House for Lease, 588 West 400 South, Provo, Utah 84601

Lease information, descriptions and rental rate can be found on BYU website under listing for Family Housing.

JIANGNAN UNIVERSITY, WUXI, JIANGSU, CHINA

Cabin Work. Thelin Homestead, Island Park, Idaho.

Enclosing the cabin front deck, Summer 2011.

We had an unknown animal(s) break into our deck area and access our cupboards and food storage and simply wreck the place early last fall before winter began. We had someone come in and clean up afterwards. But, we were fast becoming aware that we needed more than a tarp covering.

Our little place now has an additional room on the cabin front...so no more annual work tarping it every winter or in our absence. The three additional windows and two additional doors are great and allow us to sit in a new room, and be at our computers at the large front window. We can watch for animals, relax and just look over the place. We love it. It was a big job for one person, but Tricia helped a lot. Thanks again Tricia.

READING AWARDS, presented by Grandma to each of the grandchildren who read several good books according to their reading agreement, received award certificates and a $10. cash reward. This new campfire presentation was one of many reunion highlights to remember. Do you think every kid there will be reading more before next year's Grandma Darling's awards? Yes.

The first weekend of July, 2011, the annual Thelin Reunion was held at the Thelin Homestead in Island Park, Idaho. There was a good attendance although it was not possible for everyone to come this year.

In addition to the campfires, camping, crafts, hiking, horseshoes, canoeing, rides the the golfcart, and waterfront activities, the food was delicious and the family entertainment superb.

After the reunion, as you can see here, Jay did a lot of repair work like putting a new roof on the tool storage shed and completed the exterior remodelling of our little, 16' X 24' cabin as shown here in the before and after photos. Yah.

Weekend in Shanghai

After Church in Suzhou we took the bullet train (G0) and headed for Shanghai. We packed really light, no change of clothes, medicine for two days, change of underwear, wig, and no personal hygiene (We figured we would stay in a hotel that would supply us that. We had heard of this place called Thames Town and after looking it up decided it was worth an over night trip to see it. We arrived at 4:00 PM. It was a long subway ride out of town to get there (about an hour).
When we arrived on the subway no one really could tell it were he was, and so we hunted for a internet cafe. We didn't find one, but we did find a school that taught English and one of their teachers wrote down where it was so we could show the taxi.

The whole subdivision was built in 2004 by the Government. They built these businesses and beautiful homes that look English, Swedish, and French with the hopes that people would go there and live. (Of course they were expected to buy them or more correctly in China, rent them for 70 years,) They even built a fake Thames river. So we started our walk.
I love all the statues that they put up along the way. This is a famous writer, didn't know his name.One of my goals was to find a restaurant that had something besides Chinese. This bar specialized in German food, so we had sour kraut and German hot bratts. It was okay. Then we went back to walking.



It was raining and we thought we must have been in London or Oregon. Of course I had to have a picture with one of the favorite Politicians, Mr. Winston Churchill.

There was so much art work around. It took a while but we found the only hotel in Thames Town. It is British-like, expensive and very beautiful.We checked the price of staying there and decided that 1200 RMB per night for the cheapest room, was to much for just a one night comfortable bed.
So we had them call us a taxi, because we really didn't know where we were at, and the teacher that had written down Thames Town in English also wrote down Motel 168 for us.

It wasn't bad. The bed was hard, but we got two more down comforters and though it wasn't home it was comfortable, and did have all the personal hygiene things we needed and the cost was 168 RMB about $28, and it was very clean and warm.
We debated what to do the next day, because it was now really raining like England, but decided that in memory of Joshua's Birthday this month and his mission to England we needed go back and explore Thames Town some more.
When arrived by bus, we found out what bus to take since It was about 10 blocks down the road. We did not have an unbrella, so we bought two for $5 and walked by the guard into the town.
This is a nice looking pre-school. Notice the girafe, there are also statues of pandas, zebras, and other animals in the play ground.

Then it was a walk through the town. There was so many really lovely buildings to see, but there was pretty much, no people there. It was one wonderful, new, ghost town.
This is the community Christian (Catholic) church, but they do not hold meetings here on Sunday, don't think they hold anything here. No body was praying and just one caretaker.This little man is the caretaker. He was really sweet and he was so excited to have us visit the inside, he told me that this is where God is.

This is the only picture that we have of us together, taken by us by time delay.
Empty buildings, but new and well kept for China.
Once again none of these shops were open, perhaps because it was raining.
All the streets are cobblestone.
This was a Men's Club. Of course, I went in to to look at it and was told that I had to leave...Wrong Gender!
This is two models really did some great poses as we watched, and it was so cold. At our university we have a school of modeling. They only take really tall beautiful girls and tall men.
I thought I would try and do a poses here in Paris. Modeling?
Once again a beautiful empty place with no people.

Then back on the subway and into down town Shanghai. When we got there, it was still raining, but Jay was determined to find a Burger King. It was a quest. After about a hour of walking in Nanjing Street we ended up at a restaurant that served Western and Chinese food.

But we weren't quite ready to go home and so we decided to take a city tour bus and see the places that maybe we hadn't seen yet. Jay was still searching for a Burger King.


We got off the bus here to look around in the rain. This is buildings built in 1920 and have managed to stay beautiful. They did say that they did a lot of resoration for the Worlds Fair that was across the street, where we went next.We walked across the street and along the river
This is the other side of Shanghai and that is where we were told we would find the Burger King and so we decided that we won't go there, as it was now late and we would head home. Next time in Shanghai -- Burger King or bust.