This year, many flowers are blooming in the orchard in Xincun, a suburb of Changping, Beijing: roses, peonies, hibiscus, bougainvillea, dahlias, and begonias…

The orchard with hundreds of flowers in full bloom has become a veritable flower garden.

As a flower maniac, I took many photos of pretty and gorgeous flowers here, Ying, my uncle Yongyuan’s wife, changed her WeChat profile picture to a blooming big red rose, so beautiful!

Watching the bees buzz around a purple rose, I said, “This rose must be very sweet.”

Ying smelled it and said, “It smells so good! We can use it to make rose candy.”

I answered: “In the past, my nanny Yeyi used sugar to pickle rose petals. The pickled rose candy smelled very good and it was delicious when eaten in glutinous rice balls!”

Ying said, “We can collect this type of rose petals to make rose candy too.”

The next day, I saw my uncle Yongyuan collecting all the petals of the bloomed roses that Ying and I talked about to make rose candy yesterday. I asked happily: “Are you collecting them to make rose candy?”

My uncle replied: “Rose candy? Nonsense. I am making rose wine!”

I immediately felt that I had met a liquor lover who was better than me, as I was just a flower lover.

There are many roses in California. I had used sugar to pickle rose petals to make glutinous rice balls in the past, a thing I watched and learnt from my nanny Yeyi when I was little. I enjoyed using various fruits to wine for many years; but I only started to make osmanthus wine last year after I learned it from my uncle Yongjia in Nongtuan Mountain, Zigong.

Today, my uncle Yongyuan’s words made me feel that all the uncles on my mother’s side are true liquor lovers. I told myself that I will definitely make some rose wine after coming back home.

In 2017, I captured many photos of morning glories, from August’s Almaden Valley, October’s Filoli Garden, November’s Beijing countryside, and December’s Beijing Fengtai home. The blooming morning glories in 2017 witnessed the journey of my mother’s declining health. Especially from October to December, within two months, my mother went from walking-and-smiling to having difficulty swallowing, which made me see clearly: “life becomes even more fragile in late stage.”

10-30-2017, my mother and my aunt holding hands while walking together happily

12-14-2017, my aunt feeds my mother who had difficulty swallowing smoothies, my mother worked hard to swallow the food.

In 2020

There is a 2 x 1 meter (width x height) white fence in front of our Waltham home.

This year, due to the quarantine, I could not go anywhere. But I wanted to have fully blooming morning glories against the white fence in the hot summer to remember my late mother (10-25-1928 – 05-02-2018). So I planted some morning glories in May.

When the weather was getting warm, I watched my morning glory ivy crawl up the white fence, I thought my morning glories will bloom in August. Now September is already gone, just like a popular song: “Looking at it three times a day, watching it missing its blooming.”

In October 2020, the morning glory on the white fence finally showed buds. I am looking forward to seeing blooming morning glories. It is a good feeling filled with sweet wishes. You love the flower, so the flower brings you happiness (人爱花，花悦人).

The tender feeling towards morning glories let me recall my mother’s longing for life along with time’s harsh effects on her late life.

The love of flowers, beautiful and simple, causes time to stop, creating enchantment. I am very thankful to my mother who taught me one of the biggest joys in life: the love of flowers.

Little Episodes

Almaden Valley in 08-2017, morning glories on the roadside.

Filoli Garden in 10-2017, morning glories on the wall

11-2017, morning glories in the wild countryside.

The joyful expression of the blooming morning glories.
They are tangled to tomatoes, in an orchard.
They formed a flower wall, in Filoli garden.
They were lovely and brilliant, across the Pacific Ocean.

12-2017, morning glories in home.

Joyful life:
Summer morning glories, blooming in late winter, tender and pretty.
Uneven branch, with buds, rearranged, my father enjoyed the sight.
My aunt fed my mother smoothies, my mother worked hard to swallow, a touching sight.

04-2018, morning glories accompanying my mother while she was watching TV.

10-2020, morning glory buds on the white fence in front of our Waltham home.