My new Chiminea...an elegant form of burn barrel.

Ironwork in my buddy's garden....can't wait to add my own.

More from my bountiful new gardens, this one courtesy of the previous owners.

My first posts with my new camera, from my backyard garden.

This was our house around the end of March.

This is our house today, almost a month later. We're having our first thunderstorm, the air quality advisories have started, surely it's time to put Rob's dock in the water!

A sure sign Spring may be here. This was a six foot snowbank two weeks ago. Can golf season please start so life can get back to exceptional?

That's a 35 centimetre ruler I'm holding. We got more than 50 yesterday. The top picture is the view out our front door.

Willie P. Bennett 1951-2008

Any guesses as to the name of this delicacy?

This fish was still breathing.

Found a few more pictures from Hong Kong, this time a fresh seafood market on the street near the hotel.

We toured the inner harbour in one of these little boats. There is fishing fleet of maybe 50 to 80 small boats, many with people living on board. There were also a few dozen multimillion dollar boats berthed nearby.

Some of the more spectacular sights, at night, around the harbour in Hong Kong.

Bumper to bumper traffic, all the time is the norm in the big cities. So is the smog. China smelled a lot like the refinery areas of New Jersey where everything smells of petroleum. Perhaps surprisingly, they do a lot of little things to be energy and resource efficient. Everybody routinely shifts into neutral when stopped in traffic, for example.

Passing throught Shenzen on the way back to Hong Kong. I found that looking up at all the highrise buildings allowed my to not think about what was going on around me in traffic, which has an air of NASCAR about it. The construction in China is everywhere and most of it is over 60 storeys.

Late afternoon and nightime shots of the Hong Kong harbour. We depart today for a 15 hour flight home. It was a great trip, but I'm looking forward to some clean air.

Standing on the first tee of the Greg Norman course (1 of 12) at the Missions Hills Resort in China. Any time I can golf in December is a wonderful treat, but to play a professional calibre course was a huge bonus (and a somewhat humbling experience). The rental clubs were a bit of a disappointment, but our caddies and the scenary were extraordinary.

Today we go back into China proper for two more days of business. This is the street in front of our hotel. I like to watch the bikers dodge the cars and trucks in the free for all that is traffic control over here.

These incense coils burn in one of the Buddhist temples we visited. They should make mosquito coils like this for the summer.

Hong Kong has a little bit of greenspace left. This is a reservoir east of the city.

We just got back to Hong Kong after four days in Shenzen, China. I couldn't access any blogs while there (what do they fear?) so it will take a few days to catch up on my postings. The vast majority of people in HK live in an apartment block like this, 40 storeys high, apartments of 300 to 400 sq. ft and that could include two or more generations.

We ventured acros the harbour today and took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. The smog is pretty bad, so you will have to look very closely to see the harbour and Kowloon Peninsula (where we are staying). BTW-many of these high rises are apartment buildings. You can count the single homes on one hand.

It took sixteen hours from Toronto, but I'm happy to be in Hong Kong walking about the streets in my T-shirt and summer jacket. I'll get more pictures tomorrow in the daylight.