This morning Listy and I went to the Camberwell Sunday Flea Market again. The sky is gloomy today, heavy clouds sluggish and grey over the sky. The wind is also chilling.
It was a lovely surprise for me when I saw many people selling flowers. Two weeks ago I saw none. But there must have been around 4 stalls today selling bright colourful flowers and a range of cactus species.
Dark sky... this is around 11am btw:
The flowers were just so beautiful. I've always loved flowers. Seeing them on this gloomy day made me feel joyous. Then the idea of buying a potted plant came to my mind. I went to see the cactuses. They were easy to maintain, and small at size.
I asked the man which ones will bloom flowers and he told me the 'succulent ones'. So I bought this little one for $3:
He put it in a muddy plastic bag for me and I was very happy. My very first plant! I wouldn't call the beans I grew for Biology during Primary School as 'my first plant' since it was grown on cotton atop a plastic container and all that. This I can say is the real thing. And I felt very protective of and attached to it.
However, when Listy and I were grocery shopping at Safeway, somebody dropped a trail of green coloured jellies onto the floor and didn't bother cleaning it up. And I was the victim of this. I slipped and fell.
It never occured that this would happen to me. At Uniprep I hear John Rawkins speak of these 'tort of negligence' all the time and he gave cases where some fat old lady slipped on the ice cream on the floor of a mall or something and she sued the ice cream shop and got some money.
I didn't sue Safeway, since I wasn't injured.
But when I was at the train station I realised that by falling, MY PLANT was in a wreck. The whole body and its roots came out of the toppled soil out of the pot. I was devastated when I saw this and tried to put the poor plant back into the pot. But it was all loose. The train came. I went in. The sky was gloomy as ever and I felt melancholic having the ruined plant beside me on the train.
On the walk home from the station, I asked Listy what I should name the plant. Since it's green and red I actually thought of the name "analogous" (imagine that!) and then Listy laughed and lightly suggested "Christmas". Then it came to me I should name it "Santa"! It's perfect really, what with its round fat tube-like things.
When I reached my room finally, I put the plastic down on my carpet (yes, carpet) and looked at the damage. I tried using a tissue to dig the soil but it wasn't any good so I just used my bare hands. I didn't think I would actually do this... my fear of worms had caused me to avoid any contact with gardening. But here I am digging at the soil and securing the plant in. It was loose so several times, I had to take the plant out again, dig a deeper hole, and secure the plant in. Finally it was done. As I did this I felt a sensation I've never before experienced. It was like a contrasting mix of urgency, desperation, calmess, serenity. My heart yearned for the small plant to live and not die on me for I would feel so bad if it did. It struck me later how a single plant could actually give off this strong emotional attachment. And as I dug and dug at the soil I could smell this very fresh fragrant scent. Which was odd. It was like walking down a full blooming garden early in the morning kind of smell.
And the weird thing happened. When I went to my desk to research on this plant, I found out that it's name is "Sedum Rubrotinctum" and also known by "Jelly Beans" and/or "Christmas Cheer". Make the connection, guys. Jelly? Christmas? Ironic.
My room never gets any sunlight. Therefore I have to put Santa outside. I really want to have it in my room actually, so I can look at it closely whenever I want. But without any sunlight it would die so I gave my selfish desire up.
The strawberries I bought at Safeway.
Labels: camberwell, flea market, gardening
