Green Up!

I'm not a girl, not yet a woman...

It has come to my attention recently that i am going through a big change. Not ‘THE big change’ just yet of course, but there are definitely suddenly all these things that make me not the girl i once was.

For one, i can’t just stay up all night socializing anymore. For another, i call it 'socializing' and not partying!? WTF? If i say i was out all night, it might not be a blatant lie, but be assured i was still invariably in bed by 1am. And THEN i am exhausted for a few days afterwards no matter how late i slept in the next morning. (Fortunately, Husband share's this bearish hibernation tendency with me, so we are pretty good partners in the waking hours as well as the sleeping...)

2pm you say? Really?

 i can’t seem to listen to just any old (or rather, new) music anymore. There are times when i ACTUALLY TURN OFF the radio because i can’t stand the rubbish coming out of it! (Hello? Mom? Is that you in my head? Come on, own up...) i have been building my classical music collection over the past few months so that i have something more interesting to listen to rather than "i was like baby baby baby, ooh, baby baby baby, and i was like baby baby baby, aaah, baby baby etc etc", or alternatively a 3-chord trashy tune with words that are barely english, going on and on, UGH, about how many chicks some stupid little whiney moron ‘scored’.

Yes YOU Little Wayne. 

i would rather buy home décor magazines than Cosmo. i have changed my "Yes to Tattoo's" to "Er, no." i prefer skirts that go half way down my legs rather than the bum-brushing ‘belts’ i used to wear, and now vehemently discourage my little sister and niece from wearing the horrendous bum-brushes too. ('They know you're a girl, you don't have to prove it to them...' - Modern Family)

Fruitloops and jelly tots are no longer a staple food choice, my car sound system's bass doesn’t need to alter my heart-beat patterns, i like read the news, and costume jewelry - no matter how sparkly, no matter how dangly - is simply no match for my diamond studs which i NEVER take out. (Note, i only wear one earing per ear now, not 3…)

i guess this is all part of growing up. Some would say for the better, some would say i’m just getting OLD. (and to them i say: Have you seen my hello kitty collection?)

But i have to say that the best change thus far has got to be that i don’t seem to kill every green thing i touch anymore. Thankfully so, given my new found passion for organically home grown vegetables. My plants are not only all alive, but they seem to be thriving!

John Lennon is all about the peace and love

i have a ‘peace-in-the-home’ named John Lennon who has been alive for 3 years now. He’s amazing because i once spilled a pot full of boiling pig stock (which i had been brewing all day from pork bones) over him. He definitely got sick for a while, but after all that, he survived and is green once again.

Tao, a yellow tiger Orchid,
is more serious than her sister Tia

Tia has a sprig of fake flowers
...she's that kind of girl

i have 2 orchid’s, Tao and Tia, who are both growing new leaves all the time. They haven’t flowered again since i got them, but they are 1 and 2 years old respectively, and i am told that some orchids don’t flower every year. Still, they are alive and that is all that matters! (their elder sister, Tin, wasn’t so lucky. We lost her in the winter of ‘09)

My vegie garden is going CAPITOL! With a capitol 'S' for Strong that is. With 3 kinds of lettuce in 2 different colours, flat leafed and regular parsley, a celery hybrid, rocket, fennel, coriander, basil, chilies, baby tomatoes, beans, egg plant, mint, spinach and even mustard growing happily for over 3 months now, i feel like a pro! i even have butterflies fluttering around these days :) Big success.

The mini-veggie box that keeps on giving! Leaves for one and all,
winged creatures, crawling bugs and humans alike :)

i was given a gorgeous little indoor lily plant for Christmas and she is doing beautifully, over 2 months later. (i named her Lily too for obvious reasons) My lavender bushes are sprouting all purple and plush, and my jasmine is creeping up her pagoda with sweet smelling tentacles!

And now for the latest additions to the family: A ferny-tree-thingy (not sure what it is exactly…i forgot to look at her label before i cut it off. Oops.)

We haven't named her yet...any suggestions?

A cute cherry-red kitchen windowsill pot with multi-coloured chilies, basil and origanum in it - i'm gona call them 'The Triplets'

The Triplets.

And 5 more orchid plants for the outdoor entertainment deck.

i potted and planted all these new arrivals myself, stones, gravel, potting soil, fertilizer, moss, mulch… the works! They have made it through their first week, and every morning when i do my watering, i am so happy to see that they are still alive. It’s a good way to start the day.

Next stop, i'm thinking Granny's christmas flowers, roses for the front porch, an orange tree and a mushroom log for the wine cellar! Doing my bit to green up my little corner of the planet.

Love, lust and fairy-star-dust

Cherry Blossom