Those Old Oak Trees

I am snuggled up in my office with a hot cup of tea. White fluffy clouds are hanging in the beautiful blue sky but it is all an illusion. You see, it is freezing outside and a winter wonderland. Snow covers the ground and still sits on the trees and bushes. I keep looking out the window staring at the oak trees and reflecting on their history.

Pocahontas might not have roamed among my oak trees but the children from a Native American tribe lived and played here. My house is located on an oak savanna which was the site of a Native American encampment 1,000’s of years ago. Archaeologists and students excavated artifact from this oak savanna finding remains from life of this area earliest visitors. Artifacts they found included: stone knives, spears, arrows and tools for food preparations and to shape bone and wood. They also found fire-cracked rock from cooking and heating.

Sadly, the big oaks closest to my house and drive were hurt during the building of my house. The arborist I consulted told me it takes very little to hurt an oak and about seven years for it to die. In the front, two trees had grown together to reach over 70 feet high. The limbs and branches spanned the front yard. The tree in the back was even bigger; measuring over 54 inches around, taking the prize of the largest tree my crew had ever taken down.

After careful planning, the tree removal company and the tree harvester showed up with machines and men to start the three day event. It was an amazing process and I couldn't keep my camera put away!

It broke my heart to watch over 200 years of history disappear branch by branch but made me happy knowing that the tree has been harvested and will live on. Some of the wood went to the wood chips piles to be put back into the earth, some went for fire wood to sustain others on cold nights and what the crew could save went to Horigan’s Urban Forest Products. They take sections of the tree, cut it, dry it, prepare it for customers to turn it into furniture, wood floors, etc. Already, some of the pieces from our tree was cut and prepared for a popular coffee house for it’s tables. Urban renewal is the way to go!! Think about it for your next project!!! (No, I am not being paid to advertise – it is just a great company making the right choice to reuse our natural resources) www.horiganufp.com

I look out and miss those big old oak trees. The snowy view just isn’t the same.

Enjoy the pictures. It was a cool process!

On The Move To China - Day 12

Flying for 13 hours! We left China Sunday morning. Flew 13 hours and arrived in USA in the early morning. I love living the same day twice!

Our recap for the trip

Favorite place we visited:
Linda The Water Towns
Shelly The Terracotta Warriors

Least favorite:
Linda A terrible meal we had in Beijing
Shelly Smog and pollution

Favorite item we purchased:
Linda A Jade Sculpture
Shelly A Terracotta Warrior

Favorite food:
Linda Dumpling Banquet
Shelly Hot Pot Meal

We had a great time. Jet lag is almost over. Our families missed us? Regardless, we are happy to be home with them. . . . it is a good thing we only stayed 2 weeks because we were becoming accustom to being catered to everyday!

Thanks for joining us on the journey. I am sorry these were not submitted to you daily - the Chinese government blocks all blogs and face book!

On The Move To China - Day 11

We were pleasantly surprised to discover our flight back to Beijing didn’t leave until 5:00 pm so we had a full day of sightseeing in Xi’an. Our first stop was to the Bell Tower located inside the city walls. Luckily, it was a Saturday morning and the traffic was not bad getting inside the city walls.

The Bell Tower was built to house the bells that rang to signify dawn in old times. In modern times, they don’t ring the bells every morning, but they maintain the architecture of this beautiful old building to preserve its history and continue to use it as a focal point inside the city walls. Looking out from the Bell Tower, you can see the Drum Tower. Built in the same time period, the Drum Tower looks different from the Bell Tower but it is as beautiful and rich in history. The Drum Tower houses the drums that were used in old times to signify dusk.

We went to a restaurant in a local hotel that is famous for its “Hot Pot” meals. Bottom line, it is Chinese fondue. The Japanese have a dish called sukiyaki which is real similar. It was a great meal and we found out, it is not a local dish, but the Hot Pot is popular all over China. We were a bit put out other tour guides didn’t take us to one earlier!

