Indispensable guardians of the house

何以銷煩暑？ 端居一院中。 眼前無長物， 窗下有清風。 熱散由心靜， 涼生為室空。 此時身自得， 難更與人同。 How to dispel the sweltering heat? By sitting upright in the courtyard’s heart. Without superfluous things before [my] eyes,[1] And with fresh breezes through the window. Heat fades when [my] heart finds peace, Coolness arises as [my] chamber is empty. This hour, this sense of contentment Is hard to share with anyone else. * From Bai Juyi, Bai Juyi ji 白居易集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 28.635-6. [1] The phrase wu zhan

性質宜沙地， 栽培屬夏畦。 熟登甘似竽， 生薦脆如梨。 老病消凝滯， 奇功直品題。 故園長尺許， 靑葉更堪韲。 By nature, it loves sandy soil, And grows best in summer furrows. Served cooked, it’s sweet like a taro, Offered raw, it’s crispy as a pear. For the old and infirm, it clears stagnation,[1] A marvellous virtue, well worthy of praise. In my old garden, it grows about a foot, With tender greens fit for pickling. * From Xu Youren 許有壬, Guitang xiaogao 圭塘小藁, Yingyin Wenyuange Siku quanshu 景印文淵閣四庫全書 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji ch

A display of the lingering spring.

A backyard treat, only for a very limited period.

Album leaf by Li Shizhuo 李世倬 (1687-1770), with an inscription by Liang Shizheng 梁詩正 (1697-1763)

A visual delight in April.

A scholar's gardening.

Spring colours.

On the new season.

To the Year of the Horse.

A poetic rendering of a failed attempt to visit a Buddhist master.

To my new neighbours after the rain.

Frosty views of the new year.

On the current solar term.

A winter visit.

Persimmon season

A glimpse of Anhua, Hunan: past and present.

A recent hike.

A moment with taro.