an abundance of pictures

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a girl named Layli. One day, she decided to take a walk, and document it just for the sake of it.

...I started in the garden. There was okra, and okra flowers with beetles on them:

Corn:

We had some for dinner, it was very good:

There were green-beans:

And green tomatoes:

And cabbages as big as my head:

And zinnias:

And...skulls?! Who's been tampering with my pictures? Oh, wait, I took that, after I made sure it wasn't going to eat me.

Anyhow, there was a skull, with lots of teeth:

Now, tell me that eye isn't looking straight at me.

The koi pond is home to who-knows-how-many giganamo fish.

And did I tell you that I got a haircut?

And that I then was impaled on a pitchfork, died, and turned zombie?

I didn't tell you? Oh. Sorry for the surprise.

Then my mother buried me under an abandoned barn. Amen.

There wasn't any room for my corpse in the not abandoned barn.

I walked on, blatantly ignoring the 'no trespassing' sign.

And on and on I go, seconds tick the time out. There's so much left to know and I'm on the road to find out... (Then I started singing Cat Stevens.)

The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow it if I can. (Then I pretended to be a Hobbit.)

On the way, I tried not to step in this:

Or that thing in the right-hand corner over there:

And definitely not in this stuff:

Then I paused to take a few photos of myself.

I couldn't resist making funny faces.

Aww, I'm so sad and unloved. Won't somebody take me home, pet me and give me a saucer of milk? Oh, wait. I forgot I'm not a cat. Never mind then.

There were hoof-prints in the mud. The hooves belonged to cattle.

Then there was a barbedwire fence in the middle of the creek. I climbed over it. However, in trying to take a picture of it, I got my butt wet, so I'm not sure that there was that much purpose in going over rather than under.

Ah, lovely cattle, all lined up and posed.

And I managed to keep the dog, Lil Bit, out of the cattle spectacularly.

The cows ignored me when I flapped my arms and yelled as I ran towards them. I don't blame them. If anyone else had been there, I would have pretended not to know myself too.

Hey, Lil Bit. How about you look at the camera instead of the cows, huh?

And another abandoned barn. They're like castles in the UK, except I'm not sure that a dilapidated barn tour has quite the same appeal as a castle and ruins tour. Oh well.

And what is it with people leaving farming equipment just lying about?

And this concludes our tour of Osage, Arkansas, home of Osage Clayworks and shameless plugs.

petit blog post (with chocolate sauce)

Oh dear. It's out in (some) of my family that I have a blog, so now I feel obligated to post more often. This isn't a bad thing really, in fact I count anything that makes me more inclined to post as a blessing, but right now it's pretty late in the evening and I haven't thought of anything about which I can speak, so I think I'll just leave you all with some pictures I took while at my "Aunt" Amy's house.

Camp

We're leaving for Camp (with a capital C) this morning. I will not return until July 3rd. 

I promise to tell you all about it when I get back. 

Ciao. 

Windstock '09

Windstock was awesome. If you want photos, you should look HERE. The above photo was stolen from there. It belongs to the venerable Chad Booker, not to me, as do all the photos there. Got that? 

I managed to avoid the camera really well, so there are only a few pictures of me in there. I'm going to post those here, since this whole blog thing is really only to feed my (already huge) ego. 

Without further ado...

Me, looking tired and trying to concentrate. 

Me, with Alonso, Brynne and Carew sitting on the bench under the window on the left. 

From front to back in the first row, Carew, me and Brynne. This was right before the talent show. 

I'm at the far right, sitting on the floor. Brynne is sitting behind me on a bale of hay, and Carew is next to her, half cut out of the picture. (That must hurt!) 

The obligatory group photo (or two). Hint: I'm wearing the same hat as I was in the last two photos. 

dpbtiubx

This afternoon, Brynne, Carew and I are going to a Baha'i youth retreat called Windstock. I'm excited, but also worried because I won't be able to shower for four days. Eeeeep. I don't think that I've gone for longer than three days without a shower in the past five years. 

Hopefully the dirt won't kill me. 

no pithy title

I'm sitting in the Little Rock airport using up my computer battery. I know that I'll regret it later, but I really don't wont to read the Terry Brooks book I have, because it's bad enough to actively annoy me, and I don't have another book. Plus, being on my computer lets me people-watch without them knowing that I'm doing so. 

