Busy Weekend , with a lot of Driving .

As we knew that Saturday was going to be fairly busy , it was early to Bed on Friday . At 06:00am it was out for just myself , as I was to drive to a Swap-Meet and be there at no later then 08:00am . Having made an Appointment to buy/pick up our new bought Fountain on last Sunday , but didn't have my Pick-up with me at that time .

Everything seemed just great , as I pulled my Pick-up's back Gate to their's .. so it was only pushing/pulling the four pieces that make up the final Fountain from their's to mine . That looked not difficult as I only watched them working to get it done .

As one became two .. three , finally the fourth part .. I could see my poor Truck become a Low-Rider in front of my Eyes . This must be at least a 1000 lbs. we are taking about here . Now as I was ready to go and bring this Load home , thought's of how the Heck will I get this "OFF" my Truck ?

Arriving Home , Qing is up by now and .. the first thing she's worried about .. is me of course . Ohhh .. this is too heavy for you .. remember your Back ! Well , yes of course I remember my Back . Had that go out a couple of times in my time and it is no fun .. hurts for day's .

Under the watchful Eye of my LaoPo , I started to carry off the smallest of the four . See Sweetheart , it's not too bad . Hahaha .. this smile quickly turned to a quite surprise . By the time I got to number three , we were ( I was ) lifting some 300 lbs. easy . With Qing's help , we managed to get the top three back near the place of where it will stand proudly .. some day ??? So now what , with the biggest of all daddy's ? We are looking at some 600 lbs. with very little to hold on to , even to push it . I needed to get this Monster of my Truck , I need the Car for Work the next day . Turning on the Light Bulb in my Head , something lit up .. you better get help ! Poor Neighbor , he did not know what was coming . Ahh .. no problem he said , eye-balling this thing and the little more than the two feet down to the Garage Floor . All the Wood and Re-inforcement in place , old Shingles that I had left over from the Patio cover .. I placed at the point of impact .. when 600 lbs. meet Concrete Floor . Pull/Push , and here it goes .. sliding by its own weight and us having no control of its Speed down . Bamm .. it cut through about six Shingles like it was Butter , but it only did sleight damage on a very sensitive area .. but no problem to fix . 

Yeah .. it's down .. but now what ? Well it's still sitting there in the same spot , but ready for Four/4 Weight-Lifter's .. as I have fasten a strong Tow-Rope around the base with four chains at each corner for Lifing this Baby . 

Anyway , this is for another day .. as I need to look for those Heavy-Weights that can do this without killing themselves .

That out of the way , it was of to the Beach . Our old LA Soccer Club ( German ) for our yearly Picnic at Ventura State Beach .

Wanting to arrive there no later than 1:00 pm , which we made after this exciting Morning .

Spending most of the Afternoon , eating Lunch-a few Beers-a walk on the Beach and seeing one thing that shocked me somewhat . How old everybody has become ( of course me included ) and it really shows .. that there is just no new Blood ( Member's ) joining our Club anymore . I think in a couple more year's , we might as well close out Clubhouse and call it a great Time looking back some fourty year's me being a Member .


Father " TIME " doesn't stop .. even for " Soccer Player's " ! It certainly was a wonderful time and a big part of my Life , that will always be special to me and many that played in our Team .. especially winning the City Championship a few times and the yearly held German "Wander Pokal" Cup .. where many US Cities participate in .

Wow .. a new Poem !

It has been just too long and I started to pressure ( not pleasure ) myself to come up with a new Poem for my LaoPo . So just one night , there was the Title for a new one . It's amazing how they just pop into ones Head .

This one took my two days ( Lunch breaks actually ) to write . It is .. I think number 18 so far ? I will get all of them together one day and Post them all in order I written them , since I know my Sweetheart .

Anyway , here is the newest ..

Honey from a " Well " .

Two kinds of Honey exist

both produced by a Bee

so no need for a long list

The most common of course

everyone knows and loves

comes from Flowers as a source



The second more plentiful

but away from a Bee with wings

some kind two People share

it is made from Love of all things



Never to be put on Bread or in Tea

if you ask me honestly

this Honey is from a " Well "

is the best over all

certainly suits me very well .

May in July ? Only in America !

What do I mean by that ?

Well , this weekend .. Qing and I spend Saturday in Long Beach CA. .
This is about 90 miles south of where we live . This did not change our Minds though , to be part of a Festival .. that is actually celebrated in May .. in China that is . Hence , the Title of this Post .

As I saw with surprise on my PC , the mentioning of the 2011 Dragonboat Festival and Races over the this Weekend . Some 100 + Races of Young and Old alike . Anybody that can hold a Orr and is not afraid of the Water .

