Sow There! 2-23 temporary bouquets
For Valentine’s Day Tommy was under strict orders not to spend money on anything frivolous. In the newsroom we watched last week as dozens of roses came through the front door. That’s really fun and I’m happy for all those people who send flowers. The guy who delivers them must look forward to that 14th day in February when he gets to deliver bundles of joy.
That’s about as cool as a job as being a midwife.
One co-worker came over to show the card she had received from her boyfriend. She just wanted to gush with a girlfriend and share the sweet sentiments.
Tommy did exactly the right thing and abided by my wishes. About 7 p.m. I was starving and since we hadn’t made expensive reservations at one of those frou-frou restaurants we went to an Asian buffet. After two hours of totally gnoshing, I turned to him and smiled.
“Hey honey. We just saved $100.”
Then we went downtown and walked around counting couples on the street who were holding hands and making goo-goo eyes at each other.
The other entertainment was to look into the windows of the nice restaurants and gawk at all the “beautiful people,”
When we were walking back to the car, hand-in-hand, we saw this really funny scene with a young woman dressed up Cosmopolitan magazine hot. She had a huge slit in her dress and some four-inch red stiletto heals. The poor gal had obviously dressed to impress, but sadly was having a hard time navigating those bumpy red sidewalks downtown. Luckily, her date caught her just as she was about to boff it on Second Street.
The things we do for fashion.
It was also cute to look in the windows of the fancy restaurants and see lovers off all ages holding hands across tables and staring into each others’ eyes.
It certainly made me want to squeeze Tommy’s hand more tightly.
Sweet sentiments
A few days later, apparently unable to contain himself, Tommy splurged and bought me a $6 plant, a cineraria. He couldn’t help it. He was excited, and called me up at work to describe it.
“It has about 100 blooms,” he said with the excitement of a kid. “Seriously, there’s like 100 blooms.”
I looked it up on the Internet to daydream ahead of time where it should be planted in the yard.
Although, after my research I don’t have high hopes for it.
The info. I found said they do best in temperatures between 55-65 degrees and won’t tolerate temps. below 45.
That pretty much rules out the extremes in Chico. For now it’s on the front porch and I’ll take it inside if it looks like it will be another frosty day.
But, for now, it’s blooming like crazy. About 10 of the 100-or so buds have opened. They’re a very bright magenta flower, a little larger in diameter than a quarter, with white flowers.
The plant is in the daisy family and need bright light but no direct sun. Artificial lights are suggested. They are also prone to attract white flies, aphids. leaf miners, thrips and demons from beyond the grave.
As I walk around the newsroom this week, there are still a few vases with the red roses, but most of them are getting near the end of their peak glory.
My plant, on the other hand, is slowly coming into its prime, which makes me happy each morning.
Alas, it will likely start its steady decline in a few weeks. But for $6, it’s been worth the smiles it has brought.