Christmas Cactus Blossoms in June

We rented a Uhal truck in Atlanta and drove it all the way to Athens. The sole purpose was to move all our plants in the pots. Surely it was not fun. Fortunately all the plants arrived undamaged. Well we are almost ready to move in our new house. At this moment, we still have to bear for a week in our rented house. So are all our plants. They are crowded in a tiny back yard and on the steps of front door. I just do a minimal maintenance. I am just not able to set my mind set to work on them until they are moved.

Well they seems just doing fine. My Christmas Cactus is blossoming and just beautiful. Some of sun burned indoor plants are recovering. I just can not wait for moving to our new house.

Spaghetti MeatBalls

I have been always pretty confidence of my cooking. That "my cooking" is Chinese food. I just have a good grasp of Chinese Cuisine. No recipe is ever needed for my cooking. I often improvise with whatever I have in the fridge. However, it is totally different story when it comes to Western Cuisine for me.

I can not remember how many times I have had Spaghetti Meatballs. But I never dared enough to make it myself. Somehow I just do not feel that I have the handler of subtlety to Western Cuisine. For me, a lot of butter, cheese, and wine will do for Western food just as most of American think that soybean sauce will do for Chinese food.

A coup days ago, I happened to watch Barefoot Contessa that afternoon. I love Ina's show. Especially do not worry about fat and sugar and extra cups of them are all good for a special occassion which is everyday^^. No wonder that American size of 3 to 4 course meal makes us fatter and bigger than the moderation of French's 5 course meal. She was making saghetti with meatballs. Stranger enough I felt that I started to be able to remember the ingredients and wanted to give Sammy a little surprise. I almost followed her recipe since I never wrote it down or checked on line.

Here my ingredients are:

For meatballs:
ground beef
ground veal
bread crumbs
some chopped parsley
grated pamesan cheese
salt
black pepper
beaten egg
red wine (remember wrong)
minced garlic(bad memory)
olive oil
soybean sauce (old habit, hard to break)

For the sauce:
olive oill
yellow onion
minced garlic
red win
can crushed tomatoes
parsley & basil
salt
black pepper
fresh mushroom(I add)

It turned out actually pretty good. Apparently Sammy liked a lot and he filled all the way up to his throat. I am impressed with my first home-made spaghetti meatballs.

Food subtlety resides in culture intrigue. I hope that one day I will have the same instinct of Western cuisine as I have with Chinese one. My learning curve seems terribly long. Well, at least I had my first spaghetti meatballs now. Here it is

When Organic Becomes A Part of My Daily Life

When we lived in Atlanta, Whole Food Grocery Store was the way to go if we wanted something organic. It is a very nice store. We did enjoy shopping there. But surely it did not come cheap. Our friend Tricia called it the Whole Pay Check instead. No too much exaggerated!

Somehow it makes you being cool to shop there since you are into organic. And of course it shows that you are able to afford. For me, it is a stupid Urban thing. It is not more stupid of organic itself than people.

I always believe that diversity and freshness is the key for our diet. Organic is certainly a plus. We always shopped in Korean farmer's market or Decature farmer's market.

When we moved to Athens, we still have to go shopping in Kroger which is only chain shop here. But this local farmer's market certainly fascinates me. It is every Saturday from 9-1. This is a farmer's market in a real sense. Local farmers bring their vegatable, fruit, plants, home-made sauce and jelly, local produced honey ...

I am often asked to taste the produce in raw since it is allowed without chemicals applied . I realize that most of them are organic. Of course we do not know what percentage they are up to the organic standard. what really matters is that ORGANIC is in the conscience of this community. Amazing me more is those traditional chinese vegatable appearance - Garlic Stem, Garlic Leak, Chinese Roman lettuce, ... Certainly it becomes affordable.

I complained about the selection of Whole Food produce. It was always samo samo. Here we have Freshness, Organic and Diversity, Affordability. How does FODA sound? not too good yet. I will try again. Well certainly Organic becomes a part of my daily life before I realize it.

Look at those baby potato, Garlic Stem, Squash, tomato and our friend Robin's Potato and Rosemary Bread from Big Chimney with wild flowers. Just can't get better than this!!!

Night in Athens

Our Landmark!













Tiki is here to stay!














Is this cart nice? How about being a coffee table in our living room?













Still Glamour in Athens


















Certainly Cheap is way to go

















This town is for real!

