Phoebe | Shining Days · Just Like a Kid

April 15, 2025 Tuesday

The highest compliment for you is: acting like a kid. Just like a kid.

Today I was supposed to receive a Vietnamese guest named Michael with Xiao Jing. He had booked our streamside leaf pounding activity. For this, I worked hard to look up new words and prepare to introduce the plants along the way, staying up until 3:30 am to finish.

When the moment came, it was raining. Michael took a taxi from Xizhou to the meeting point. Xiao Jing said it was impossible to do leaf pounding in the rain, but they could take him for a hike. Michael decided to cancel. Since he was already there, out of curiosity about each other, we still chatted briefly. Michael works in technology, has been to China four times, visited many big cities, and had studied Chinese before.

One of Michael's travel purposes is to taste local delicacies. He opened his phone photo album and showed me the food he had eaten on this trip, commented on it, and asked me for recommendations. I recommended my favorite rushan popsicle. Michael tried the local small cherries and blueberries that Xiao Jing brought. He did not eat the boiled peanuts, nor did he accept an invitation to go and see the bread van that Xiao Qi helped Xiao Jing modify. He left, and we set off to have fun. I wanted to collect some plants to do leaf pounding on two pieces of cloth given by Miss Liang Duan.

The Agapanthus (Amaryllidaceae, Agapanthus genus) planted by the roadside blooms like fireworks.

Xiao Jing found a Chinese nose cicada. This creature's head extends forward, forming a protrusion like a "nose."

Along the way, I recited all the plant vocabulary I had prepared. Xiao Jing said she has been watching the English version of "My Neighbor Totoro" recently and learned words like acorn and camphor tree from it...

We arrived at a beautiful, pitch-black boulder. The stone was tall, like a small hill. It had some jagged marks that seemed from quarrying. Over time, parts had grown moss and lichens. It looked like a miniature landscape stone, but also had an otherworldly feel. Xiao Jing eagerly climbed onto it and decided to have tea on top. Zamao followed closely.

Although the stone was beautiful, I was a bit afraid it would be slippery from the rain. Seeing Xiao Jing moving nimbly on it, and the chubby Zamao also not hesitating, I hesitated for a moment and then carefully followed up. Xiao Jing had already arranged food on the stone.

The tea I brought was Tang Wang organic tea, a "Silver Needle" from the White Tea Garden tasting pack. Xiao Jing said that when picking tea, they pick one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves; Silver Needle uses the most precious "one bud." After a sip of tea, Xiao Jing gave a detailed and favorable review. Her keen sensitivity amazed me. Is sensitivity like climbing mountains or catching insects, something that comes from childhood practice? Unintentional cultivation during play as a child.

Zamao, like a lion king at the top of the world. Just like its owner.

On the stone, lichen and moss interweave into a microcosm, like a thick carpet.

A lovely moment

We talked about Michael. Shared feelings made us laugh.

On the way back, I spotted a small snake by the roadside, motionless, not sure if alive or dead. I stared carefully to take a photo, but it slipped away. I only managed to capture a section of its body weaving through the grass.

P.S. Wang Bin said this is a juvenile Elaphe porphyracea. He also said that this snake is the ancestral snake of the Bai people, non-venomous, gentle, and does not bite. I then read an article titled "A Preliminary Study of Bai Snake Worship."

At home in the evening, I made a less successful leaf pounding. I sighed that leaf pounding is a technical skill. Xiao Jing said it's a physical skill!

April 22, Tuesday

What happened yesterday? I rested yesterday.

Right now, morning reading finished, feeling a bit sleepy.

Birdsong, blue sky, a clear, warm world.

I want to write at least one interesting sentence every day.

What is interesting, worthy of recording, involves personal taste. All about your taste.

April 24, Thursday, early morning

The world is stormy,

In our small, fortress with a view,

We chat, drink tea, eat snacks,

Light candles, ignite the lamp in the dimness.

Postscript: I invited Xiao Jing and You to dinner at a Dai restaurant called Xiangsi Garden near Xiao Jing's place. Finally met You, who appears in Xiao Jing's writing. After dinner, Xiao Jing invited You and me to her van. Thanks to Xiao Qi's clever design and modification, the van can quickly be transformed into a large platform with a spacious coffee table, suitable for study, painting, sitting, lying, or roaming.

Xiao Jing drove her small bread van into the middle of the fields. Outside it was windy and rainy, with a backdrop of dark landscape on the horizon and a few lights. Her mobile picnic life in Yangshuo became vivid in my mind. We huddled in the small space of the van, drinking tea, chatting, eating the pudding and cake You brought, and she even gave me some to take home. The cake was really delicious. It was delicious precisely because it was a rare treat.

When the van drove back, it felt like a little trip.

April 25, Friday, early morning

The room is messy as if moving, with cardboard boxes stacked everywhere.

You said her home is tidy with few things. She bakes bread for herself. During the busy wedding season in May, September, and October, she flies around shooting wedding videos for couples. You has a natural ease. Xiao Jing said she is simple and self-centered, and being with her is comfortable, even without saying a word.

Recently I've been so busy that I haven't cooked for myself in a long time. You said she cooks three meals a day for herself, and time flies between the three meals. I admire her healthy lifestyle of balancing busyness and leisure.

Sleepy. Looking forward to tomorrow.

