Happy 2021, everyone! 2020 has been a totally wild ride, so we’re hoping 2021 will be full of grape-ness. This sketch is of me at the Blushing Blossom Grove underneath its marvelous pink flowering trees, showing my finished golden orange spirit house! In Punny Garden, the golden orange is a mythical Punny spirit. It’s legend that if you build the golden orange spirit a house to stay in during the cold winter months before the New Year, it might reward you with lots of prosperity for the rest of the year. However, the golden orange tends to be picky about the kind of house it’ll live in, so earning its good graces requires careful and elaborate craftsmanship. It’s quite a tradition to compete with other Punnies around the country to make the best one.
In order to make a beautiful and detailed house, I spent about a week running all around Punny Garden to get the best building materials! Included (but not limited to) golden What grass, saltwheat pine cones from the Squashpine Valley, golden clay from deep inside the Cinnaroll Cavern, smooth crimson wood bark from Pink Pom Beach, and some scrap pieces of origami paper from home I saved for over 5 years. I also asked for the help of Appollo, an apprentice Apple Punny that is an aspiring crafter/blacksmith. He’s superb at smelting things together and adding tiny little details to wood carvings that only ants would be able to fully appreciate.
After a final say of thanks, Appollo and I placed our finished spirit house atop a huge pink tree. You might be wondering if the spirit house actually worked, but honestly I don’t know for sure. All I know is that every tamale I ate after that day got a mysterious extra orange slice in the middle that no one could explain.