Floor in Progress

More Pictures Of Our New House

My pineapple plant is already looking good with our front porch.














I worked on this kitchen floor hard!!!


















How about a side garden for this cute side doorway?














Red Butterfly chairs through the windows in the front porch.














A cute bathroom upstair!














Potential back yard needs be transformed













The Best for the Last! Former owner painted this garage panels. He happened to work where Sammy works. Well someone is gonna carry the legacy(my favorite line in "Sordid Life")!

Darwin's Theory Of Gardening

Finally, we have our new house now. I am totally exhausted after hard work of two and half days. We rent a kind of electrical spade to scrape out the ugly ninoleum floor for the wood floor underneath. It almost vibbed my head off after two and half days. Mission is accomplished for real. Certainly it is hard, hard work, Mr. President!

Now back to my Darwin's theory. When we were there, we had a chance to meet our new neighbor Jane and her dog Annie. She is this middle aged, friendly, hippy lady. We talked about her dog and our dog Trotty.

Not long before she asked me if I do planting. Here we go. It is my favorite topic again. We became instant friends. She showed her back yard and her plants. She has a lot of my favorites for sure - peony, day lily, Dahlia, hosta. Somehow, It is just hard for me to describe her garden. She might sense my wondering and summed up her philosophy for gardening, which is just planting something somewhere as whoever likes. Some might happen to do well and they are the keepers. Goodbye to the rest or the rest goodbye to her. It sounds very Darwinism. The nature selects the good ones and eliminates the weak ones. Well I hope that you all get the picture of her garden now.

I can tell that she is very passionate about gardening just as I am. I think that it all matters having fun and enjoying gardening! But I can tell that she is somehow frustrated with the outcome of her effort. I feel for her since It happens to me too. This makes me wonder that it would be lovely if Intelligent Design is here for all frustrated gardeners.

Well just one problem? As claimed, Human Being was created by this God's Intelligent Design. Certainly a bunch of gorgeous beings and a lot more ugly ones. Then how are we gonna know who gets the pretty garden powered by the Design of whatever's Intelligence?

Rediscover the Virtue of "Be Humble"

I am Chinese and grew up in China until 25. I had been taught to be humble since I ever could remember. My dad would constantly tell me that only being humble would keep you learning from whoever knows what you do not. This is one of core Confucian teachings passed for more than 2000 years. It has had fundamental impact on the livelihood of Chinese people for thousands of years.

Seniors must be respected since they are considered wiser. Teachers need be followed for they might know what we do not. Authorities should be obeyed simply because they have power. are they attributed to the virtue or fault of humbleness? It certainly puzzled my generation.

Before my journey to the States, I was repeatedly told that I had to present the confidence and aggressiveness when I landed the another side of the Pacific ocean. American is the land that authories are challenged(I am not sure that it is always true now). The new journey carried a lot of my anticipation and anxiety. I struggled subconsciously between the culture conflict. It could not be subtler when the mind was searching for the balancing point. That is because I admire the spirit of this young country and cherish the root of my motherland.

Chinese teachers rarely show the exuberance and pile praises on you even you are the best of the best. Alway advise you of more to overcome. American teachers love to encourage with "you are the best" even you might be the worst of the best or whatever. It is not about which one is better. But the difference is what culture can offer.

A genuine humbleness is a beautiful quality of human being. It is the ultimate realization of our strength through the venerability. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know.

This American journey gives me a chance to rediscover being as a Chinese indeed.

Fine Memory For Our Old House

My gardenia flower arrangements




























Table set for my mom's scallion pancake. I can not wait for using those my favorite china.














My garden again

Something Nostalgic For Our Arts and Crafts House

It was a long memorial weekend two weeks back. We went to Columbus and hoped that we could get the grill on sale in Target Store. It was sold out. Then we crossed town from west to east and stopped to visit a few shops before headed home. We tried to see one of our favorite store - Design within Reach. It was too late and closed. I wish that name really means it, How about "Design Within Outreach"? Certainly nothing is cheap. But every piece is just beautiful. I hope that someday we will own some.

World Market was the only store that we were able to get in. This was the second time I visited WM. Last time we bought two pagodas as clearance items. One was for Norma's birthday. One was placed in our yard in Atlanta. We were intrigued by all kinds of paper lamps and picked a couple to hang with those we have on the front porch of our new house. However, Sammy spotted three lamp-shape containers covered with this vibrant bright red fabric in the pile of clearance items. I immediately realized that we sensed the same thing. They are just magic pieces for that porch.