Our last sightseeing opportunity in China was on the way to the airport. We stopped at the Hanyang Tombs. This tomb is for the Han Dynasty Emperors. It was built in 153 AD. It was amazing. Around the tomb mount they have found excavated 10 tunnels/mini tombs that run away from the emperors’ tomb. They believe there are another 70 tunnels that run all around the tomb mount. The Chinese have done an excellent job preserving what is left from the tomb raiders. The raiders took all the gold and silver but left enough pottery that archeologist can give an accurate account of the emperor’s life. They know this was a peaceful time because there are only a few warriors (unlike the Emperor with the Terracotta Warriors). I loved the tunnel filled with clay concubines and next to them is the tunnel filled with eunuchs to take care of the concubines. The Emperor was worried about the well being of his concubines! Linda loved the tunnel filled with animals – especially those darn cute pigs.

We loaded up, headed to the airport, went to Beijing and were so excited to be greeted by two cute girls from our hotel. We had no idea how we were going to navigate with our all bags to the hotel and didn’t know how to find it! We were like two giddy school girls when we read our name on a sign as we exited baggage claim!

On The Move To China - Day 10

We actually slept in this morning! I was grateful because I had a horrible night sleeping. We have to have the window open because the room is so hot and on the street is some HORRIBLE music playing over and over. The room was HOT all night, the beds were rock hard (Linda loves ) and the street was noisy most of the night.

With bags under my eyes, we headed out of the city to visit what we came Xi’an in search of – The Terracotta Warriors. After a stop at a factory which makes the Terracotta Warrior replicas that we can take home we headed to lunch at a local restaurant. We were thrilled to eat at a non-tourist restaurant. The place was filled with local men eating, drinking and smoking. Many people were having a very good time!

Finally, we arrived at the Terracotta Warriors burial site and it was huge! It was amazing. A poor farmer found remains while he was trying to dig a well. He took the artifacts to the government officials and they determined they were part of the Chin Dynasty.. The warriors are 1.5 kilometers away from the Emperors’ Tomb. This Emperor ruled for 38 years and was known to be very extravagant. He had many years to get ready for his after life! The poor farmer was given a months salary, the government built him and everyone in the village apartments, and they gave him a job at the gift shop. He signs books and posses for pictures – of course for money! Considering the cost to get in is around $20 per person and they average 40,000 people a day – the farmer did not make out too well!

They have found three separate tombs. The first one found has 6,000 warriors, horses, and chariots in it. To date, they have excavated and put back together 1,000. We loved the warriors they have put back together, all the piece still in ruin, the horses, the bodies without heads, and the work in progress. I kept thinking of the ad -"if have fallen and I can get up."















The second hall has the layers taken off the top and shows the ceiling that was over the top of the tomb. They have excavated a small portion to give them clues as to which figures were in this tomb so they can determine the importance and significance of this tomb.









The third tomb was the most important – it was the deepest and most important because they believe was the “operational headquarters” for the construction of all the tombs. This tomb had very few warriors, all of higher rank and most without heads! They believe this final tomb didn’t get finished. The Emperor died suddenly and at the young age of 50 so they were not able to finish all of the heads and fill the tomb with more possessions!

After visiting a shop and negotiating a good price and I am proud owner of good looking warrior –an officer, mind you. Linda negotiated a good price for a mask of an archer. Once again, our guide couldn't believe our ability to negotiate.

Happily we headed back to the downtown of Xi’an begging to eat at Pizza Hut. We went inside the city walls to a great area to eat. It was good, very similar in flavor to our pizza but had some interesting combination. My favorite – breaded deep fried chicken pizza. I settled for a New Orleans thin crust pizza and shared it with the tour guide. The restaurant was very swank and the menu was ½ inch thick offering everything from fried rice, smoothies, pizza and desserts. We loved the experience – everyday people having a great time on a Friday night. The traffic was horrible, the lights were bright and the city was busting with energy.

