Trash Can Issues

Dallas isn't know for being the windy city, and Chicago sure qualifies, but sometime I wonder if we should share the title, because it is WINDY here!  I don't mind my hair whipping around my face, but I do have issue with my trash cans always falling over.  At our last house the cans were always going over, and we had to pick up a LOT of trash down the side of the house and alley.  In the new house, they fall over straight into our neighbors fence - ouch!  So trash doesn't get out, but they are beating up that fence.  I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my trash cans, but I was pondering what we could do.  Pour a little slab, but that didn't work at the last house.  Build little cube's for them to fit into - ugly.  Pull them into our backyard - them my dogs would eat the trash.  Then it clicked: my grandma had given us the iron hose holder, and we didn't have a hose here yet, so it was just standing naked on the side of the house.  And it never fell over.  It could stand the winds.  It was feeling lonely and unproductive.  And it works!  We bought the other one (garden hanger) at Joanns.  Pottery Barn sells them as well.  Joanns was $12.99 plus 40% off coupon; PB runs them $10.  

Happy Trash Day!

Dining Room

I think we finally have our dining room settled.  We still need to sell the old China cabinet, but we got new art and a new table & chairs.  I think it's the first completed room!

Yummy Asian foods!

This is what you see walking in and below is the plate after!  YUMMY!

Taipei

I've recently returned from my 2nd trip to Asia.  I started in Taiwan, and really liked the scenery.  This picture above is the view from my hotel window; big city with mountains in the background. 

A shot from the highway looking back over a park area next to a river, the city buildings look so small up against the mountains. One of the ladies with us was telling me what a great place it was, because you could get to beaches or mountains so quickly. I still think I would prefer the Hong Kong version of mountains & beaches with big city, but this was nice too.

Driving through the city this was a normal site early morning and late evenings.  This is where you stop for morning coffee & breakfast, lunch break, and then dinner.  These little open to the street cafes (cafe doesn't really fit, but I don't have a word that does).  People in groups, the business man in a suit reading the paper, kids -- just like it was your neighborhood Starbucks.

More to come from the other area's as I work through all the photo's.