This fabric always reminds me of my childhood somehow. It was very typical old Chinese fabric from Northeast countryside. I do not think that my family ever had anything made of it since it was too country for us. But I am being attached since it has the footprint of the time and age. That is the best interpretation of the word "Nostalgic". I called it re-experiencable in mind. I might create a word. But you know what I mean.

Amazingly, Sammy just always has the eye for things unique and unconvetional. That is the talent. When nostlgia merges from East countryside folklore piece to West architectural classic, please allow me to present:

Secure Our Insecurity

I have been lamenting that the older we get, the fewer new friends we make. My friend Todd told me that we might become more selective. Somehow, it made sense to me. Just cause we are wiser or less stupid?

Anywho, It seems that we just have to accept the fact. The fact would be that we might not make much more friends when we age. Sounds sad. But we just have to live with it.

Since Sammy moved here in January. I had got in contact with several local folks. The very first one is Carole. She is our real estate agent. During this house hunting process, It seems to me that only a one or two dozens houses are for sale at any point and more than a hundred agents fought for even fewer "jewels" among them. Well Carole certainly is one of them in the game. Just a bit of stretch^^. Certainly she knows most of houses in this town. She is very sweet and somehow confused for a second when you call her. She just can not recognize her clients' voice most of the time. We really like her.

Then when Carole was absent, she asked Robin - another agent in her office to help us for the inspection. I met her once before and she helped Carole show houses when Carole was out of town and I was in. Sammy and I just like her a lot. She is very tall and talks plainly. She is just very genuine one for us. She and her husband used to have a bakery called "Big Chimney"(still own and just not open to public). One day, we just wanted to check out and drove by. It happened that she was on the side patio with her family. We stopped and got a chance to have a glance of the inside of this cool old building. Her hunsband is just warm as she is. They wanted us to come over to have a dinner with them sometime. I know that we can be great friends and I think that we will be.

After inspection and having the final contract, we visited this mortgage agent whom was recommended by Carole. Her name is Lisa. We chatted about running in the field, winter or summer, bla bla. I was joking that nobody can afford having a bad name in a small town since everyone knows everyone or else. We like her as well.

Well Brian was the latest person I met. He is an IT director in charge of finance, HR dept in OU. I had a lunch with him to discuss the possibility to work in OU in the future. We had a great conversation and I felt that I forgot to sell myself a bit harder. I would like to work with him.

Yesterday, we were waiting for Carole to unlock the door and let us and our floor guy into our house soon-to-be. Sammy remembered that the owners never lock their front door. We surely opened unlocked door just before Carole got there.

My puzzl, no more. People need to have a sense of security when they make friends. This small town certainly offers just that.

My Inspiring Piece

Sammy certainly did great job to give a frame-by-frame story telling of our day. Great job Gay! Gay is Sammy's old sister. Sammy would un-huh, un-huh ... whatever if Gay was on the other end of phone and gave a frame-by-frame of her day, or hour or minute.

Well, Our gang is a neat antique shop. I just can not believe that I am so much into antique shop now. Sammy has the credit. One piece of China certainly caught my eyes. It is beautiful Brown transfer ware made in Dayton, Ohio. It has this elegant classic quality and certainly works with our mod taste. It makes me wish that I was a China designer. It transcends time and ages.



Chinese invented China. I am very proud of my ascestor. However I feel a sense of shame that Chinese did not carry this culture any more. Besides some Chinese collect antique china as a hobby or showing off. I do not think that Chinese nowdays appreciates this heritage as Westener does. When you are invited to a dinner here in America, you will most likely find that a nice set of china is presented and used for the dinner. It can be passed in generations in the family or collected by your host through years. It does not have to be very expensive. Not only it can be enjoyed among friends but also certainly gives a sense of history. For me, that is a good quality of living. Nowadays, newly riched Chinese rarely invites friends to the house for a dinner as when I was a kid. A fancy restaurant is the way to go. It is sad.

Fine living in China is rediscovering of those lost traditions and treasures.



