Saturday in Qingdao dawned bright and sunny. The smoggy, foggy air we endured Tuesday to Friday had been banished. The air was crisp and cold. It was a see-your-breath kind of morning that foreshadowed a glorious fall day. And it was clear. It was a “horizon day” as Sean calls them (days you can actually see to the horizon.) Adding to the appeal, the Yellow Sea out our second story window and across the four-lane street, was sparkling in an on-the-front-of-a-postcard, can’t-really-be-real kind of way.
It was the kind of day that, were I still living in Illinois, I would feel compelled to mix up a pot of chili. I would bundle up and head out to enjoy a cup of hot mulled cider on the front porch. In fact, it was on such a day, three years ago this weekend, that we hosted our grand Moving to China Yard Sale in the front yard. It was the kind of day I would envy a cat lazing about in a sunny sill. The kind of day I could spend literally drinking in the autumnal sunshine.
Of course our fully scheduled Saturday didn’t allow for lazing. Millie to sailing, Sean and Jen to parent teacher interviews @ school (the British term for what American’s usually call Teacher Conferences.) Then on to pick Eliza’s pal for a play date, and on again to the opening of a new English bookshop.
No time today to bask in the sun, or quietly enjoy the fall weather outside. But, still time to enjoy the visual splendor… the bright red sumac glowing on the rocky mountainous outcrops that trace the coastline, the fan shaped leaves of the gingko trees that dot Donghai Lu gradually turning yellow, the sparkling water of the sea and the bright warm sunshine on this cold autumn day.
It was the kind of day that, were I still living in Illinois, I would feel compelled to mix up a pot of chili. I would bundle up and head out to enjoy a cup of hot mulled cider on the front porch. In fact, it was on such a day, three years ago this weekend, that we hosted our grand Moving to China Yard Sale in the front yard. It was the kind of day I would envy a cat lazing about in a sunny sill. The kind of day I could spend literally drinking in the autumnal sunshine.
Of course our fully scheduled Saturday didn’t allow for lazing. Millie to sailing, Sean and Jen to parent teacher interviews @ school (the British term for what American’s usually call Teacher Conferences.) Then on to pick Eliza’s pal for a play date, and on again to the opening of a new English bookshop.
No time today to bask in the sun, or quietly enjoy the fall weather outside. But, still time to enjoy the visual splendor… the bright red sumac glowing on the rocky mountainous outcrops that trace the coastline, the fan shaped leaves of the gingko trees that dot Donghai Lu gradually turning yellow, the sparkling water of the sea and the bright warm sunshine on this cold autumn day.
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