R's rue

  What do we westerners know of China? Most of us know very little about it in spite of its long history, its vast population and its economic power. Above - that is a young woman called Qingyunji Xiaoxue. She always introduces herself as Xiaoxue which is, I believe,  a fairly popular female name in China. It means "light snow". She is a YouTuber but her videos are not about food or fashion or make-up. Instead, Xiaoxue takes us to remote and interesting locations in rural China - especially in the south western province of Guizhou. There, amid the mountains, the trees and the birds of the air, it is as if communism never happened, the modern economic revolution never took place and President Xi Jinping was never born. This is how Xiaoxue introduces her channel:- "Hello everyone, this is Qingyunji Xiaoxue's official YouTube channel. This is a channel dedicated to sharing China's unique mountains and rivers. We show China's green mountains and clear waters,...

 In His desire that I slow down, I’m understanding the joy of simplicity. Whether its running barefoot in the grass as I smell the scent of the clothes on the clothesline. It’s looking for lurking critters in the cantaloupes. It’s the sweat that accumulates as I pound the pedals. I’m allowing my senses to work in tandem as I give my overworked brain a rest.  The answer is Him, but more simply it is to take in my surroundings right now, what I want them to look like. The point is I’m no multitasker. I can’t chew gum and walk most days in equal measure. I read somewhere where the magic of childhood is not being a child, but in the ability to be present. Reading that set my soul ablaze. I got it. Now to hope it stays there.  Knowing me, five minutes later, I’ll forget and look for something to worry about for the rest of the day. It’s not being hard on myself. It’s the truth. The frequency with which it occurs is not something I share with pride. A lot of us get honest and...