bottom right: Thai sticky rice with mango and coconut milk. Yum yum!

I usually end these monthly posts with a selfie of Mr. J and me and here we are – my husband is really the most adorable human being ever ❤ ❤ ❤

Other than my job (which I hate and can’t quit yet for not-so-obvious reasons), I dare say that I’m enjoying my currently lifestyle more and more – beautiful sceneries, amazing books (only thing not mentioned in this post), delicious food, and the best companion in life. Two milestones – ten-year anniversary of this blog and one-year wedding anniversary – are coming up and I plan to write corresponding posts reflecting upon these in the upcoming month – if I don’t become lazy or distracted!

Somewhere over the rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow…the sun is hiding, perhaps. I am not kidding when I say that I haven’t seen the sun in almost three weeks. Well, it comes out once in a blue moon after the rain, but always for a very short period of time and always behind heavy, grey clouds. What I ought to say is that I have forgotten what blue sky looks like 😦 Oh Glasgow, must you do this to me?

I guess you win some and you lose some, or the other way around. If there is no rain, then who could experience and appreciate the beauty of the rainbow? Thinking of this made me realize that rainbows are one of my favourite things to photograph, though I obviously don’t have as many photos of rainbows as I would have liked since it depends a lot on timing. Still, here is a compilation of some of my favourite rainbow scenes captured throughout the past years.

I can’t stress enough my NEED to get a window seat when I travel on a plane. The only exception is when I have to make a connecting flight within a short period of time, in which case I would compromise and go for an aisle seat. Then I would miss views like this. It was raining as the plane took off from Glasgow last December, and without high expectations of seeing anything glorious, I looked outside the window, just in time to see the opposite of the expected – a semi-rainbow hanging from the sky. Perhaps then, I loved rain a little bit more, even if it were just for a split moment.

Moccasin Trail Park – Quest for the rainbow

If you are a resident of Toronto and a frequent commuter on the northbound Don Valley Parkway (DVP), I’m almost sure you have seen a rainbow at least once. I’m talking about that rainbow tunnel on the right side of the expressway, near the Lawrence exit, that drivers often pass by. It is colourful and conspicuous and certainly would have attracted anyone’s attention, but most drivers probably keep going without giving it a second thought. After all, it’s just another familiar scene you see on your daily commute, no?

I was curious. I wanted to find the exact place where that rainbow resides and find out how close I could get to it. It seemed so far away from the DVP, you know…as if it’s really a real, unreachable rainbow. In reality, it’s literally right next to the expressway – I just needed to figure out how to actually get there.

I did have a hidden agenda though, and that was to finally fully experience the beauties of the fall foliage along the Don River on both sides of the DVP, which are now covered in gorgeous patches of red, orange, and yellow. With an awesome hike that was achieved in the Crothers Woods (which is also close to the DVP, a bit more south) last week, I couldn’t wait to see where my search for the rainbow would lead me! After a bit of research and some luck with the weather, I set out on a quest for the rainbow, which led me to my entry point – Moccasin Trail Park.

There are so many areas to enjoy our blessed green space in Toronto, and I was determined to visit as many of them as possible before I leave the country again. The weather was slightly threatening this afternoon with warnings of rain, but the sun was still shining when I headed out the door, so I took the chance. After a 15-minute drive, I parked my car in the parking lot at the end of Moccasin Trail and found an entrance to the park. And wow. To say I was impressed at the scenery would be an understatement. The smell of autumn, the sounds of silence, the vibrant colours that adorned the foliage – what a delicate treat for my five senses! 🙂

Skies, seas, and Cherbourg

I’ve been to Cherbourg in Normandy twice, each time was a three-day stay. Yet, I’ve never written about it. For a period of time, the circumstances under which I made these visits bore too much burden on my heart and my mind. After almost three years, I dug out these memories and looked back at those very peaceful days that I spent in Cherbourg, and there was nothing to regret.

Cherbourg is a port city at the tip of northwestern France, part of the department of Lower Normandy, where the sea seemed to be an indispensable part of the people’s lives in Cherbourg

Powered by nature

I fell in love with Secret Garden’s song Powered by Nature as soon as I heard it (lyrics here). It makes me remember the times nature has touched my heart and once again reminded me of the greatness of God’s creations. “I’m powered by mountains, they make me feel so small, so I can seize the wonder and the greatness of it all…I know I’m a part of God’s great universe!” Often throughout my travels, I like to pause and just let the serenity of nature surround me. Then I am thankful that God granted me this big big world to explore, to experience, to enjoy.

No lavenders in Provence nor tulips in Keukenhof this year, but what a blessing it was to see the sunflower fields last week, row on row, stretching without end towards the blue sky, beyond the vast horizon. To be in touch with nature in its purest form, to listen to the voice of the truest beauty speaking through the wind – such marvel and awe. This was in the midst of a trip to the Royan zoo, two hours away from Bordeaux. If anything was worth the trouble of going all the way, this was it. (By the way, I almost fainted from this indescribable beauty…it was way beyond anything words can hope to convey.)