الرحمن
الرحیم بسم الله
In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful.
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| Come a chameleon |
Welcome winter and goodbye mosquitoes and flies. Welcome
rain and cool weather to work for hours in the garden. Welcome winter and
shorter days but longer hours for ibaadah, for hot chocolate made with real
chocolate and a sprinkling of cinnamon. But not welcome electricity outages,
like today! More than 12 hours is a bit much ne!
Yesterday was woelig! Made samoosas for a friend; weeded the
strawberry beds; did some washing and went to vote quite late – just before
sundown. This was a first, in and out in 15 minutes. But it does not beat the
buzz of queues of people mostly ones you have never met before, trying to guess
who they will vote for, a bit of camaraderie, meeting the neighbours in your
area and that feeling of satisfaction. Wish there was more of that when I made
the samosas – “you only make for other people”. Boo hoo! So I made 100 more –
eet en vra nie weer nie.
We have a ritual for nearly 20 years now – Abubakr buys me
flowers and books and I write him stories. Our kids are going to have a field day
when we have both passed on one day and they open the chests with letters. I
must confess not to have written to him since the blogging (sad face).
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| poppies and nasturtium plants |
The first flowers he brought home were Dutch irises - arms
and arms full in shades of lilac and yellow and white. I was never really a
lover of roses, well I do tolerate them when they are a part of a bouquet like
peach coloured ones and purple irises; white ones with lavender or star gazers
and so on and so forth. He introduced me to many kinds of flowers from
lisianthus to delphiniums from Inca lilies to red sunflowers from chrysanthemums
to St Joseph’s lilies, poppies, nasturtiums and tulips. Even planted me a wisteria bush that
bloomed that same year, jaaa you don’t know him hy is a real romantic! We
always have a gardenia bush. When it is lush with blooms there is lots of
barakah and rizq but few buds dan is die pap maar dun. Just kidding!
Of late he stands there and says tadaaa! And in a brown bag
would be seeds and corms and bulbs. A few days ago he brought home some vitex
shrubs, guava trees and wild garlic and iris and ranunculus corms. Lekker opgemaak, I
consider the new patch on the side of the driveway. My mind goes wild: the
purple vitex and a row of French lavender and right on the curb some variegated
wild garlic and could go and get some
bushels of St Joseph’s lilies from Abu’s aunt in Paarl and if I painted the
wall white the purple will stand out so kwaai! And as I bend down to trim off
the growth on the base of the shrubs – daar sit die chameleon, intertwined with
the stem, batting his lids at me.
The children are as fascinated and wonder how to get it to
roll out its tongue. Maybe catch a few flies and throw it up in the air close
to it. Uit kom die camera, no flash please! Much better than kittens right?
Gets its own food, keeps itself warm, and is quiet. But I’m sure it cannot
compete with the affection, the beautiful purring, the nuzzling and the
playfulness. Must not forget to get two kittens for Azrah as a bribe to plant in
garden.
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| seeding for Cape of Storms pansies |
Seriously, the moment I said OK we're now ready for kittens, my
daughter opens my Organic Gardening book; checks what plants kittens like and
bullies her father to give her some soil filled punnets for catnip seeds. Maybe
I should do a blog – how to get your kids to love gardening too! Ja, in fact
some ideas could be: offer a plate of sunkissed strawberries and blue berries.
Then say: “Oh these ole things” just picked it a few moments ago.” Or “you know
that electric blue pansies you love so much, I have some Cape of Storm seeds and a bed
ready just sprinkle it around and like a magic you will have a carpet of blue
and white”. But keep the promise! I am actually looking for two kittens and
I have already planted out some mint and lemon grass for them. And then she
says, “what about valerian?” en ek sê, “los maar vir Harry Potter”.
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| chaste tree and guava trees in centre |
Before I planted the purple leaved vitex, I checked my
pruning book and it is described as a chaste tree. What? Out comes the encyclopaedia.
A chaste tree is described as agnus castus, a shrub or small tree
related to the verbena.
So there you have it I am planting chaste trees of which its
uses have been quoted as far back as The Iliad; monks use it to stay celibate
and is excellent for women with PMS and menopause and for men who have
prostrate issues. For more information checkout:
www.exhibithealth.com/general.../health-benefits-of-chaste-tree-berry-67.
Plant seeds and try to keep all your promises.
Yasmine
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