On The Move To China - Day 9

We enjoyed our breakfast on the 32nd floor overlooking the city before heading to the airport for our flight to Xi’an. Once again, we were the only two light haired humans on the plane. They were so kind to give all the information for safety in English for the two of us!

We found our new guide, Amy, as we exited the airport. We stopped by the hotel to check in before starting our sightseeing for the day. Our first impressions of the city – what a great little city – only 6 million. It is completely different in character from Beijing and Shanghai. Our hotel is on the edge of the West city wall.

The City Wall is part of the old city wall that has been completely refurbished. We drove to the South Gate – the original opening to the walled city. This is where they built the draw bridge that open over a 5 meter deep mote. We loved the South Gate. Once we passed through the three openings we went to the top of the wall, rented bikes and road to the Southwest Corner. The whole wall is 7 kilometers around and takes about one and a half hours to bike around. We road 40 minutes – which was plenty of time because our butts couldn't’t take the bumping on the stone and the hard seats any longer – we headed back to the car to go to the Da Ci’En (Great Kindness and Grace) Temple and Wild Goose Pagoda.

The pagoda is one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas in China and the original pagoda was built in 589 AD on this site. The temple was rebuilt due to being in such disrepair, but the Wild Goose Pagoda from 1556 is still standing. We once again posed for pictures, this time it was with a bunch of school girls – go figure! Our guide looked at us rather funny; I told her we were use to this for it has happened everyday!

The temple was beautiful. The colors on the buildings were so bright and brilliant. The Buddha was gold colored and rather impressive. Incense filled the air and best of all – it was not crowded! I could have spent a long time there, but as we watched a monk close the doors on the hall holding the golden Buddha, we knew it was closing time. There was time to walk us through the gift shop – those tour guides!

We enjoyed our dinner at a traditional “Dumpling Banquet”. We listened to music while we stuffed ourselves on steamed dumplings, boiled dumplings, fried dumplings and dumpling soup. Fat and happy we headed back to the hotel for the remainder of the evening. It took us forever – the traffic is horrible! Cars, buses, trucks, people, bikes, rickshaws, taxis and motor cycles were at corners at a complete stand still. Police were trying to help move the traffic. At one intersection, our driver even had to get out convincing a stupid driver (male) to move. Several drivers in fact got out of their vehicles to help! Amy told us they did not have a subway system built yet, but it was under construction. Boy, do they need it. Looking out my window now there is still bumper to bumper traffic jamming the streets. Glad we are tucked away in our hotel.

On The Move To China - Day 8

We waved good-by to our Marriott hotel in Shanghai and headed to Hangzhou. The drive took over three hours and was uneventful! We stopped half way at a rest stop/truck stop. Had a great time looking at all the snacks that were offered – sure glad we had packed our own.

Once we arrived in Hangzhou we headed to lunch at a cute local restaurant nestled in the mountains in the tea growing area. The rows and rows of tea plants were an amazing sight – with such precision the rows were planted along the road, up the mountain side and in large fields. After lunch, we toured the famous Longjing tea “showroom” and had a lesson on the difference in the quality of tea. It was a splendid sales pitch but we didn’t buy!

Finally, we went to West Lake – the reason we came to Hangzhou. Marco Polo declared it to be the world’s most splendid city when he passed through in the 13th century. Thank goodness, progress has occurred, but little has changed around the lake. Very little development has occurred and the area has been preserved. West Lake it considered to be China’s most revered body of water. The lake is surrounded by misty mountains and impressive pagodas. We took a boat ride around most of the lake, again posing for pictures for those from the “old country” who has never seen a white woman except on TV. I laughed – the title of a book from my childhood flashed in my mind -Stranger in a Strange Land. We did enjoy the walk we took around a small section of the lake – it would take eight hours to walk the whole lake. The lake is truly beautiful. We enjoyed benches along the way, arched bridges, wood bridges, bamboo hunts over the water, stone walk ways, restaurants built in the traditional style, and Kio ponds. It is no wonder it is a hot spot for Chinese high-level government officials.

