Evenings in Hanoi!

I want to back track a bit - there was so much going on during my trip to Vietnam and at the same time, our comings and goings from the hotel, what time we were to be ready load the bus in the morning - it made for days of being unable to sit and share what it was like in Hanoi -

Not to mention the upside down body clock - here I thought I would have time to blog in the evenings upon returning to the hotel, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open!

I'm so grateful I took as many photos as I did - going through them brought me right back there - and I'm smiling as I type this - we did this!  We went to the other side of the world and experienced a country and culture so different from our own!

Vietnam observes International Labor Day on May 1st - and it made for a 3-day weekend of celebrations that we got to experience.

Street food, music, dancing - everyone was out and about as the evening cooled down the heat of the day.

The City of Hanoi closed off several streets making them "pedestrian only" during the holiday which made it easy to walk around and see what was what -

I didn't want to miss a thing!

Street vendor selling her wares -

The little ducks in the box on the left are actually hair clips - and we saw several people, children and adults alike, clipping these little rubber ducks to their heads.

When darkness arrived -

The flowers spilling from the balconies were gorgeous!

Everywhere you turned there were people setting up baskets or tables of fresh produce and ice cream is a huge deal~!

And did I mention music?

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Just a 33 second panoramic view of this moment!

Another vendor -

It is quite something to see them walking with these baskets perfectly balanced on the pole they heft over their shoulders.

Not only that - see those "baby" stools to the left behind her?  Not kiddie stools.  Those are adult sized stools - and we saw them everywhere. People sitting at the tiniest tables and little short stools -

My knees would be up to my neck!

Okay, it's getting kind of crowdy down here!

I don't know what these are, but they sure look and smell good!

Fun, colorful and festive!

Random city scape -

The next evening with the festival still going on - I decided to take a walk around this little lake that was close to our hotel - (This was way before knee-twist day.)

If you look closely you can see all sorts of folks out enjoying the early evening - It was just before dinner time.

Beautiful pagoda on an island in the middle -

3 beautifully dressed women enjoying the lakeside.

One of the things I loved most was seeing women dressed in flowery flowy dresses - beating the heat of the summer.  

Everywhere you looked, flowing skirts and dresses in pretty prints.  So very feminine!

And I came across a group of women dancing!

Oh, this was fun to watch.

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I love this!
When we were in Beijing a few years ago I loved seeing the people out dancing in the evening, and I wish we had more of this here.
And I'll be packing some flowery flowing skirts for Egypt - because I know it is going to be hot hot hot there too, and it seems like just the ticket, don't you think?

Gorgeous motif at the lakeside.

That precious pagoda from a different angle -

This little red bridge went over to a temple that you really can't see in the bushes - there was an admission fee and I really didn't have time to do it as I was trying to go all the way around the lake and make it back in time for dinner....I'll have to save that for next time!

Can we just say gorgeous?

Another park across the street -

But I was heading back to the hotel to join up with some folks for dinner -

And back to the here and now:

Raindrops on Rhodies!

I captured theses beautiful blooms yesterday afternoon on my way home from the inn.  I'm afraid the rain we had through the night will show that most of the blossoms are now on the ground - so this was a quicky to capture them.  SO beautiful!

We drove down to meet up with Jeff, Ashlyn and Casden for dinner last night to celebrate Mother's Day.

I thought dinner was the celebration, but my heart burst wide open when presented with gifts and a Mother's Day card with pictures of my favorite redhead!

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How can he be 7 already?

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Looking forward to seeing him in action at his baseball game this coming Saturday afternoon. I hope the rain holds off -

I combined the flowers from Jeff & Ashlyn with the ones the hubster gave me and they now sit on the kitchen counter in all o their beauty - it made me smile this morning when I walked in to make my morning cuppa.

Today - Friend Martha is coming to help make beds in preparation for the arrival of the May Quiltvillians tomorrow afternoon.

The knee continues to heal - I can do stairs albeit slowly. (And you know that slow is not the way I usually go!)  but I'm getting there.

I even took 45 minutes to sew up a few blocks this morning before turning to work stuff.  Self care, you know?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

I need it, and so do you!

Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone!

(Oh, and I slept clear through to 6am this morning - yay!)