According to historian Sima Qian (145-90 BC), construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BC and involved 700,000 workers. Qin Shi Huang was 13 when construction began. He specifically stated that no two soldiers were to be made alike, which is most likely why he had construction started at that young age. Sima Qian, in his most famous work, Shiji, completed a century after the mausoleum completion, wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, scenic towers, officials, valuable utensils and “wonderful objects,” with 100 rivers fashioned in mercury and above this heavenly bodies below which he wrote were “the features of the earth.” Some translations of this passage refer to “models” or “imitations,” but he does not use those words.[3]

Recent scientific work at the site has shown high levels of mercury in the soil on and around Mount Lishan, appearing to add credence to Sima Qian’s writings. The tomb of Shi Huang Di is under an earthen pyramid 76 meters tall and nearly 350 square meters. The tomb remains unopened, in the hope that it will remain intact. Archeologists are afraid that if they do excavate the tomb, they might damage some of the valuables buried with emperor Qin Shi Huang. Only a portion of the site is presently excavated, and photos and video recordings are prohibited in some areas of the viewing. link.

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Bluebells

A sunlit tree. I hang a little ceramic bell on this tree with a bird seed ball. The other day there was a robin pecking at it. He flew off too fast for us to take a picture.

In the secret garden

clematis climbs on ivy and lights up a dark corner,

and a sunlit cat lurks.

Meanwhile deep in the jungle…

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The almond tree has finished flowering. It’s blooms are so pretty and with us for such a short time:

The neighbour’s cat has mostly destroyed my pink lilies-I have one sad bulb emerging at the moment, and the snails have already had a nibble. The lilies used to look like this in bloom:

The blue phlox are beginning to bloom:

The cyclamen are on their way out. They bloom in winter, but the sunlight has given them a magical glow, captured by A’s camera:

The wooden birds I had stuck on the wall have remained in place:

Tree bark is always a thing of beauty:

And the pansies are a velvety delight:

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But the neighbourhood cats have recently worn my nerves to shreds.

The other night A was sitting watching television when he heard a crash outside. At first he thought it was a burglar. He went out to investigate (if it really was a burglar that would have been a very silly thing to do) and found that one of my large ceramic flower pots was lying on its side, broken. On the roof of the shed stood a cat, meowing indignantly, “learn to balance your pots properly human, for my nightly prowls!”

Luckily the root ball of the plant wasn’t damaged, and it had just been putting out shoots, so there wasn’t much plant to damage. A managed to make it stand up and came in to tell me about it.

“It’s that plant that was in the green ceramic pot,” he said vaguely, “it has little green shoots”.

“That’s the lily plant”, I said, panicking that it had been destroyed. It’s one of my best performers. “It dies down in the winter, but it grows back in the summer, with those giant, lovely smelling flowers you like so much” (plants dying back in the winter and reappearing is something A has recently come to terms with).

“What”, he yelled. “I’ll wring his (the cat’s) neck with my own bare hands.”

I knew he was upset only because he likes the lilies (he doesn’t notice some other plants unless I point them out to him like an anxious mother) and that this rage wouldn’t last long because cats have a way of winning him over and vice-versa. Sure enough the next day he met the same cat, who, he was convinced, had diarrhoea (don’t ask for details about how he knew). He came home feeling sorry for him, going “poor fellow”.

But I am in no mood to be kind. Because of the spring weather they are out in full force. They’ve been digging holes in my pots and beds and pooing all over the garden and in the flower pots. I have to clean the poo and it smells. My garden is not their litter box. Cat repellant is now being liberally applied.

“But you’ll only end up repelling yourself,” said A.

The Lily plant in a previous year, at the time of flowering.

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This year:

Heavy Weather and Hailstorms

Diwali gives one the excuse to make everything look romantic and fulfill fairy tale fantasies!
Magic Staircase

Dining table and lights

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