forbidden pla photos

We passed a People's Liberation Army base in our travels in Yunnan Province on June 13th at 9:30 a.m. Rest assured that I did not take these photos. I just received these and I will not reveal my source. I am not a spy but merely exercising in this blog the freedom of the press rights granted to me by the First Admendment to the U.S. Constitution.

If you or any of your pinko godless commie friends don't like it
. . . too bad.

Be blessed!
RB

download a collection of rb's china trip posts

A collection of RB's blog posts about his trip to China in June 2006 is available to download (Adobe pdf file: size = 203 KB).

a lazy summer

I returned from China two weeks ago today. I have not really accomplished much except to catch up with a lot reading that piled up during my absence. At first, I attributed my low productivity to jet lag. A more likely explanation, for at least the past few days, is just plain old laziness. You know what? It does not bother me one bit.

I sometimes, but not too often, wonder if my lack of concern with my lackadaisicalness is due to ignorance or apathy. Well, I don’t know and I don’t care.

I have been reflecting on a number of things for which I am quite grateful. I have a wonderful family. My youngest really did a great job of taking care of things while I was gone. I live in a good neighborhood in wonderful village. I love my job and I am grateful for my employer. I have no material lack.

I had a fabulous four-week trip to China. Twenty-plus years ago when we were in Nigeria, we had to wait two weeks for mail. Even the issues of Newsweek I purchased were at least two weeks old. A five-minute telephone call to the States from a call center cost $15. In China, I had internet access available in the hotels and in internet cafes. I felt connected by emails, especially by my daily email from xanga with updates to the blogs to which I subscribe. CFC’s Prayer-Alerts also kept me informed and feeling connected. Although this news usually was not so good, at least being halfway around the world did not stop me from praying, let alone reduce the effectiveness of my prayers.

While I am also grateful for the ease of phoning the USA, the calls did not really help me feel connected. Maybe it is because I am not very good on the phone, but for some reason the calls made me even more aware of my great distance from home.

"Somebody misses her Granddad" was the caption on this cute picture. I'm grateful for the the post although it made me miss a certain young family even more.

There is no better place to be during the summer than the North Country. Please remember that on the few days this month when the temperatures rise into the 90’s.

Be blessed!
RB