[First published July 18, 2015] Okay, so for our summer vacation we flew to Xi'an, an inland city in Shaanxi province which was formerly the national capital for several ancient dynasties. In the heart of the city is a complete (but partially reconstructed) city wall and the streets are laid out in a grid pattern. It would be pretty hard to get lost, you might think, if your landmarks include a four-storey-high city wall with gates marked "South," "North," "East" and "West." Yet Ross and I kept getting ourselves turned around and confused about which way we walked to get to the Bell Tower and which way to the bus station. Even with two maps!

We were trying to be as independent as we could be in a strange city where we can't read most of the signs and can only speak a few dozen words and phrases. Out of stubborn pride I suppose -- well, not just pride (and boy, our conviction that we could hit the ground and find our way around took quite a beating,) but a desire for thrift. P.J. O'Rourke said that the mark of an advanced civilization is how quickly it can suck the money out of your wallet. Xi'an certainly passes this test.  So I thought I'd share some detail about what we experienced and learned. 

[First published July 15, 2015]  When this old world starts to getting me down..... 

For me, the highlight of the visit to the ancient city of Xi'an was our time spent up on the city walls. The Bell Tower and Drum Tower are beautiful and worth a visit, but riding a biycle around the city walls was a real pinch-me moment. Here we are, riding around the top of the city walls on a bicycle in the middle of China! How 'bout that!  We were proud too, of completing the 14 kilometer ride especially on such a hot day while many others were opting for a chauffered ride in the electric carts. Some of the Chinese tourists were cheering the old foreigners on, giving us the "thumbs up." 

First of course, there's stairs..... there are always stairs....

Which this bride used to great effect for her wedding portrait. She is wearing red, the color for celebrations in China.

 As you can see, it was a hazy day, unfortunately, but that's par for the course in China's cities. But if "bike riding on top of a wall" sounded like an unwise proposition, you can see for yourself how broad and level the top of the wall is...

[First published May 15, 2015] Back in the interior of British Columbia, Mother's Day is traditionally the day when it's considered safe to plant your petunias and lobelias and other bedding plants in the garden and not lose them to an overnight frost. Here in Zibo, flowers that i'm used to seeing in June or late May appear in April. 

Wisteria flaunts its blossoms over wooden trellises in the park. Along the roadside of our three campuses, little blue flax flowers exude sincerity. I hope they have a calming effect on the students here at the campus this weekend to write the spring college entrance exams.

And this week the dianthus arrived with a pink flourish and a deliciously spicy aroma. In a few weeks -- or sooner? -- we'll have hordes of hollyhocks.

The boulevards in town are thickly planted with trees, shrubs and flowers. Here's a bed of iris and some glamorous roses:

I've noticed that the Chinese gardeners plant their shrubs and trees much more closely together than we do. Below left is a bed of little abelia shrubs, each about six inches tall. In a few years they will grow to be one solid mass of abelia. I hope I've named all the flowers correctly.  I had sort of a running gag going with my husband; if someone asked me the name of a plant I could usually answer confidently -- "oh, that's a cotoneaster," or "that's lobelia." But sometimes I didn't know the name, and I've forgotten a lot of names over the years, so I would just make up a name, like "oh, that's creeping weatherwort." Ross caught on eventually and now he doesn't believe me about any plant names. I told him that lilac was called syringa vulgaris, and he thought I was joking. 

The newly-planted trees often have their trunks wrapped 'round with sisal and bamboo stakes are used for bracing. You can see the trees, and more dianthus -- such an innocent flower! such a sultry scent! -- below left. This is a pathway alongside a canal near the campus. We've been watching for the past few months as dozens of laborers have shaped the ground, laid the bricks, moved massive decorative boulders into place, planted the trees, shrubs, flowers and grass. Below right, a tree has two IV drip bottles of fertilizer, something else I've never seen at home. 

We've seen hundreds of trees go into the clay soil since we've been here. The roadside plane (aka sycamore) trees arrived late last year as twenty-feet tall poles, completely sheared of branches. Now they are bursting forth, or at least most of them are. A snatch of a Dylan Thomas poem comes to mind, The force that through the green fuse drives the flower/ Drives my green age....

One consequence of the close planting is that many laborers are kept busy shaping and pruning everything, Another is that the trees soon form a complete canopy, even on urban boulevards, as with these young plane (sycamore) trees. I have strayed from the topic of flowers to trees, but never mind. 

My sons got the perfect gift for their ex-pat mother, an Amazon gift certificate so I can download all kinds of goodies onto my e-reader. I'm going to give the "kindle unlimited" program a try. And Ross cooked Sunday brunch, which was especially good because we've finally found some decent sliced bread. Most store bought bread here is slightly sweet and sweet toast just doesn't taste right with the poached eggs. So, my Mother's Day --  which is coming to a close as yours begins back home on the West Coast -- was very nice; a chat with my mother and my sons on Skype, Sunday brunch, a long bike ride to snap pics of the flowers, and a cup of decaf at Starbucks before heading home again. One of my students works at the nearest Starbucks and I'd promised her I'd drop by sometime and embarrass her. So, mission accomplished.


I was also pleased with the class activity I designed for making Mother's Day cards, too, but that will keep for another day and another post.