City Garden

My dad grows an amazing garden each year. He always has, at least as long as I can remember. 

When I was a child, I didn't appreciate the whole process so much; I was never really excited about the privilege of helping out in his garden, whether that was picking strawberries, pulling weeds, or shelling peas. And definitely not digging potatoes. :)

 But things change. I grew up and moved away.

Now I live in the city, and my "yard" consists of an enclosed glass porch on the third floor of an apartment building. 

 When spring comes to Beijing, I sometimes get a little nostalgic, remembering the old days and the big garden back home.

 This year, with the help of my girlfriend Liz, I made a little garden space on my porch. It's been pretty fun to watch everything grow.

It's not quite the same as a garden outside in the country, but it's a pretty good substitute. 

 And it's not nearly as hot as a Kansas garden, which is a big plus.  

I owe any success at this to my dad and his green thumb. Perhaps watching him work in the garden all those years rubbed off a little. I've been asking him for some horticulture advice along the way.

So far so good. 

at the center.

At the center of Beijing, just north of the Forbidden City, is a small hill called Jingshan Park (景山公园). On a clear day like today, one can see some pretty nice views of the city from there.

looking south toward the Forbidden City.

That egg-shaped building is the National Center for Performing Arts.

looking to the North.

a closer view of the Forbidden City.

the view to the west.

Like other parks around the city, it is also a popular place to exercise and just hang out, as can be seen in most of the rest of these pictures. 

Long time no blog.

It looks like my last post was in November...my bad. That was unintentional.

I'm always reluctant to apologize for a blogging absence, mostly because it sounds like I think that folks have been anxiously sitting at their computers waiting for my latest post. I highly doubt that has been the case here, BUT, while I was in the states last month, I did run into several people who surprised me by kindly telling me to get with it and put up some more pictures. 

So dear readers, with you in mind, I went for a walk this morning with my camera in hand.

I didn't really take any great pictures or see anything amazing, but it felt good to take it out again. I've been pretty lazy about using my camera these past few months, so I'm looking forward to using it more this semester and putting up more pictures on here. Hope you'll hold me to it.