Seeing that we were once again recipients of excellent weather, I decided to take my camera along on my morning walk with Leo around the apartment complex. The shots were taken between 8 and 8:20 am.

Floodlights, buildings, sky, and clouds. Taken right after we exited the building.

The neighborhood fruit vendor opening his stand (that is, the truck) for business.

Brooms, these ones primarily used to clean-up pavement, manhole covers, and curbs, left out to try.

Constructing siding around a trench. There is a major public works program ongoing in the neighborhood to upgrade the centralized steam heating system. I think this is related to it, and probably has to do with where our apartment community ties into the main lines.

Air conditioning condensers mounted a catch guard, which I think is just a re-purposed fencing.  I think there is something, well, medieval looking about it.

Once again, the beautiful Beijing sky.

Leo on the move to leave his mark on one of the many statues we have on the property.

Mother and daughter. Some of the “basement dwellers” that live in the apartment community. I’ll talk about them more in upcoming posts.

Clothes put out to dry next to one of the basement entrances. Yes, that is Jerry on the sheet.

One of the recently enclosed balconies in the apartment complex. We decided to enclose ours as well. It made such a difference. More on the process and results in an upcoming post.

One final shot of the sky and clouds.

Separated trash containers, of the recyclable and unrecyclable variety, started showing-up on streets just before the Beijing 2008 Olympics.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they were put in place because someone thought that they would impress foreigners or because of some Olympic mandate. These ones were distributed throughout the community in the last year, and really aren’t used. Then again, trash collectors and recyclers sort the bins pretty thoroughly, and the waste we generate is miniscule compared to that I’ve seen in similar communities in the states.

A new restaurant was opened in the hotel on the property. Given the quality of the hotel, Shanshan and I have decided not to give it a try.

Leo, my dear sweet Leo, watches as one of the building ayis prepares a new dust head. Actually, I think he was more hoping that she had food that would be tossed his way if he stared intently and wagged his tail enough.