A brief history of plants

This 'Mother in laws tongue'
was planted in honour of Frank
who we brought the shop off.
He was the long term and original owner of
'Elwood Health and Bulk',
the store that we turned into
the General store.
He was notorious for his caustic comments
and swearing vocabulary.
It was the first thing I moved in when we took the reigns..



This water plant
belonged to Karen,
the first person we employed.
She left it in my care while she went of to Chile
and now she lives in Hobart.



This little one was also Karen's.
It lived in her bathroom
and it just thrives in the shops loo.



This lucky jade was Benn's.
He is in Adelaide and we miss him
and his Tom's drop mouvedre,
a favorite organic red
made by his dad.



This little guy was Katie's
she is a dancer
who now lives in Belgium.
She just had her first baby.



This beauty is from when I lived with Sarah the social worker.
It sits on the bench
and catches water from the leaking roof that never gets fixed.



Sarah and I both have one of these desert plants
so that where ever we are
we will always have evidence of our time when we lived together.



The big aloe at the back was given to me for my 30th birthday
from Megan and Craig who own 'Red Dog 3' the clothing store 3 shops down.

The aloe at the front are a mixture from Helen
and Korshed.

The jade is from when Tony and I had a screen printing business
it sat on our warehouse windowsill.

They all sit together
in the sun
and share watering stories.



These aloe belonged to Korshed.
Before she died,
she gave each of us in the store a cutting
along with a special object.
I have her amber beads
a piece of her hair is wound around one of the links.



Jacq gave this passionfruit vine
to Tony to plant where we want to put the outside bench wall.
We don't have council permission yet
so it waits...



This pink bromeliad
was purchased at a garage sale many years ago
the three little girls that sold it to me
told me how to look after it.
They were moving out of the area to the country.

It flowers once a year
the same time every year
which would be when the girls and their family
moved to the country.



When Tony's dad died
Victoria planted these flowers
in his backyard while he was at the funeral..



and Nada gave Tony a jasmine plant
when his mum died
with out knowing it was his mother's favorite plant.
I don't have a photo of it
but it smells divine.

Memorial

I walk or ride to work.

This winter however
with the lingering effects
of the 'vegetarian swine flu' I have been fighting
I have not been
riding as much.

Everyday though I would pass a woman and her dog.
They would often be sitting on a public seat by the canal
or walking to the seat.
She would sit on the seat quite still
as if waiting for something,
her golden dog would sit patiently next to her.
We used to acknowledge each other quietly
and the noisy parrots talked amongst themselves in the trees above.



I didn't see her for a while
and then riding past one day I noticed something
and I thought, 'No, it couldn't be'
but it was..
there was a memorial for her.



For some reason
It has taken me a while to post these images
because I didn't really know the woman and her dog
I just knew they were there.

Helen I think I will always look for you on the seat
and therefor you will always be sitting there.

Kennebec Soup

On Saturday nights Tone, the general of the general store,
cooks dinner for anyone who is about.
Tonight Kerry, who has recently moved to Woodend
arrived with a bag of organic Kennebac potatoes,
she made soup while Tony cooked up a storm with produce from the shop.

Kerry's bag of potatoes are from Tom.
Tom grows organic potatoes just outside of Trentham.
"He also has eggs..." she says
"On the way to Tom's this morning
I saw a bird..
and on the way back I stopped.
It was a baby Kookaburra
and it was dead
and I picked it up
and I held it."

She went on to tell about once learning from an
ornithologist friend, that if you see a bird that has been hit
you should stop and check it as I may be stunned.
If you Keep it warm it will come too again.

"I thought it might be stunned," Kerry explained softly
"It had no blood on it, but then I noticed
it had lost a whole wing. It was dead
and I took it home and I just couldn't bury it
so I put it in my freezer."

When I read this post out to her
we all laughed a sad but happy laugh,
like kookaburras..