* * * Noon * * *

A tall, thin, quiet white young man, holding a camera and taking photos, reminded me of Lennet. He asked the children, "Was Cangshan fun?" In front of the mountain god temple, he shared his perspective with us. The big-eye graffiti on the wall is the tea god, guarding the tea leaves that villagers placed on the temple floor to dry, blessing them to become good tea.

April 26, Saturday, early morning

Yesterday Sophie said that when she lived in Singapore, she discovered geckos could help eat ants. The Singapore government could manage mosquitoes but not ants.

The fuzzy jumping spider, agile and with excellent vision.

The fuzzy false leaf beetle, posing like a necklace pendant.

The fuzzy potato ladybug. In the book "Insects Right Beside Us," it says that herbivorous ladybugs have highly arched backs because plants are rich in fiber and require a long digestive tract to digest slowly. To accommodate the longer digestive tract, their backs are higher than those of carnivorous ladybugs. Later, it analogizes to humans: to accommodate longer intestines, East Asians, who eat more vegetables, tend to have longer torsos and shorter legs compared to Europeans and Americans who eat more meat. Reading this, I chuckled.

Sophie carefully observing and drawing insects from real life.

Our simple, undecorated little tea party.

Sophie's first nature journal is really good! Soul artist!

April 27, Sunday, early morning

Attracted by the word "rice bowl," I walked into a newly opened restaurant closest to the parking spot.

First meal: ordered green pepper and pork rice bowl, 15 yuan. The green peppers were spicy. I said I couldn't handle spicy, so the boss brought me a bowl of soup he was drinking himself, made with meat broth, beans, and mushrooms—it was delicious! Second meal: ordered stir-fried vegetables, which wasn't on the menu. While chatting, the boss said a vegetarian eats that way at his place. A mix of several vegetables, whatever is available. This time he mixed greens, zucchini, and bitter melon—long time no see bitter melon! Plus a fried egg, rice as much as you want, 15. The boss also gave me a bowl of tomato soup. I proudly took a photo and sent it to Jason, because he is in Japan, a country where vegetables are expensive. Also sent it to Wang Bin, because he loves vegetables. Third meal: still stir-fried vegetables with a fried egg, this time bitter melon replaced by potatoes, and the boss still diligently made me a freshly prepared tomato soup.

From chatting, I learned that the boss joined the army in Dali in 1995. After demobilization, he worked as a truck driver, married a Bai girl from Lütao Village, and has lived in Dali for 20 years; his child is in elementary school. He went back to his hometown in Sichuan to learn cooking, ran a business driving tourists around the lake, and finally used his house to open a restaurant. The new store in the village is little known, and the boss hopes to make some money during the summer peak season. He said the land by the stream next to his house used to be his family's vegetable plot. The government built a road and paved it with cement. Now it's free parking for everyone, first come first served. The boss said that occasionally when he goes back to his hometown in Sichuan, a small city near Chongqing, parking fees are charged everywhere. The small city's economy is underdeveloped, so it relies on this to support a bunch of idle people.

Recently, I've been busy with work, so I rotate between a few restaurants near home.

April 29, Tuesday, early morning

Sunday's female guests all asked a question: "Where's dad?" Then on Monday, I met a dad who came alone with his child to participate in the stone painting activity. That was rare, so I expressed surprise when I saw him.

I always think men look sexy when they take care of children or cook, because at such times they show a gentle, attentive side, and their brains approach the ideal state of androgyny. Ideal men, or ideal human examples, are like Xuan's dad or Teacher Saito—gentlemen like jade, illuminating the world around them.

* * * Evening * * *

Today, Teacher Seed came to play at my activity. The yellow berries from the elliptical raspberry were ripe, and she happily picked them and shared them with my guests. Some parents didn't take any, maybe out of politeness. She was surprised: City people don't understand the goodness of the mountains!

The children were not polite; they not only wanted them but wanted all of them! Indeed delicious, full of fruit flavor! Wild berry, wild taste!

In January, I met Teacher Seed at an activity on the Chai Mi Duo farm. That day I led nature journaling, and she introduced food forests. Teacher Seed is involved in community building at Guilai Farm, and I often run into her on the road recently. Last winter, Wu Kong invited me and a guest named Echo to drink tea outdoors, and that area turned out to belong to Guilai Farm.

While descending the mountain, Teacher Seed described her recent life and mentioned the book "Transition Towns," which advocates that "people who want to do something, do it when they want, do what they want, as much as they want." I said, "You guys have entered communism ahead of time." Consensus communities always give me that feeling. Seed laughed and said, "It's a bit utopian; we are the 'agricultural utopian gang'."

To celebrate the successful end of this month's work, I bought myself an ice cream for the first time in a long time. It was from the vegetarian shop at the entrance, 15 yuan. So delicious! It could have been a bit less sweet. After finishing, I sniffed the empty paper box's sweet aroma for a while. Desserts are like a symbol of a sweet life, La dolce vita.

April 30, Wednesday

Night.

The way locals name things is surprising, as simple as a child. The mushrooms that appear when it's rainy and cold in July and August are called "cold mushrooms." The pinecones whose pine nuts are edible are called "eating pines," and those that are not edible are "bitter pines." The term for pinecones was heard from Stardust during an activity last month.

The most impressive part of that activity was the feeling of hugging a tree. Hugging a tree for a long time, like hugging a person for a long time, makes one feel the connection between lives and brings comfort.

photo by Curly Hair

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