Fatsia Japonica

“Peas in a Pod”

“Please…no more rock tumbling talk…stop already…yawn.”

The day was finally upon us…excited anticipation crackled through the air.

Breakfasts were hurried, clothes were put on back-to-front as we all scrambled out of our back door. It was precisely 10 days 4 hours 36 minutes and 12 seconds since our rocks went into the final phase of their tumbling and polishing, and according to the directions, they should be ready.

The top of the tumbling drum was ceremoniously unscrewed accompanied by a loud trumpet fanfare that was emanating out of my pampas grasses. Eyes darted between us all, air was sucked into nerdy lungs as the top lid was slowly removed…

…even a strange Patch Ent gathered in close.

When the top of the cannister came off there was an audible gasp quickly followed by a collective ewww!

Yes, not quite the shimmering jewels we had in mind, but with a bit of rinsing and cleaning they polished up a treat.

Start to finish in just over a month, the venture has been a true test of patience.

We also have a lot of new and creative ideas as to what will be going into the rotating canister next; toe-nail clippings, sea shells, glass, teeth, Kumo to name a few suggestions of late.

Here is a macro looking through one of the rocks…snort.

Moving on:

Hot days one day,

freezing days the next,

Yes, it is another rather unpredictable winter in Texas.

I almost forgot to mention the bad hair days. As you can see the tooth fairy is having a difficult time keeping up with her incessant tooth dropping…brrr, she can barely make it through a sentence without another one falling out.  At the very least one will protrude out at you at an ungodly angle as she struggles to communicate.

It has been warm enough to wake up the algae in my small pond,

and wet enough to stimulate fresh new foliage on my burgundy canna lilies.

Peas are now growing all over my perimeter fence line like weeds,

and how sweet they are.

The recent precipitation has greened up the Persian ivy,

filled out the loquats with fresh new growth and

lots and lots of fruit.

Lots of shrubs are about to bloom including this mountain laurel,

mock orange,

and my fatsia Japonica.

Gophers are almost ready to be cut back to the emerging new growth,

I think I will wait though until the old growth stops pushing out these unusual blooms. The plant looks like two different plants at this phase.

Finally:

After messing around with an opuntia fruit for some time, stepping on it and prodding it with a stick on the sidewalk, she picked it up, popped it in a plastic cup and added a dash of water…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Betanin in the fruit made a great home-made crimson paint perfect for Valentine’s day pictures.


Stay Tuned for

“A Handful of Sand Dollars”

 

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl xxx.

As it turned out, I couldn’t.

The tooth fairy will be fluttering into the Patch tonight, let me back up a little.

She came home, sticking her tongue behind her front tooth, forcing it forward to a particularly unnatural angle (which looked completely ridiculous). She quietly asked me how I used to pull out my loose teeth when I was a kid. I barely finished telling her when she came back from the kitchen, sat beside me, reached into her mouth with a paper towel and tugged…

Not thinking she would actually go through with my “procedure”, her actions took me by complete surprise…”pop”!

I believe I was wincing more then her, the sound of her tooth exiting her gum had me up and about, involuntary performing a silly walk around my front room.

Quickly changing the subject…

After receiving a recent dowsing of rain (just shy of four inches) in classic Texas gully-washer fashion, these Gothic toadstools emerged overnight.

Calm down Bella!

This one was particularly disgusting, but I have had a lot worse in the Patch…who could forget this:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/04/my-sweet-olive-oil/

Another fast responder to the rains are the

oxalis,

Fatsia Japonica and

my Persian ivy. 

Weeds have also responded positively to a “wee-nip” of the wet stuff…

I have been pulling out massive amounts of dandelions and a bunches of these

Erodium cicutarium

 

or Redstem Storks Bill (the fruit of the plant resembles a bird’s beak).

Not a bad looking weed really. The finely divided leaves and rosette growth habit are distinctive features of this winter annual weed.

I was also informed by Patricia that traditionally a leaf tea from the plant was used to induce sweating and as a diuretic. The leaves have also been put to use in the bathtub to help treat rheumatism.

Thanks for this Patricia.

Now where is my trowel?

Bluebonnets, poppies, blood-stained celosia and more weeds are battling it out in the Hellstrip

it looks like it will be a good show come the spring.

These feather grasses are in desperate need of a good grooming

and gopher plants are ready to be cut back.

The new central growth offers a good reminder of when it is time for some pruning. I generally wait until the older longer stalks start to look really bad before I attack them. Be sure to wear gloves, the sap from this plant can be quite an irritant…I found out the hard way:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2010/11/“i-decapitated-a-gopher”/

Moving on:

Lots of purple and pinks showing up this week in the Patch…lantana and artemesia ‘Powis Castle’.

Desert trumpet blooms do not last long on the vine with snaggletooth around.

Finally:

Back to the rock tumbling…snort

I am relieved to say that we have passed onto the final stage…polishing. Every time he lifts the lid to this cooler and rock tumbler he emits the same refrain: “Phew, that stinks!”…and it really does.

No need to call the authorities, this is the aluminum oxide polish going into the drum.

and here are the rounded stones pre-polishing.

Now to wait yet another ten days, it is a long process this rock tumbling business and it is testing my patience almost as much as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”…I said almost.

I will leave you with this image outside a restaurant in east Austin:

Chickens going to roost.

Stay Tuned for:

“Peas in a Pod”

 

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Inspirational Image of the week:

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