Besides those pieces of china, we went to this crazy garden nursery called GlassHouseWorks. Certainly it is a place that I call it "harmony in mess". My friend Robin's mom Mary defines that place - Gem can be digged up among mostly junks. Mary is an artist and makes a wonderful cat sculptures. She definitely summed up well of this nursery. Those "junks" are equal to mess instead of real junks. But it is an amazing place to get lost. It is the plant lover's wonderland. We got a list of exotic plants to replace my deceased papaya bonsai as following.
















I can never remember those plant names. And Here they are:

1. Sempervivum Hybrids Mixed
2. Cotomeaster Microphyllus Thymifolius
3. Kalanchoe Prolifera
4. Lampranthus Curvifolius
5. Kalanchoe Houghtonii

Here is my bonsai reincarnation:

Heavenly Peony

It is Spring time once again. I love Spring just as much as I hate it. while a great anticipation waits for re-emerging of all the living creatures, so is the fear of my allergy devil. I just had very nice Spring already in Atlanta. Now I am finding out that I will have another one here in Athens. Somehow, Spring in Athens is a bit behind the one in Atlanta. It is almost June and I am still stuffed up. That does not prevent me from enjoying what this great little town offers.



It is peony heaven. I suddenly realize that gorgeous peony plants are in every corner. And they are so thriving. After all, peony is a plant naturally growing in the north.



It is amazing how much each person can be influenced by his/her background. I grew up in China. However I never saw a single living peony plant in person there since it grows in the north part of Central China(Kafen city in Henan Province - China ancient capital of Tang Dynasty). But it is a symbol of Chinese culture and tradition - an inseparable part of Chinese art forms and unofficial national flower. One of the masterpiece of Chinese play is called "Peony Pavilion".



This flower is just as beautiful in real as in my imagination when I saw it in my yard the very first time. By the way I dug out all my peony root from my Atlanta yard and brought them to Athens. Supposed I should not. oh well.



Sammy and I walked around our neighhood and took some pictures of this incredible flower.

Flower has my imagination

We always made some flower arrangement in our house once a while for a party, a dinner or just in the mode.



Especially, I almost did every week when we tried to sell our house. Somehow, I started to feel the texture, color or form of the magic of flowers.


Certainly our agent and next door neighor Jackson told us how much he loves our creation. I did a couple for him. He was very sweet to have a dinner for us with our friends in the neighorhood before we moved. I made this one with gardenia buds from our yard for the dinner. Sorry, Jack and Jill for otherwise hundred more blossoming gardenias right now. Here it is

Finally in Athens, OH

Sammy and I went to a loan company in town to apply for the mortgage today. We were told that I am still qualified to be a co-borrower for the loan even though I am officially unemployed^^. My limited asset somehow qualifies me for the loan.

It has been a crazy week for us. We had to work hard to be ready for the mover and the house closing. Meanwhile rented a Uhal to move all our plants to Athens ourselves. Among them, the most difficult part was to have BuBu(Bark us Bite us)put down. I was so fraid that Sammy would not be able to see him the very last time. Troty fought very hard and made it. We are missing him very much.

We barely made for the house inspection for our soon-to-be home on Wednesday. It is a charming house. Certainly a lot of work to make it our own. That is always a fun part.

I had a chance to sample some pieces of Athens - walked to Ohio Univ Jazz concert, had a lunch in the village bakery a couple block from the house, visited Donkey coffee shop. The town gives me a sense that life is real. I start to realize that I am able to be part of it instead of feeling lost in the sea of crowd sometimes in Atlanta. But we certainly miss our relatives, friends and old neighors in ATL.

Sister Gets a Free Ride

Trotsky has been sick. After more than a grand so far, we still do not know what is wrong with him. I only can tell he had a tremedous pain to open his mouth. So he was reluctant to swallow food. Then I gave some IAMS' wet food. He ate a few bites and left the rest.

Meanwhile, our cat Eydie Gorme never misses her meal time. She will always let you know by either knocking the glass door or opening the screen door. Somehow for a while, she seemed not interested in her food at all. Well I heard some noise outside late night while I slept with Trotsky under my bed. I realized my little fluffy butt was enjoying trotsky's leftover. Well chased her away since it is dog food. But I felt a sense of guilt.

Now everytime I goes to buy Trotsky's food, I will buy Gorme some wet food. Well no more tuna for her. She surely had a tuna breath When she talked to me. I wish that she could had brushed her teeth even though she only has few teeth left.

Trotsky is doing better and followed me around in the yard. Maybe he knows that he will see Sammy soon