Gnomeless

This is the in-laws' house. In a country where most people live in small apartments, we're living large here in Yangsan.

The pots used by my mother-in-law to make kimchi, soy sauce, denjung and so on. You can also see the backyard dog, Samsunhee. Awesome dog. Ian enjoys petting her and walking around the pots.

Two of the four cows that Ian loves to visit every day. We always know when Ian wants to go outside, because he points to the front door and says, Moo! (Sometimes quite urgently.)

This is a field right next to the cow's shed. Every now and then, the owner of the cows lets them run around here.

I let Ian play on this quiet little street beside the cow farm once he's had enough of visiting the bovines. He's fascinated by all the storm sewer grates you see. He gets a kick out of watching the water flowing beneath and an even bigger kick dropping rocks through the grates. My task is to keep an eye out for cars.

After visiting the neighbor's cows and dropping rocks through the storm sewer grates on the adjoining street, Ian loves to visit these nearby rice paddies. Here he busies himself with the important task of dropping small rocks into the water.

After we're finished visiting the dog, the cows and the rice paddies, Ian and I head up this little lane that leads to the house. It also has storm sewer grates, which means Ian has more little rocks to drop.

This is my emergency smoking spot. It's where I smoke if my father-in-law is puttering about in his garden by my main smoking spot. This is where I received the packet of mineral salt I talked about in The Salt of the Earth.

This is my primary smoking spot. You can see my father-in-law's garden right below.

View from my primary smoking spot #1

View from my primary smoking spot #2

View from my primary smoking spot #3. Just past my father-in-law's garden is the property of one of the neighbors. I still haven't decided if this is the world's smallest farm or a garden on steroids.