Almost Missed It

 
A flash of white fluttered by my head, I turned and shot once and then it was gone. 

Swoop

 
Well, the foreground bricks are Macro. ;) This is a newer section of the wall just outside of Beijing. 

Too Sunny

 
I got the zoom lens on fast enough, but not the polarizing filter. Gads, it was bright that day. Better than the rain the previous day. 

Dark Moth

 
This fellow was the size of a cicada and at first I thought that's what I was seeing. The cicadas were really noisy that day. 

Peeling Paint

 
I liked the background. 

Great Wall Insect

 
I'm still looking for a good identification site for Asian Lepidoptera. Any guesses? I was calling it the Watermelon Moth. 

Little Girl

 
We're back home, though this picture of Li Mei is from our hotel the White Swan in Guangzhou. She's so tiny that even though she's two and a half she wears 12 month clothes for the length, but doesn't have the toushie to hold up the pants. In this picture she was probably about 16 pounds. If I went only by weight, she'd be in 0-3 month clothes. Her body proportions are that of a newborn but her attitude is very two year old while being easily amused.

Once we hit Guangzhou, our schedule was packed with tours and paperwork. We also finally met some of other adopting families -- all of us were part of the Waiting Child program (older children and children with special needs). So much has happened I think I should re-blog and fill in some of the gaps. To see more of the baby pictures, you can visit my family blog at http://kai-rowan-jasmine.blogspot.com.

The boys went off to school with our car pooling buddies and all around friends Cheryl Burton and her daughter Aimee. Her dad, Chris and new baby sister Renee stayed home. Cheryl and Aimee visited for a little while to meet Jasmine (aka Li Mei)and drop off a baby present. 

Leaf in Beijing

 
Pretty shaped leaf in a hutong. 

Copper Wings

 
The sunlight and the angle of the dragonfly's wings were really working well together. 

King of All the Thistles

 
This is only a guess, but perhaps this is the lesser goldfinch Carduelis psaltria .

We were out trying to get some of the boys' energy out by walking to a local park. It was stifling hot, as most people in North America know, but the bugs and birds seemed happy enough. I think they like to laugh at the whole concept of sweating. 

BiPlane

 
Good stripes. Kinda like a zebra dragon. 

Pretty Blue

 
Another blue. They're some of the teeny-tiniest butterflies. 

Answer to "Cool, Huh?"

 
It really bloomed this red, no extra saturation. Heck, I'm generally undersaturated. 

Another Blob for Wayne

 
So my buddy Wayne says, "Whenever I go to your site it's bugs and blobs." Then I realize I haven't had a good blob picture for a while.

This is Kai's blob. He was making some sort of super hero strength potion from dried and rehydrated teal tempura paint prepared in a red clay planter dish. 

Fuzzy legs

 
I think with those fuzzy-wuzzy legs, these guys are almost as cute as a bumble bee. 

Mystery Bees

 
It was windy yesterday evening and the light was decidedly odd. It was blueish because it was dusk, but the clouds had rolled in and every detail was sharp. When I went out to find something to photograph in the odd light, I found these bees clinging to the swaying long wild grass in the back of our yard.

I'm not sure what species, but they seem to be semi-social. Why take shelter in the grass instead of the ground? They also held onto the grass primarily with their mandibles rather than their legs. I guess there's more gripping power there. The mandibles are smooth and pointy rather than edged like a sawtooth. And check out the length of those antenna!

Are they leafcutter bees that just happened to be taking shelter on the same stalk? My long suffering burning bush shrub shows signs that leaf cutter bees are around. 

Cool, Huh?

 
I wonder what it is. I think I planted it. It doesn't look like my normal weed. 

Cleaning Discovery

 
While archiving my photos, I found this. It's from May 2006, a cobweb spider, relative to the black widow but smaller, brown and cuter. I wonder why I forgot about it.

Anyhow, I'm archiving because I (inevitably) ran out of disk space and because I'm preparing my computer for the trip to China. I'll be blogging and photographing like a madwoman.

We got our TA -- the invitation from the Chinese government to come and get Li Mei from the orphanage! I think we'll be leaving July 29th plus or minus a day depending on our appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou.

My stomach is turning flip flops and my face feels flushed. Finally having Li Mei is becoming a reality. We won't have to wait much longer.

I have so much to do. AAAGH. A ton to do. TONS to do. 

Double Date

 
That's the vanilla title of this photo. 

An addendum: What's That Bug? just linked here. Coolness, a celebrity website endorsement. ;)

Self Indulgence

 
Okay, yes, I really like dragonflies.