Helen Plus Three

Everyday, I can't help but fiddle with a leaf or two or three...  Watching nature is not supposed to be stressful but sometimes I find myself wishing they would grow faster !!! .. ..oh well... I'll learn to switch to nature's time soon. My jasmine plant  (either the Arabian or Indian variety) is finally blooming. After trimming and moving it to the morning sun area.. ..I'm doing the happy dance cos it means I'm doing something right.  If you read my previous post you'll know there's a lot of adjustment given wind, sun, facing, heat and space. Jasmine  Kind of small, I hope you can see the buds. ...Jasmine flower pix here.. Added two more sweet flowering plants to the collection..While they are termed 'wild' by some, I don't have wide open spaces so they are not going to be able to grow wild, I'll be happy if they grow and continue to flower in whatever space they are.  I may try a trough if they work out ... For now I...

I'm growing my plant collection slowly, unfortunately the  '' rules'  are not so straightforward. Japanese rose, I have to figure out how to prune this ... It's not just indoor and low light conditions, I thinks there's wind factor since I'm not on the ground floor and that I do have some sun but from an angle. I'm sort of facing south-west. Spider Plant Believe it when I say, I have managed to kill a couple of so called 'hard to kill' plants from either over watering or too much chemical fertiliser (inspite of following instructions). Well I have not gotten the hang of the soil types and am playing by ear. It's been almost a year now, so things are going well for the hardier plants like the money plant, Boston ferns and bamboo palm.  So I'm making these rules as I go along.... (remember I'm an amateur)  Rule no 1 : don't always follow instructions on fertilizer package Rule no 2 : don't be so ambitio...

The new house is quite cozy, the first informal house warming was today. There's still a bit of work to be done, but it didn't get in the way. Dad's got a lovely view out his study window, there's a huge green tree with a good distribution of branches, a breezy sway today and feels very cool.  Settling in with his TV sets and electronic gadgets.  Still lots of wires to go into place.  Soon he'll be putting his plants in and smelling the roses. Mum's finally getting comfortable. Soon her spanking new kitchen will be filling up with the old smells of spice, curry and onions. I thought it would feel small but it didn't, it felt comfortable, it felt like home.  The contractor took close to two months and it's not totally completed, odds and ends still not done yet. It will be my turn to move house soon, I'd better start making notes and get advise on good contractors.

The Noisy grill Mum and Dad are moving out of the house I grew up in, of almost 30 yrs 50th Wedding Anniversary Card There's something steady and stable about that old house almost as steady as Dad. That's what it represents. I could always come home or go home - it's always there. I never thought of it differently. Front Porch The landscape has changed, the neighbours have seen a turnaround too. Lots of tall houses now poking the heads up higher than the rest, to the left and the right a few doors down and immediately behind us and in front of us. The school grew taller too over time. The side Garden.. But the house remained my comfort zone.. memories of my dogs, the old iron gate - yes I had a share in painting it too, the plants, the trees - ah.. the old forever non-stop flowering and fruiting drumstick tree. This estate - it is all home. Even when I moved out of the estate, here was where comfort was.  The warmth of  memories, growing up, scraped kn...