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It was a very good thing that Dad offered to drive me back to Chicago, given the bulkiness bzw. fragility of some of the items I received. He himself finally came through on the Missouri dogwood I asked him for years back. He advised that the best way to winter it is in the ground, so I dug a hole out back and plopped it in. Natch I would rather have put it in its mooted permanent spot, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu rightly pointed to the risks of it being stomped and abused. Better to wait until we can protect it with stakes, bricks, and perhaps a ring of hostas. (The GWO pronounced my notion of a large sign saying, "IF YOUR DOGS KILL THIS PLANT I WILL KILL YOUR DOGS" "too hostile". Whatevs.)
The other sizable gift from the 'rents was a large print of the gorge and castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka, which fit pretty snugly into the back of my stepmom's Prius packed with foodstuffs and presents for Second Christmas. But bigger still was the quilt my sister had promised me shortly after I moved into my old condo (about nine years ago now) and which was finally finished on Christmas Day itself thanks to my SIL's mad binding skills. (My sister was literally agog at her fleetness; I don't really know what the task involves, but apparently Sis is like an order of magnitude slower at it.)
She expressed concern about the colours (chosen to fit the bedroom at Huáizhōngshì) not matching our new place and I was immediately like, "We'll repaint." I mean, seriously, if I didn't like those colours, I wouldn't've have made them the last thing I saw every night and the first thing I saw every morning for five years and change. And $20 worth of latex paint vs a handmade quilt from my sister? Talk about no contest. Besides, we already have plans to repaint the guest bedroom on account of the quilt e. made me to match the living room at the old place, and I certainly couldn't commit to less for my own blood.
Then there was a bottle of Koval Paw Paw Liqueur frombunj and e. (Seems odd to bring it down when they live up here, but they thought Dad would appreciate seeing it, even though he confessed to me that he's never eaten a paw paw.) We tried at little at dinner the other night. I thought it had a pleasant mild flavour--definitely more successful than their walnut liqueur--and the Old Man agreed, even while pronouncing it "not to my taste". I don't recall seeing it before, but In Fine Spirits had it, along with a new apple brandy from the same distillery.
monshu rightly pointed to the risks of it being stomped and abused. Better to wait until we can protect it with stakes, bricks, and perhaps a ring of hostas. (The GWO pronounced my notion of a large sign saying, "IF YOUR DOGS KILL THIS PLANT I WILL KILL YOUR DOGS" "too hostile". Whatevs.)The other sizable gift from the 'rents was a large print of the gorge and castle ruins at Ha Ha Tonka, which fit pretty snugly into the back of my stepmom's Prius packed with foodstuffs and presents for Second Christmas. But bigger still was the quilt my sister had promised me shortly after I moved into my old condo (about nine years ago now) and which was finally finished on Christmas Day itself thanks to my SIL's mad binding skills. (My sister was literally agog at her fleetness; I don't really know what the task involves, but apparently Sis is like an order of magnitude slower at it.)
She expressed concern about the colours (chosen to fit the bedroom at Huáizhōngshì) not matching our new place and I was immediately like, "We'll repaint." I mean, seriously, if I didn't like those colours, I wouldn't've have made them the last thing I saw every night and the first thing I saw every morning for five years and change. And $20 worth of latex paint vs a handmade quilt from my sister? Talk about no contest. Besides, we already have plans to repaint the guest bedroom on account of the quilt e. made me to match the living room at the old place, and I certainly couldn't commit to less for my own blood.
Then there was a bottle of Koval Paw Paw Liqueur from
bunj and e. (Seems odd to bring it down when they live up here, but they thought Dad would appreciate seeing it, even though he confessed to me that he's never eaten a paw paw.) We tried at little at dinner the other night. I thought it had a pleasant mild flavour--definitely more successful than their walnut liqueur--and the Old Man agreed, even while pronouncing it "not to my taste". I don't recall seeing it before, but In Fine Spirits had it, along with a new apple brandy from the same distillery.