Oh! I read Paper Towns yesterday, and it definitely was the best book I've read this year. (I know that isn't saying much since the year isn't even half over yet, but...) I sat in Barnes and Noble and read the whole thing in about three hours, which I think is the good way to read books. I read sad Margo, whom I think I like slightly better than happy Margo. And the book was so good that I can't think of words to describe how good it is. You'll have to live with my vague 'it was awesome' unless I think of something on the plane. 

(!)

I'm leaving. 

Today. 

And I might not be coming back. 

And it would be so sad if I weren't so excited about going. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go rush around madly. 

:D

So. I suppose that the time has come for me to make an official announcement about this. 

I'm leaving for the States next Monday and may not be coming back to China in the fall. In fact, I probably won't be. I'll be living (!) with Brynne and her family instead. *much happiness ensues* 

Now I need to go pack. 

Xi'an, an ancient Chinese city, true!

I went to Xi'an with a bunch of people I know. It was fun. Here are pics, and I really need to stop reading I can haz cheezburger? because I starting to want to talk and type in LOLspeak. 

The sign was funny. Not as funny as some of the stuff on Engrish Funny (Guess what I've been doing! On second thought, don't.), but the random capitalization ought to more than make up for that. It says: 

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DACIEN TEMPLE AND THE DA YAN PAGODA

The dacien temple was built in 648 AD to honour the empress wende by the tang crown prince li zhi.the temple with 13 yards and 1897 magnificent roomw was broad in scale. It occupied an area of more than 24 hectarew who lived in the temple. It was the most famous temple in Chang An city during the tang dynasty. 

A buddhist and pilgrim Xuan Zang who studied buddhism in india was waslcomed to preside over the temple affairs in 653 an Xuan Zang arranged for the building of the Da Yan Pagoda to preserve the hundreds of wolumes of buddhist so riptures which had been brought back from Inida. 

The original pagoda was constructed with five stories in India style.It was rebuilt to seve storeys in 701AD--704AD during the period of empress Wu Ze Tian. 

Today, the Da Yan Pagoda is 64.5m high with seven storeys. The body of the pagoda is a square brick pagoda in the range of chinese national character and the tang style. It is a model place of boddhist architer ture. In 4 march 1961 the state council declede that the Da Yan Pagoda must be protected as one of the most important historical monuments. 

Note: Chang An is the ancient name for Xi'an, and the spelling, punctuation and capitalization have been typed up exactly as they appear. 

There were pretty marble carvings. They looked imposing. I'm not sure they were supposed to. 

There were other pretty things, and a neat, gnarled-looking tree. 

And painted ceilings and eaves galore! 

Have I mentioned how awesome I thought those trees were? I have? And you think I've been talking too much about plants? Sorry, it's a bit of an obsession. 

This was the pagoda. 

These were chickens in the monastery gardens. Are my comments getting a little too obvious? 

The gate to the monastery. It was imposing too. I felt very much imposed upon. 

This was the view from the top of the city wall. I love the guardhouses next to the skyscrapers. 

This was in a mosque near the city center. The whole group spent ages trying to guess what the sign meant without looking at the Chinese. 

There were more pretties. 

And neat roofs. 

This was the bazaar near next to the mosque. I bought lots of stuff there, including two paintings, an antique (and awesome) Chinese lock, a hairstick, a little clay pot, a pair of old, adorable, embroidered, lion-shaped baby shoes, and some Men Zi (some species of pachyrhizus as far as I can tell, stir-fried and then smothered in balsamic vinegar, soy-sauce and spices). 

China is not for squeamish people. Note the cart of garbage above, as well as what comes next. 

Okay, this stuff doesn't look gross, but it doesn't taste as good as the skewered stuff either. 

Dates, we haz them. 

Meat, we have it too. If you have a weak stomach, are vegetarian or might otherwise be disgusted by the sight of lots and lots of meat, please avert your eyes while proceed to the next picture. Thank you for your cooperation. 

And this is a picture that came out funnily, and is only included so that we end on a nicer note than dead animals hanging everywhere. 

P.S. The title of this post is a reference to the BNL song 'Crazy ABC's' from their album Snacktime.