Saturday, February 29, 2020

What's It All Mean, Mr. Natural? Part XXCV


Well, I must be doing better because I've been pissy all day long and actually, I don't feel better. When I woke up I had a headache and my ears were stopped up so I guess that while I was sleeping the crud made its inevitable little journey up to my sinuses and all those connecting chambers and caves and underground tunnels that we have in our heads.
And I'm still coughing up crap and from what I've heard this could go on for weeks so I need to SNAP OUT OF IT and GET ON WITH IT and stop being A LITTLE WUSSY GIRL and so forth and so on.
Yeah, whatever.
The world seems to be going along just fine without me. Maybe that's what I'm pissy about. As Anne Lamott once said, "I am the piece of shit the world revolves around," and I related to that immediately. I swing from feeling as if the world will far apart without me, to feeling as if my disappearance would make no difference whatsoever and so far, the evidence seems to point to "no difference whatsoever."
Sigh.
I'm an insane person at the best of times and these are not the best of times although, to be honest, it's not been nearly as bad as I'm insinuating.
So one thing I did today that was fun was to plant a few things I've rooted in pots. I generally have bottles and jars and vases all over the house with things in them rooting. This brings me more pleasure than you can imagine. I have one plant that I've had since at least 1983 that I've taken so many cuttings off of and made so many new plants out of that I've taken to throwing the perfectly good trimmings on the burn pile. I think the plant is some sort of philodendron. But I did put some of one of the plants in an old blue Bombay Gin bottle and rooted that and today it went into a pot. I think I have at least five pots of it now. I'd also rooted three of my beloved giant begonia leaves and stuck them in a different pot. I started the mother plant of that from a few cuttings of leaves that I stole, with the permission of an employee, from a local nursery and now I believe I have, uh, let me count...just three pots of those. I have two different leaves rooting in another room though. The leaves are so gorgeous that just the sight of them in a vessel of water makes me happy.


The other day on Facebook, Lily posted this meme and tagged me and Jessie. 

It's so true. And yet, I rarely do it. I go through a whole philosophical discussion in my head about the morality of taking the merest slip of a snip from someone else's plant. There can be a pot of succulents with babies spilling over and falling on the ground and I'll still hesitate. Okay, if it's on the ground I'll take it. Otherwise...
But I have done it. I will admit that. 
And my very favorite plants, hands down, are the ones that I've dug up in the woods or started from seeds of fallen fruit or cuttings I've taken. And I swear- no plant was ever harmed in the process. 

I have one more thing I'd like to discuss a little bit and that's the Coronavirus. Are we all going to die and/or is the country going to shut down and/or are we all being ridiculous and/or WTF?
I'm rather confused. On the one hand, it's just a flu. So was the Spanish Flu that killed over fifty million people but that was a different time and a different flu. And I get that this flu is more deadly than the "regular" flu but it's still not like the Black Death. The thing that reassures me most is that it doesn't seem to affect children very much. 
People are stockpiling things like we're facing a nuclear holocaust or a hurricane. Is Publix going to be closed? Costco? Schools? Highways?
I just don't get it. I do get the fact that Trump has appointed Mike Pray-The-Gay-Away Pence to be in charge of things in the US concerning the flu. Is he the Flu Czar? This is troubling as is Trump's comment that "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
Will that be before or after everyone dies? 

I better shut up now and go make supper. I've already made the soup which doesn't excite me very much but it's full of healthful goodness. And as I told Mr. Moon, it may not be that good but there's plenty of it! 

Take care. Stay calm. Wash your hands. 
Etc.

Love...Ms. Moon

31 comments:

  1. You aren't being a wussy. You don't feel good. Period. Wussiness is actually OK..... and allowed, even for you! Hope you feel better soon. Loved your telling of rooting plants in jars and vases......I have a spider plant (haven't had one in 20 years) recently gleaned from a friend and it is beginning to root and ready for a pot and soil....and it excites me so much I must be nuts! Such a simple pleasure
    Be well soon
    Susan M

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    1. PS. Love your new header photo! Such a beautiful old house!
      Susan M

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    2. Thank you for noticing my new header. It was time.
      And honey- I can completely understand the thrill of putting a rootling baby into a pot of dirt. I don't think we're nuts. I think we're just part of the cycle of life.

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  2. I take a zinc tablet a day and have convinced myself it'll get me through this extra shitty flu season (now with coronavirus).

    I watched the gloriavale docuseries today and really enjoyed it.

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    1. I should get some zinc, I guess. Although my supplements contain it.
      I'm glad you enjoyed the Gloriavale thing. Weird, huh?

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  3. You're allowed to be pissy. Why not? And flowers and plants always help with general pissiness:)

    As for COVID19, I guess we'll see. It seems to be easily transmissible and has a higher death rate than the flu. Only time will tell. I worry about my patients who need treatment and who are all pretty much immunocompromised, they are at such a high risk. The best thing to do is wash your hands and don't touch your face.

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    1. Not touching our faces is ridiculously hard, isn't it? We must unconsciously do that a hundred times a day. But yes, your patients are definitely at high risk.

