ABOVE: My first visit to the Chengdu Panda Base in 2006 photgraphed with “White Foot”
2 YEARS LATER I WENT BACK TO ADOPT A CUB WHO I NAMED “BAO SHI” (Jewel in Mandarin)
CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ADOPTION STORY
ABOVE: Recently Bao Shi (or Xiang Bing ..her Chinese given name) has been seen cavorting with Miss Universe contestants visiting the Panda Base!!! I think my Bao Shi is certainly the most natural beauty of all!!
For newcomers to this blog, below is a video I put together of a book I wrote about my first journey in 2006. I gave a copy of this book to the directors of the Panda Base as a gift
AND BELOW …FOR THE NEWBIES AND REGULARS WHO TRAVEL WITH ME….SOME BRAND NEW PIX I HAVE BEEN HOARDING FROM MY 2008 ARCHIVES THAT I WANTED TO SHARE TODAY
TODAY WE WILL BE GETTING TO KNOW THE ENDANGERED RED PANDAS EVEN BETTER THAN 08
IF I DO NOTHING ELSE TODAY…I MUST SEE SUQUING…THE MOST PHOTOGENIC GAL ON THE BLOCK! SHE WAS THE GIRL IN MY SWING SHOTS AS WELL AS THE MODEL FOR MY ONE AND ONLY TATTOO WHICH I HAD DONE IN THAILAND LATER IN 2008..A 50TH BIRTHDAY PREZZIE TO MYSELF
ABOVE IS SUQUING AGAIN…TATTOO MODEL
FRESH TATTOO THE DAY IT WAS DONE IN 2008..ALL WRAPPED UP IN SARAN WRAP. THE SYMBOL IS MANDARIN AND REPRESENTS THE EARTH
LOOK FOR TODAYS UPDATES AS THEY HAPPEN IN THE AUDIO AND VIDEO WIDGETS BELOW. WE WILL BE POSTING A BLOG UPDATE ABOUT TODAYS EVENTS WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE ROOM TONIGHT!!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STOPPING IN !!
XIE XIE
HEEEEEEES BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! MY NEIGHBORS CAT BARKLAY IN ALL HIS GLORY
Listen to todays phone cast below to hear all about how I ended up with these photos!!
BARKLAY ON MY BIRD FEEDING STATION
(My neighbor reads this blog…I bet she’s either laughing or crying..lol!)
I LOVE THIS CAT…EVEN WHEN HE’S NAUGHTY!! THE DOGS WERE SLEEPING BELOW
HIS COAT IS LOOKING SO PRETTY IN HIS WINTER WEAR!!
OF COURSE THIS IS WHAT WAS ON BARKLAYS MENU!! MY GOLDFINCHES
AND ANOTHER NAUGHTY ONE CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Yesterday my new bag arrived from Ebags.com !! This is the 25″ version of my 21″ carryon. I was SO impressed by the smaller bag on our Egypt/Turkey trip but needed a sturdy larger one for this trip….this was a NO BRAINER!!!
As hard as it was to not buy it in orange, a colorful bag in Asia gives off “money” vibes and attention you may not want to have, so I went with the nice black version. The thing I adore about all of this series is the inside is bright orange so I can see the contents better
We finally got some snow!!! Yeah, this is pretty pathetic (see video in media center below too) but the dogs think its heaven. Old Meggie was falling asleep sitting up as the snowflakes kisses her muzzle. I love this photo above. She is such a dear dear dog!!
Of course then she woke up and all heck broke loose. She was play bowing to me to chase her BELOW
I have been getting a lot of inquiries from the panda groups and friends about when we leave for China and our itinerary….so below you will find our schedule for the journey which can also be accessed any time in the upper right hand column of the blog along with my audio/video travel updates
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO ACCESS THE FULL SIZED ITINERARY AS WELL
THE CALENDAR IS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2010
This is just a small sampling of what we are doing on the trip. Next week I will be writing a detailed description of the places we will see and the people we are meeting with. I have some wonderful news and updates to come in the days and weeks ahead!!!
AND UH OH….ANOTHER NEW PANDBAG!!!
This one is called “FIRE AND ICE” and will be up on the website later today. If you are interested before it is posted just let me know and I can email you the details.
The last 3 bags never made it up there because they were spotted on Facebook and Flickr first and quickly adopted…. so here is a FIRST LOOK at the new bag!!
ABOVE is the back of the bag….absolutely amazing tie dye work on this one. The front has SEVEN 3/4″ mirrors on it to catch the light!!
My label on the inside of the bag
Have a fantastic day my friends . I will be in touch very soon
How this kid pulls of this seriously “cool” look in a panda hat I’ll never know….but Steve actually turned the car aroung 360 to let me hang out the window and take his photo! Ohhhh the crusty look we got as we drove away…but dang it’s a great shot if I do say so myself…The Pandarazzi strikes again!
Below is a song from my favorite Xmas movie of ALL time…‘LOVE ACTUALLY’
In my opinion..no one else can sing it like Olivia Olson…not even Mariah Carey!
BELOW…today we just did some mindless stuff together while Steve took the day off and it felt SO GREAT to not fight any crowds . the city is literally deserted!! We went to one of our favorite French cafe’s for lunch St. Honore Bolangerie and had an incredible lunch. Steve had his usual Croque Monsieur and I had a gorgeous beet, blue cheese , apple and candied walnut salad and a Pandacinno (well the capacinno was decked out by yours truly and renamed)
Boy do I sound demanding in this video clip.. LOOK at this panda Steve!!!! We laughed so hard when we looked at it afterward. Steve is so laid back and used to my pand-ic attacks he just drinks his tea and reads!
Heres the salad I had..it was HUGE!! Not a great iphone shot but you get the idea
ABOVE IS MOUNT HOOD…THE MOUNT WAS OUT IN ALL IT’S GLORY TODAY!
ABOVE IS MEG AND LILLIAN IN THE DECEMBER SUN..NEEDING A GROOMING BUT STILL CUTE!
ABOVE IS ONE OF MY DOUGLAS SQUIRRELS AT THE FEEDER
MEG IN THE STUDIO TODAY
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEK EVERYONE!!!!
