Rose Seeds

 For the last 6 years now (or maybe 7?) I've had a tradition of collecting rose seeds in the fall. My kids have seen me do this and help me find rose seeds. They are in the rose hips. Where we live, the roses aren't usually cut back regularly- just at the end of the year. As the roses die, the rose hips eventually turn orange (around this time of year in the fall). That's when the seeds inside of them are ready. We pick off or cut off the rose hips, cut them open to get the seeds out. air them out to dry (usually for a day or two) and then put them in a ziplock bag with some dirt (and a bit of water). I label them with the date I picked them and then put it in the fridge to "winter." Around January of February they might start to get roots- that's when I plant them in a pot of soil in the house and then later on transplant them outside (usually in the summer or late spring). Over the years I've been doing this, I've got rose plants to grow and they've even grown small, cute, baby roses (about the size of my thumb), but the plant seems to die in the summer heat. I have to find a way somehow to try and get them to survive. It's a good challenge for my gardening skills!

This is one of the tiny roses that I got in 2016. 

A Visit to the Aquarium

 We went to the aquarium today as an end of the school year treat. We finished our school year yesterday- it's nice to have a break. For summer, we'll still do our read alouds and I plan to cook and bake with the kids more individually, which we should have time for in the summer.

The remains of the big palace from the Han Dynasty

 Today we went to Weiyang Palace Remains Park. It's a huge, huge park that's the exact spot of where the old palace used to be. Xi'an was the capital of the country for a few different dynasties. The big palace we saw today was destroyed at the end of the Han Dynasty, around 200 AD. There's not many buildings to see (almost none!) but they have the outlines on the ground of where they used to be so you can get an idea of how huge it was. Although there are so many historical places to see in Xi'an, this park isn't one of the ones commonly seen because it's so big and on the outskirts of town. I enjoyed it, even though it was so hot today! It was great to see how big it was and to think that I was walking where some of the people I've written about (children's biographies and the Storybook fo China) have been. 

This used to be where the wall for the palace used to be. You can see how thick the walls were.

There's a plastic window with a drawing of how this exact place looked like many years ago.

The park goes all the way to the trees in the back. 

Where the trees are are probably where the main roads used to be. All the green fields are where the old city and palace used to be. It's huge!

A Historic Park (and more tulips!)

Yesterday we met up with another family to go to a park together. This park has some buildings from the Tang Dynasty (roughly 600-900 AD), a small lake, and this time of year tulips! The first time I went to this park, I didn't know they would have tulips and it was a pleasant surprise. It was about 10 years ago. 10 years later...the park is still there, but it's changed significantly. I didn't know if there would be tulips or not and I was glad to see them still there this time of year. 

Tulips and Birds

Today we went on a picnic to the botanical gardens to see the tulips with some other homeschool families. The kids had a blast! 

Also, I recently finished a book called "Western Birds of America" for kids. It introduces 25 birds from California, Oregon, and Washington State by telling a story about a girl that starts learning the names of the birds around her. 

Kublai Khan's Gardener

 I just finished a book about a gardener from the Yuan Dynasty. Here's the description on the back of the book:

Kublai Khan is one of history’s most famous kings. He had a huge palace built in Beijing, built the city walls, had a forest of trees on one of the hills, and did lots of other building projects. Sadly, the majority of his building projects aren’t around today. This story is about the head gardener who was in charge of the forest of trees on one of the hills. Kublai Khan had trees from all over brought over and this man had to make sure that they all did well. It was a hard job and this gardener had to travel sometimes to pick up new trees. By reading this book, you’ll not only see how life was like in China during this time period, but also learn a little about a variety of trees.

Pu'er Tea Delivery

 I had the opportunity to work with a mom and her two daughters to work on a book together. They did the illustrations (and did a fantastic job!) and I did the writing. It's a book about a family in Yunnan who help take care of some old Pu'er tea trees. They pick leaves a few times a year for tea, dry them, and get them ready to be sold. Then they have travel to a few places in Yunnan to sell their tea. This book talks not only about the process of how tea is made, but also describes Yunnan geography. Yunnan is the province next to Tibet in the Southwest part of China. This book is available as an ebook on www.lulu.com or as a printed book on www.lulu.com or amazon.com. 

Vegetable Market

 Today we went to the vegetable market to buy some veggies and food before it closes for a few days for Chinese New Year. I thought I'd take some pictures of some of the veggies and other things they sell there. Many times when I go to the veggie market I see veggies, dried beans, and things that I don't normally cook with and it sometimes inspires me to learn how to cook some of these things. My hunch is that if you ask the average Chinese grandma, they could tell you how to cook any and all of these things. If you ask the average Chinese young person, they could tell you how to cook some of the things, but not all of them. Cooking is a skill that is slowly being lost (in my opinion) as more young people either prefer to eat out or are too busy to cook or to learn to cook.