the sun is shining and there is no fog today.   its only semi-freezing outdoors and people are flying kites in the park outside our apartment.  i would show you, but it has been a bad year for the cameras in our life.

most importantly, i have returned to beijing from an unplanned 3 month medical "vacation" and it is a lot less scary this time.  not only can i comfortably leave my neighborhood at my leisure, it is all more exciting and i manage to identify more westerners about.

today's adventure was a trip to a department store.  department stores are really expensive, despite that, it was fairly busy there for a wednesday.  the cosmetics department was huge with brands i recognize-- clinique, lancome, estee lauder, and l'oreal.  the l'oreal counter has hair coloring for sale, but of course nothing anywhere near the color range for me.  the shoe department seemed endless, both with brands i know (nine west) and brands i don't know.  given the prices, i think i still prefer the idea of tailored clothes from the market.  ag has had some shirts custom made there for around 7 to 10 dollars each and they look great.  one of these days i will have a suit made for myself, just because its affordable.

that's all for now, next entry i'll cover our trip to a couple wineries, and my fun and crazy spa experience.  one of these days soon we will replace our cameras and put pics back up.

this here is a combination machine:  it is both washer and dryer.  when i first arrived it was waiting for me, brand spankin' new in my brand spankin' new apartment.  the user's manual sitting right on top.  trouble is it was all in chinese!

deciphering this machine is among my greatest accomplishments, alhtough i don't really care for it.  it is better than the machines in france, but not nearly as good as machines in the states.  i holds about a third of the load of laundry that you would normally want to wash.  the result being you get to spend three times as long doing laundry.  good thing i don't have a real job, i am too busy being a corporate spouse to make time to work.  i have laundry to do and an ayi to manage.

anyway, learning this machine took several trial runs and the gracious sacrifice of some of my handsome spouse's pants turning pink.  turns out it is hooked up to hot water, and the dishwasher (which has directions in english) can only be hooked up to the cold water.  the dryer functions oddly, too.  its more like it steams the clothes than drys them.  crazy, but not impossible.

well, beijing is the only place i have ever lived where it is not dangerous to look directly at the sun.  this pic was taken yesterday at about 3:30, i think.  the marriott building is not a hotel but a corporate residence building on the palm springs housing compound.  it is the view as we leave the premises of our apartments, park avenue.

today it is all fog outside, a big change from a nice stretch of fall days.