Need to get up early ( before 6am ) , have Breakfast and hit the Road south by no later then 8:00am . Knowning , that this place where all is going to happen .. will not be easy to locate/find . I only been twice in my 39 years here in California to Long Beach . That was to Visit the "Queen Mary" Cruise Ship .

As I suspected , we ( actually I ) were lost arriving in Long Beach . Going down the 710 Fwy and looking for the 7th Street Exit .. which never came . Finding ourselves in the Ship Yard and in the Un-loading area of all those oversea's Container's ( most of them from China of course ). Interesting view , as some of them I think were stagged 10-15 high . Some sight for sure . Anyway , me admitting that we are lost ( yes .. there are some Men that do admit their lost ) , it was time to ask some unexpecting Soul to guide us in the right direction . Remembering this from our last Downtown LA visit ( ask five People for Angle Flight and nobody knew where it was ) , of course the first Lady I ask at a SuperMarket .. had NO idea of the area where she Worked . hahaha
Oh , I now remember .. most work  2 Hours from Home and have NO idea where their at .

Asking a second Person , I could see .. we were at least close to our Destination . I saw some familiar Street's that were mentioned in the Printout I had taken with us from the Computer . Made me feel good , I can actually take some credit for finding the Place .. that always looks good in front of your LaoPo .

By now it was close to 11:00 am , not bad .. As I have figured in .. this well before .

Here we were , in the middle of dozens of Dragonboat's and People that will races them . Along all the Crowd that had the same idea of coming here . What was strange , is that Qing has never been to one in China in all her years growing up in Shanghai . It is also my first experience seeing this , even though I wanted to see them plenty of times in the Past .

Strolling with the Crowd , we came to an Stage that was to have different Performance's from different Countries/Cultures . Of course Chinese-Jananese-Hawaii-Tahiti .This was a nice welcome between the Boat races , as one sits under a Tent and out of the Sun .

Enjoying ourselves for about three-four Hours and walking slowly back to our Car , the Scenic Route .. to check out the beautiful Homes near the Marina . Turns out , Qing was even more interested in those Homes then the Boat races . Seeing on of them for Sale , picked up a Flyer to see what they are asking for one of those beauties . Oh .. a cool $ 1.2 Million for a 1936 build ( but renovated ) .. cough .. cough ! Not that I think they are not worth it , after all it was 2600 sq feet of obsolute " I love this " . Let me quick check my Checkbook and see .. if ?

One can Dream .. right ?

So on the way Home , we took the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Venice ( not Italy ) . Including a view of old Queen Mary sitting like she does for many years as an Tourist Attraction .Qing loved the drive through one Beach City after the other very much , but she really liked Long Beach .. as she now wants us to take her Brother's Wife there .. when she comes in Sept. this year .

I'm now wondering , what happened to Pasadena .. did "IT" now move down on her List of favourite Cities ? Then again , the Beach Cities are beautiful to the Eye . I'm not the kind to go in the Ocean Water's , either for Fun or Sport . What I like most is the Temperature year-round .. comfortable .

One more stop we planned on the drive home , that was the Asian Market .. that we just can not pass up being within 5 minutes off the Freeway . Nice time shopping with Dinner next door and then .. call it a day .. it is .

Putting up a Shelf for Qing's Buddha .

Being married to a Chinese Wife , has brought this up in my Mind many times . What do I do about the two different Religions we have .

Before I get into it too much , I must realize .. that we are both not the practicing kind . We do have each our strong believe in our own Upbringing . As of late , I find myself only going to an None-Denominational Church . Qing has gone to a Temple to pray many times for Family Members and before we actually met .. even prayed for a good Husband . Well , she now definitely believes .. that wish came true . I myself , have prayed after I lost my first Wife .. for the Lord to give me strength to go on in Life . I'm blessed much more than that , as my Blog is proof of that .

Anyway , I will let this difference between us NOT get in our way at anytime .. now or later . I'm not the Type to push my Religion onto anybody and I expect the same in return . People that think , they better because they live and breathe a certain Believe .. well let them think just that . I don't care ! It still comes down to one thing , are you a GOOD Person to other's or NOT .

I do spend time to tell my LaoPo about the Bible and my understanding of it , but thats it . I'm not here to change her Mind and tell Her .. you better off with my Religion . Do I really know that for sure . After all , I'm not the Judge of that or where anybody is going for living their style of Life .

So , I build my LaoPo her Shelf on our Patio . You know what ? I love it just as much as Qing does and I'm proud of it .. having done it .