We had some time to kill before dinner so we headed to Lily’s Foot Massage shop at the hotel. We tried to talk our tour guide into joining us – he declined and headed to read the paper. We had a great time! Reflexology is painful and wonderful.

Our new hotel was a 40 minute drive from the West Lake and dinner. We are definitely not at the Marriott but it is a nice hotel overlooking the river that runs through Hangzhou – too bad it is dark and we can’t see!

Just a few more pictures of West Lake - it was beautiful!

On The Move To China - Day 7

All I can say is SHOPPING. We had a driver. We had a list of places to shop thanks to an acquaintance of mine in Chicago that just moved from Shanghai. We had lunch in the car between stops – apple, trail mix and water. We were crazy! We were exhausted. We had so much fun! I took one picture the whole day! Here it is – a vendor at the antique market we enjoyed arguing with until we were sick of dealing with him.

On The Move To China - Day 6

We headed out of Shanghai today to visit a water town, Zhujiajiao. It is an old town that thrived economically due to the water. The town was built on the river with canals running through the town. Five or so years ago, this was a sleepy town filled with normal people living life – but in order to attract tourist, the government funded the renovation of the town. The canals and water were cleaned up. The stores right on the canals renovated to house stores and restaurants. Believe me; it is still rough around the edges, but ever so charming. The town was filled with old arched bridges connecting the streets over the canal, whitewashed restaurants with tables overlooking the water, canal boats rowing passengers, and vendors calling out to you from the many stores. We shopped. We gawked at the food vendors. At the end, we pushed our way through the growing crowds.

We then made our way to Qibao Town, another water town, but a completely different flavor from Zhujiajiao. It was in the old city nearer to our hotel. Again, the charm of the arched bridges, food vendors and people hanging out having a darn good time made the water town charming. We saw some interesting food – not quite daring enough to try the indescribably snacks.

After a quick rest at the hotel, we headed to the Huangpu River for a night cruise. We loved the lights! The buildings were amazing at night in the dark. Lights flashing, buildings changing colors, digital advertising on the side of the buildings – it was like watching a giant big screen on the side of a skyscraper – and the contrast between the new and the old buildings. There were a few too many male tourists on board who had never seen a Caucasian woman up close – Linda became a picture magnet. Thank goodness when it was my turn to be harassed, our guide was close to tell them to get lost!

I hate to admit this, but the driver dropped us off at McDonalds for dinner. We were excited to have McDonalds – 2 fish sandwiches, 1 cheese burger, 1 small fry, and 2 diet cokes set us back a total of $7.00. It was a nice break from our traditional Chinese food.

A few pictures of the food we passed by during the day:

On THe Move To China - Day 5

How much can two women see in one day? It was our tour guides responsibility to make sure we saw everything in Shanghai – he succeeded. Remember, he is a male – and he doesn’t shop!!

We started the day In Yu Garden, which is walking distance from our hotel. Yu Garden is a beautiful house and garden, some parts preserved and some renovated from many many years ago. The buildings were beautiful and the garden even better. The amazing part – this little patch of heaven is surrounded by skyscrapers, roads and shops. From our hotel window you can see a little patch of green nestled in the concrete and wooden roofs. We left the hotel and went through the Yuyuan Market – not much stopping along the way, but the site of daily life was interesting – the people, food stalls, restaurants, and shops. The buildings were constructed in the “old style” but the modern lifestyle was all around us.

Our next stop was the Jade Buddha Temple. Wow. I loved walking around the corner to see all the incense burners and the people praying. It felt like home to me. This was Linda’s first experience. The temple is named Jade Buddha Temple because housed deep inside the complex is a jade Buddha brought here from Burma by a monk – many believe it is the beginning of Buddhism in China. Other buildings housed several golden Buddha’s and monks. The original temple was built in 1882 but was destroyed and rebuilt in 1928 – thank goodness the jade Buddha was not damaged!

