Hello, World!

Meet Dottie, the first orchid I've ever let bloom. All the others, I've killed before they got a chance to grow new flowers... More are surviving, though! They may not have all their leaves whole or spot free, but more and more of them are surviving my overzealous care. Orchids should be left alone until they come to you, kind of like cats. Can you tell I'm more of a dog person?

This was her last year after I bought her from Santa Ana's, the florist:


I went home to Danshui for a couple of days for tomb sweeping. It's that time of the year again. And here is Oreo falling asleep on top of King. She was trying very hard to stay awake. Lucky and King already gave in. Miffy's in another bed in another corner of the room, and Hero's outside the Great Wall of China - where the Huns live - this way, there is peace on earth.




See how Oreo's hind legs are crossed? She thinks she is human (like Miffy). Somehow all the other dogs know they're dogs, but Miffy and Oreo...they still think they're people. Maybe we're actually the dogs and they're the humans. They're very smart. Oreo and Lucky know how to ride the lift on their own. They automatically get in the elevator when the door opens in the morning even when there's no one inside. They know if they get in, it magically brings them to the humans upstairs. These days the dogs sleep downstairs, but in the morning, we'll send the lift down, it opens, they get in, and we call the lift back up when we know that they're inside. How do we know they're in the lift? When they get in, you can hear their toe nails clacking on the elevator floor. They always do this elevator dance when they're inside, kind of like that "ooooh COOkie COOOOkie!" dance. So they get in, up comes the lift, out the pop and it's the "HELLO, GOOOOOOD MORNING!" licking, jumping, burrowing their face into your leg, pretzel twisting their bodies routine.

I'll try take a video next time.