circle of (plant) life

That last post was a real downer, but I can’t be glum for long.  Life speeds along and so must we, besides, the human lifespan is just too short.  It’s a long story, but I found myself with vacation days to use before year-end.  It was use them or lose them, so I took off.  Even with end-of-year deadlines missed, and a giant migration happening Friday that I’m not prepared for, I'm passed caring.  No matter, I’m “on vacation” until January 2nd, and it has been completely divine!!  

Someone started watching The Walking Dead starting with Season One and we just finished Season Three around 2:45 this morning.  Someone always takes off work when I’m off – he thinks it’s severely unfair for me to have vacation when he doesn’t….we won’t go into my thoughts about his opinions on the matter of vacation fairness.  Suffice it to say, we will never agree in the subject.  Anyway, when TWD is on, I'm going to watch it...even in the middle of night.   

  

ANYWAY….I’ve digressed.  Today, Someone and I went shopping.  We bought software to do our taxes, and new overhead lights for the garage.  We just have cheapo fluorescent shop lights hanging out there.  I believe the ballasts have gone bad.  With cheapo lights, and when you are like me and have no electrician skills, I just replace the light fixtures when replacing bulbs doesn’t fix the problem.  I was going to install the new lights this afternoon, but instead, a long nap stole away my entire afternoon.  Now it’s dark and cold outside, so the task will wait until tomorrow.

 

We went into Lowes to get the new lights, and there by the front door was a huge display of house plants on clearance.  Lord, deliver me from evil, but in this case He did not.  I succumbed to temptation and purchased a medium-sized Sansevieria (aka Snake Plant, aka mother-in-law tongue).  It’s not all that spectacular, this species of flora, but I have an affinity for them.  Snake plants are very hardy, in fact, the tag on my new plant says Care Level: Resilient.  Yes indeed, they are hard to kill (which is a very good thing for anything that wants to live under my care).   

snake plant in the foreground

Many years ago, I inherited a very mature snake plant from my great grandmother's plant trove.  It was very large and quite old, and had became root bound in the pot.  As always with most things, I procrastinated with repotting the thing.  Instead of dying, it put up a beautiful tall stalk of white blooms that dripped sap and stunk to high-heaven.  It was delightful!

When I got divorced and moved out, my soon-to-be ex wanted to keep the snake plant.  I had no good place for plants in the new apartment, and it was just another thing to deal with, so I let him keep it.  It thrived root-bound in his window sill for all the years until he moved out of town.  I have no idea whatever happened to it when he moved, but I imagine it went to plant heaven long ago.

So now, a new snake plant is mine!!  I don’t have a place for it yet.  I could never call it a mother-in-law tongue because I’ve had the great fortune of having two wonderfully sweet mothers-in-law.  Thank heavens!  Their tongues have never been sharp, no cutting remarks (directed at me, directly to me).

If you remember that yucca tree I cut last October, the base has sprouted wonderfully.  It’s surviving and showing green again.  The piece that I just stuck in dirt (per the instructions on the consulted Web site) did not survive.  It is no more than a fat, dried up stick in dirt.  I planted spider plants all around it, but I will have to do something different with the pot when spring comes.  My poor poinsettia is dying.  It will not be with us much longer.  

yucca tree is coming back while poinsettia is leaving us