We went to the Bund for a stroll along the rivers edge, the famous waterfront. The Bund is an area that looks European, which was built over 100 years ago and regarded at the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. It was a welcome port for the visitors arriving by boat to visit Shanghai. We are staying in the “old city” and while standing on the bund, we looked across the river to Pudong – which is the new part of Shanghai. It was not developed 20 years ago and now it is covered in skyscrapers. I have to say it is a beautiful skyline.

An unexpected and my favorite stop of the day was the Confucian Temple (the Wen Miao Temple) located in the old city. The original temple was dedicated in 1296 but was moved several times before its current site in 1855. The current buildings were renovated in 1999 to celebrate the 2,550th birthday of Confucius. We toured the grounds – it was so quiet and serine. It was Sunday, so they were having a book swap in the entrance area of the temple.

Our next stop was Peoples Square. A former horse racing track, it is now the site of the municipal government, exhibition halls, theater, and. you guessed it – shopping! Shopping and HOARDS of people. We stopped in at one local food market – filled with people – locals and domestic tourist. It was fun to see a “local” upscale food store. The rest of our time, we just walked around – just a couple of salmon trying to swim upstream!

We left the Peoples Square and headed to the Old City. We stopped at the Dongtai Antiques Market – not sure how many were really antiques – we did enjoy watching the men play cards on the corner. Once we finished in the antiques market we went to Shanghai Old Street. What a hustling area. The area was small in comparison to Peoples Square but the streets were tiny but shop after shop along the road was filled with vendors cooking and selling afternoon snacks. The streets were full of local shoppers buying their goods for the night’s dinner. We loved the area, the faces of the people and the view of everyday life. The tiny side streets were filled with door ways to the locals houses – of course, there was no in door plumbing, so one the corner of most blocks were the public toilets and wash houses.

In contrast, we headed to The French Concession – the area where the rich Chinese and Expats live. Swank shops, amazing restaurants and no public toilets on the corner. We were in awe after the old town. Like all major cities around the globe – Starbucks was on the corner!

We were tired and hungry by time we reached the hotel. It was dark and we just couldn’t face anymore shopping. So after dinner we played cards to keep ourselves awake. We were so happy to hit the pillow at 9:30 pm – the time change is not fun!


Our new guides in Shanghai - Nick and Tru

On The Move To China - Day 4

We were up and checked out of the hotel early to go shopping before heading to Shanghai. Yes shopping! This time it was to the Silk Markets. The Silk Markets are famous place for bargain shopping. What use to be an open air market in days gone by is now a 6-floor shopping mall. We were given great tips from the flight attendants – divide the shop owners opening price by 4! We bargained until we were blue in the face. Our tour guide was impressed with our skills – especially Linda. She even bought something because we negotiated the price down so low!

After another nice Chinese lunch we headed to the airport. The weather was a bit cooler but the city was covered in smog – yuck. When we arrived at the airport, our guide informed us that we would have to pay for each kilo over 20 kilos. Well, my suitcase weighted that before I left the states. So, we found a storage rental, took most of our shopping purchases and put them in an extra duffle I hauled from the states. We were quite a picture –suitcases open, scrambling around, pushing, shoving and zipping! We arrived at the counter at 1:15 and found out that there was a mistake with our flight time. The day before our 2:30 flight was cancelled and we were rescheduled to leave at 3:00, when we arrived we were old our flight left at 2:00! To make a long story short – we made it – but not without lots of negotiating on the part of our tour guide.


We arrived in Shanghai in awe. It is a city of high rises and sky scrapers – it goes on for miles and miles. In fact, we have not seen the end of it – we are staying in the middle of the city and in every direction all we see are sky scrapers. Linda has stated Shanghai makes New York City look tiny. Our room is amazing. We are on the 18th floor with one wall all windows. The view is spectacular overlooking the Yuyuan area, the old city area and markets.

We spent the evening on our own walking around – but we became tired REALLY quickly of the non stop harassment by the vendors. We called it a night and headed back to the sanctuary of our home away from home.