Weeds and Wee Beasties
14/09/2014 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIt was a gorgeous crisp and crunchy sunny day. It’s safe to say that the dementors have finally packed up their bags and left for a few weeks and with a bit of luck a whole lot longer than that.
So it’s time to make hay while the sun shines and to make the most of their absence. The really scary thing is how they just come and go with no rhyme or reason and there is very little room for negotiation.
In the end there is not much to do other than just patiently wait until they get bored and to be constantly mindful of their evil powers for distorting perceptions of reality.
Last week there was a golden opportunity to stock up on weeds at a local event where assorted gardening clubs and societies had some of their prize possessions on display as well as for sale. There were cacti and succulents, the obsessive compulsive orchid mob, fern freaks, gazania growers and an assorted bunch of garden clubs and wildflower lovers.
It was the perfect chance to get some weeds and seeds for the start of the growing season and also an excellent opportunity to drop in to the library next door to see if they had any books on programming in Python. This serpent is of such an ancient vintage that dead tree data is more easily assimilated that its new fangled digital cousin.
Now that all the recent overseas visitors have gone and life has returned to reasonably normal, it’s time to get back to indulging the usual MOOC addiction. They also make an excellent distraction from those dreaded dementors.
It turned out there was not one single relevant book on the topic. Tons of stuff about web development but pretty much zilch on any sorts of proper programming languages. But by chance did come across a book that I had been hunting for before. Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted” which is a strange collection of 20 something stories joined by a single thread along with a couple of books about “How to write a novel”. There must be folks out there who make a living on selling such ‘How to” manuals rather than actual real stories. But there’s no harm in snaffling such stuff. It’s not like it costs anything other than time and it’s good for getting into the mood for November.
Reading is about the nearest thing the Izzie has to a reliable dementor repellant. But sometimes they get sneaky and make it impossible to concentrate.
So slinked next door to see the weeds, grabbed a cup of tea and some munchies and started peeking at the books after doing a quick tour of the assorted stalls. It became clear that no cute cactus or gorgeous gerbera was going to distract the dementors from making the day as miserable as possible. Felt completely claustrophobic, agitated and irritable and could just not snap out of it regardless of any devious distractions.
It was time to admit defeat, cut our losses and return to the Lair. With 20 minutes until the next bus back took a peek in the foyer where a man was selling fertilizer, seeds and stuff and a few women had overpriced local plants. In the midst of these were some strange weeds I had not noticed first time around. The stand had assorted books about the pitcher plants of Borneo and Sarawak and a selection of Venus Fly traps, dainty little sundews and some seriously scary looking pitcher plants. The itsiest twinkle appeared in the Izzie eye.
Had assumed that all the plants were tropical terrors and therefore most unsuitable for the local climate. But the sundews are apparently tough little buggers and grow quite happily in southern Africa. The stall holder himself was a white South African with the awful accent of the old Master Race and a little business leaflet proclaiming him to be a purveyor of Carnivorous plants or what Hagrid would call ‘interesting weeds’.
Unfortunately there were no flame lilies or venomous tentacula on his stall. Maybe they were hidden under the counter reserved for his special customers.
A bit miffed that I had not noticed the stall until it was time to catch the bus. I did indulge in one pretty pot of sun dews. It makes sense to start with the low maintenance creatures first. The pitcher plants were three times the price and likely to be fussy fat buggers.
So one week later the sun dew is still alive and well and nibbling the odd aphid and fly silly enough to venture too close to its nectar laden hairy tentacles.
It’s also time to plant the next batch of tomato seeds before the start of the stinking sizzling summer in December.
So it’s time to make hay while the sun shines and to make the most of their absence. The really scary thing is how they just come and go with no rhyme or reason and there is very little room for negotiation.
In the end there is not much to do other than just patiently wait until they get bored and to be constantly mindful of their evil powers for distorting perceptions of reality.
Last week there was a golden opportunity to stock up on weeds at a local event where assorted gardening clubs and societies had some of their prize possessions on display as well as for sale. There were cacti and succulents, the obsessive compulsive orchid mob, fern freaks, gazania growers and an assorted bunch of garden clubs and wildflower lovers.
It was the perfect chance to get some weeds and seeds for the start of the growing season and also an excellent opportunity to drop in to the library next door to see if they had any books on programming in Python. This serpent is of such an ancient vintage that dead tree data is more easily assimilated that its new fangled digital cousin.
Now that all the recent overseas visitors have gone and life has returned to reasonably normal, it’s time to get back to indulging the usual MOOC addiction. They also make an excellent distraction from those dreaded dementors.
It turned out there was not one single relevant book on the topic. Tons of stuff about web development but pretty much zilch on any sorts of proper programming languages. But by chance did come across a book that I had been hunting for before. Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted” which is a strange collection of 20 something stories joined by a single thread along with a couple of books about “How to write a novel”. There must be folks out there who make a living on selling such ‘How to” manuals rather than actual real stories. But there’s no harm in snaffling such stuff. It’s not like it costs anything other than time and it’s good for getting into the mood for November.
Reading is about the nearest thing the Izzie has to a reliable dementor repellant. But sometimes they get sneaky and make it impossible to concentrate.
So slinked next door to see the weeds, grabbed a cup of tea and some munchies and started peeking at the books after doing a quick tour of the assorted stalls. It became clear that no cute cactus or gorgeous gerbera was going to distract the dementors from making the day as miserable as possible. Felt completely claustrophobic, agitated and irritable and could just not snap out of it regardless of any devious distractions.
It was time to admit defeat, cut our losses and return to the Lair. With 20 minutes until the next bus back took a peek in the foyer where a man was selling fertilizer, seeds and stuff and a few women had overpriced local plants. In the midst of these were some strange weeds I had not noticed first time around. The stand had assorted books about the pitcher plants of Borneo and Sarawak and a selection of Venus Fly traps, dainty little sundews and some seriously scary looking pitcher plants. The itsiest twinkle appeared in the Izzie eye.
Had assumed that all the plants were tropical terrors and therefore most unsuitable for the local climate. But the sundews are apparently tough little buggers and grow quite happily in southern Africa. The stall holder himself was a white South African with the awful accent of the old Master Race and a little business leaflet proclaiming him to be a purveyor of Carnivorous plants or what Hagrid would call ‘interesting weeds’.
Unfortunately there were no flame lilies or venomous tentacula on his stall. Maybe they were hidden under the counter reserved for his special customers.
A bit miffed that I had not noticed the stall until it was time to catch the bus. I did indulge in one pretty pot of sun dews. It makes sense to start with the low maintenance creatures first. The pitcher plants were three times the price and likely to be fussy fat buggers.
So one week later the sun dew is still alive and well and nibbling the odd aphid and fly silly enough to venture too close to its nectar laden hairy tentacles.
It’s also time to plant the next batch of tomato seeds before the start of the stinking sizzling summer in December.
