Daylight's Haven

Maybe I could make a handwritten Chinese zine that I record myself reading aloud to a bunch of seeds.

This is gonna be my day. Or I'll take a nap. Still hard to say which way it will go.

Also I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of Daphne in a year. I just spent an hour looking at photos, so I can't make up for it now short of sharing my entire library. But here's a particularly funny sequence from last spring, when her friends came to the back door looking for her.

( Daphne and friends )

Right now everything is covered in snow and ice, except the back patio, so that's nice. I still go out and sit in my rocking chair and look out over where the gardens will be in the spring, and admire the sparkly beauty of a frozen river.

Luckily the dogs love the frozen river, so now the play groups look more like this.

( Daphne and snow )

Apparently I have a white-and-purple fuchsia. Kathy gave me one of her little fuchsias last fall, and honestly it has not been thriving. I just haven't got the knack of fuchsias yet. But it started budding last week (I thought for sure the buds would fall off because the plant wasn't healthy enough to support flowers), and yesterday one opened! And today another one opened!

It's particularly exciting because I've only had pink fuchsias before this, so I just assumed this one was also pink. Nope! So pretty. And it looks nice with the dried orchid blooms on the plant next to it, also purple, so that's extra special. (I don't know if you're supposed to remove orchid blooms once they go by: probably, but these are the blooms on Mimi's orchid and there's zero chance I will interfere with this hardy and symbolic gift. Those flowers are there until they fall off.)

The second of my baby geraniums is flowering, also red, and my rescue geranium from two years ago at the hardware store is budding again. It blooms white and several shades of pink, which is interesting and I don't know how common that is, that a single geranium plant has multiple colors of flowers. It's the only one I have like that out of seven or eight, so that's neat.

Oh! Okay, also, remember the "dormant" passionflower vines? Ha ha, they are not twining around the tree, they are growing straight up, probably looking for the light they aren't supposed to have because it's winter and they should be sleeping. I saw one of them poking up above the tree on Monday and thought, "Oh hi??"

Then I forgot about it, except for pouring a bunch of water in that pot because apparently the vines are awake and will (I assume) want a drink. Today I had designated as minting day, just to keep ahead of potential pests, and when I was gently spraying the tree I realized there are multiple passionflower vines on their way up and one of them has leaned forward for the floor light (instead of back for the wall light, which was installed over the vine pot but I didn't think reached all the way down through the tree canopy).

So I'm not sure what their plan is, but it looks like I may need an indoor trellis for them, unless I want them to go for the ceiling lights. How does Kathy keep hers dormant over the winter? (Apparently other people have cool parts of their house, or warm parts of their garage. I find it a struggle just to keep the canna and dahlia tubers below 60F.)

Anyway, I have today off from work, and my $8 soldering iron has arrived, so it's back to work on the winter sowing. I have a bunch of test containers and test seeds, along with an assortment of soil and a warm-ish day for working outside. At this rate I should finish just in time for the winter sowing workshop.

Today I photographed a little New Year's reunion dinner among the Mo Dao Zu Shi friends in Lego, and also quickly inked spring couplets for our door. I was able to make them recognizable on the first try, and although I still have no ability to write in semi-cursive, I judge my handwriting to be at least equivalent to a seven-year-old's.

(Li Can of EazyMandarin on youtube says "advanced" adult Chinese learners are about equivalent to a fifth- or sixth-grader in China, which I believe. The longer I learn Chinese the less I know. There was a time I considered myself as high as "upper intermediate," but now I am confidently "beginner" level. Perhaps not compared to other foreign adult learners, but compared to Chinese children I think I could make it in second grade. I wouldn't be top of the class, but they probably wouldn't kick me out.)

Relatedly, I only got through the first of my first grade textbooks last week, so I'll try to finish the second one this week. I did meet my recording goal, but writing and reading both fell off. Can't wait to see what happens this week.

Oh, winter sowing! Ha ha, I know nothing about this. Our local library is offering a workshop next week, but it's full, so I decided to learn on my own. I bought some bulbs, and then found out there's a reason you sow seeds, not bulbs. (Apparently winter sowing is a wet process, and bulbs rot. And also freeze.) So the bulbs are in the back of the refrigerator, and I have a collection of seeds that may or may not require cold stratification. I picked them from a list of "seeds that are good for winter sowing" at a seed website.

I also have some clear storage bins, because get this, we don't have milk jugs. Milk jugs are the greenhouses of choice due to their low cost and availability, but Marci and I drink milk from double-serving bottles (me) or not at all (her). When I tried to poke drainage and ventilation holes in the storage bins, I realized the difference between sturdy plastic and milk jugs. I went back to the internet for more advice.

A soldering iron or a drill, it said; neither of which I own.

Yet.

Inspired by marcicat's amazing Muderbot Valentines, I made some Mo Dao Zu Shi Valentines for all my friends and fam ♥ I love you. Thanks for accompanying me and bringing light to every day.

( 2 love notes in the style of MDZS )