Now , as some Friends have suggested/ask .. what about Qing's Son when he get's here ? Another thing I have been thinking over a lot .. now that his paperwork is in the Process . Mmmmh .. this is not an easy one , him being only Ten . I need to find out what he knows/learned this far .. growing up in Shanghai and just take it from there . It is after all for us to decide , as he is not old enough to make up his own Mind just yet . Then again , Chinese are smart People ( even Children ) .. he might have make up his Mind already ? We'll see , but Qing and I are living as a Married Couple should and with Love and Respect .. Honesty to a point .. where Jealousy is not ever going to sneak up on either one of us .

Here are some Photo's again , from the last few days .

A "Delight" under the "Night" !

Last Saturday , was our first Concert under the night sky .. here near our Home . Something I have been looking forward to . Knowing pretty much all the Band's/Singer's from the 50's-60's-70's , this was not one I wanted to miss . It happens to be " AMERICA " and their are on their 40th Anniversary Tour , with one more Show left after this Performance . Of course everybody knows the Song " A Horse with no Name " and sure all know .. this is NOT about a Horse at all . Anyway , Qing and I first enjoyed a Asian Buffet ( mostly Sushi for me haha ) . Stuffed and no need to buy Refreshments/Drinks at super high prices , that make the Admission look like it's Free . So the Show was to start at 8:00 pm and we arrived about 6:30 pm and most good ( near the Stage ) were already taken . So we stand there among the Crowd and look for a place to put our Chairs , when Someone saw us looking further and further back away from even being able to count the Band members when it's time . Well almost ! So here comes a Guy and ask Me , if I wanted two Seat's in the front ? My first thought of course .. was , how much does he want for those ? So I ask Him , to my surprise .. he said ! Nothing , two of my friends did not show up .. so their yours . Heck , he did not have to say that twice . Well now , I would have never thought .. we would be sitting in the third row and just a little to the left of Center Stage . I now really felt a little Quilty , not haveing to dish out some kind of Money for those . When right next to me , sat all the VIP's in their Chair's .. having paid somewhat more then my $ 5.00 first come first serve Ticket . Also a great start for both of us , even before it started .


Eight PM came , here comes "America " with four .. over sixty or close to it and are about to sing all that they know .
All I can say , what a great Performance .. even Qing was busy waving the US flag ( the ones everybody recieved entering ) . This was by far one of the best Concert's , along with " The Who " . I also thought of it being funny , they call themselves " America " when they actually come from England . Then again , what Band doesn't ?


Sunday , Qing and I went to Home Department Store to get some Spot Light's for our soon to be reallity Water Fountain and all the Wood for Qing's Buddha and Accessories .


As one can see , I'm still putting the finishing touches on Patio and Backyard . I will up-load some Photo's again , when I have them ready .
Back to the Store , I like to share how Store's are trying to ceat People . Last week , we went to the same Department and saw the Bar Table/w two Chair's ( to match our large Patio Table ) on SALE . This is what the sign read  .. $ 200 off - Regular price $ 499 .. so $ 299 to buy . This time the sign read .. $ 100 off - Reg. price $ 399 .. so still $ 299 to buy . Now , I wasn't going to pay $ 299 .. when I bought the large Table / w six Chair's and Cushion's for only $ 399 . This is where I got to show Qing , I can bargain too .. and I'm not even Chinese ( well I learned that from her of course and my Trips to China ) . The Manager comes buy and see's us looking this Table over and I told him about the " Two Sale Sign's " I have seen . He played like he had no idea ??? Anyway , he tells us .. this is the last one and I can let it go for $ 250 . I was thinking more like $ 199 , so I told him too much for this " Little " Table . He left us alone again and I told Qing , there is no way I will Pay more then what I think this is worth . It is after all " Made in China " . haha   naturally !
He came back a second time and I told him , I'll pay $250 .. but no Tax on it . Well , it didn't take him long .. before he lowered the Price down to $ 225 .. as he told me he can not take the Tax off . Good enough for me , let's wrap it up and I'll take it .. Ohhh , and don't forget to put one of those $ 5 Plugs in the middle .. hence I don't need an Umprella .


This must of gained me some PLUS Point's in my LaPo's Book . I know , we here are not use to Bargaining in our Stores .. but then again .. why not try . People that been to China know this very well , stuff Made in China can be Bargained there .. so if you feel your being taken for a ride .. give them He** ! or tell them to Sho** it !

Ahhh .. living by the Number's .

It is somewhat scary looking at this Clock without any Arms to tell you the Time nore AM / PM .

http://www.usdebtclock.org/



Then again , do I need to worry ? After all , it's not my Money going out the Window .. now is it ?
Makes one wonder if this will ever run backwards at some point or it just will be doing all it really knows .. " ADD " ? Somebody please find the Plug and ... Pull it !