Park outing.

There are only a few good days left for the summer that I will have most of the day off, so today we walked to the big park.

These flowers were very unusual to us. They are very stiff and almost looked fake.

Just as we arrived at the park, there were some fireworks being set off. Because it was daytime, the fireworks were in the form of colored smoke.

There was a large ceremony of some kind at the art gallery. There were many people of the press taking pictures and television cameras. As soon as they saw us, they turned their cameras on us. I am certain we will be in newspapers and on television all over China in just a few days. Susan was even surrounded by this form of 'paparazi' in the same evening when she went down to the river for a walk.

These group of drummers are famous in Jiamusi and some of them live in the same housing area we do, where they also store their very old drums.

This and the next several pictures show some of the ornate work on one of the pavilions in the park.

Just like our trip to Willow Island this year over last year, DJ is a little older and can better enjoy going to the park and looking at the fish in the pond.

Of course, she also had to make some new friends.

We stopped for lunch on the way home.

DJ took a nap on the way home and just as we were walking into our housing area, it rained heavily just until we got inside and then stopped. A fun, wet end to a nice day.