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  4. For the first time in a very long time I passed a plant and coveted a cutting. It was a Christmas cactus, flopping all out of it's very large pot as if a cat often slept on its middle and we had one just like it when I was a child and it came from my father's mother. So I asked my friend for a slip and she reached over and broke off a lovely slip, and it's on my kitchen table, in front of the window, in a jelly jar with a wax paper cover and a little slit. And I told the cat if I ever saw even one tooth mark, he might be an excat.
    I like your new header picture so much.

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    1. Hurray! There's something so special about sharing plants that way. I'm so glad you asked for a slip.
      Hope your cat takes heed of your warning.
      I'm glad you like the picture.

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  5. I like the new header. Washing your hands is always good to do too. I hope you feel better tomorrow and enjoy some soup.

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    1. Yeah- it's like we all just discovered hand washing as disease preventative. Which is funny. And sad.

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  6. I came here to get your take on the coronoavirus, and I am so glad that I did. Thank you for, again, a hilarious take on things! I am in Atlanta, visiting my parents and heading back to the west coast tomorrow evening. I am loving that header of your house!

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    1. So close, yet so far, Elizabeth!
      I really don't know what to think about this covid thing.

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  7. I'm sorry you are still sick. If you have anything like what we had it may be with you for a bit so rest and take care of yourself. Use this time to baby your cuttings and catch up on Netflix. I love your new header too. It says home and makes me feel good to see it.

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    1. Yes. This whatever-it-is that I have is not going anywhere very fast. I feel disheartened. I am staying home. It's where I want to be.

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  8. I forgot to tell you I like the photo of your house in the header.

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  9. Your description of based, bottles, etc with cuttings could be my house! Rooting cuttings makes me happy and satisfied too. I’m about to plant my first successful rose cutting and I feel proud as a mama. Sorry you’re still suffering from the crud, Hope it’s on it’s last legs.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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  10. That was supposed to be vases, not based. Automofo is crazy lately,
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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    1. I have never successfully rooted a rose. I've tried, too. And I knew what you meant. "Automofo"- Ha!

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  11. I hope you soon recover. I'm with you on rooting leaves and cuttings in water. Then I give them, planted, to happy neighbors. They think it's generous. In fact I need to make room around here for upcoming plants. Some of my biggest started with one leaf. They're all from cuttings or rescued from the dumpster. And one of my favorite begonias us from a slip that was "pruned" from a friend's house, never mind how.

    I really like your new header pic. It's more "you" than the one it replaced.

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    1. It's so much more fun to start our own plants from slips, isn't it? But sometimes it can be thrilling to find a new (to us) variety of something and buy it and bring it home to tend and propagate eventually.

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  12. I have definitely been known to pick up a little snip snip of someone else's plant -- but only if it's such a small little bit that it would never be noticed. Or if it's a seed pod or something like that.

    I had no idea begonias would root from the leaves. Or if I ever did know that, I forgot.

    As for coronavirus, who knows? I tend to think we're all overreacting, as I've written, but I'm certainly no expert.

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    1. Well, I think that some begonias need to start from tubers. I'm not sure. I just try whatever looks and feels right.
      Seems like NO ONE is a coronavirus expert, doesn't it?

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  13. Ah! Mer's house! and yes, I sneak cuttings too. usually at estate sale houses where I figure no one cares.

    Trump's one and only concern is himself. anything that doesn't benefit him he considers an attack. therefore this virus that has the stock market tanking and the economy slowing down must be a hoax perpetrated by his enemies the democrats and the Deep State to bring him down because he needs the high stock market which he considers the only indicator of a good economy to get reelected cause he thinks that's the only thing people care about and he needs to be reelected to avoid criminal prosecution when he gets kicked out. and so he is gaslighting Americans like he always does. only this virus will not respond to gaslighting. meanwhile people will get sick and die and he won't give a rat's ass.

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    1. Ooh! Great idea on getting cuttings at estate sales. I need to go to more of those. Not that I need more of anything, including plants.
      Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about anything in this world except himself.

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  14. One of my challenges living up north is the need to bring every single potted plant inside over the winter and I have a tiny house. I have hanging pots and two shelves for them all in front of each of my sun facing windows. My cutting collection lives over the washing machine around back, they seem to like less light while rooting. I trimmed all the begonias a week or two ago and they are bursting with new growth, so satisfying. I had to trim them because they were getting too tall and I was worried it would affect them poorly!
    Regarding the Corona virus, I have mixed reactions to it depending on my state of mind, but overall, I wash my hands a lot and don't get out much anyway.I am interested to see how this story spins out.I love that picture of your house, it reminds me of the neighborhood i lived in as a child, down in Virginia.

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    1. Yes. I think it's best to root in a less lighted situation. Which can make for an illusion of a living plant in a dark space. Which I like. I mean, it is living, it's just not in a pot. I need to trim back some of my plants.
      I used to bring all my plants in in the winter but it just hasn't been getting cold enough to need it here. I do cover them if the forecast calls for temps in the twenties. Which is rare.
      Not surprised my house reminds you of a Virginia house. Southern for sure.

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  15. Oo, that is always the way of my soups! Not good, but plenty of it! Love it :)

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  16. I understand the Donald is going to make the coronavirus just disappear one day because he said so. So no worries then!

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  17. Yes I’m confused about coronovirus too. People are dying but then a man in the news yesterday said it just felt like a bad cold even though he’d been quarantined for a month so far. I hope you feel better soon. And I absolutely love your new header! So perfect.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.