Glutter

Just a grrl

Today is the third month of me moving to LA. It struck me how my life is completely different now. I spend a lot of time in the garden. In fact I spent a lot of time in garden centers around my area and home depot. I am learning to grow plants -the biggest morning glory I grew from a seed is about three feet tall and three feet wide. The other smaller one feet ones are having sporadic purple, light mauve and bluish flowers.

I have started a small succulent "farm" where I collect different ones from shops, farmer's markets and taking some clippings off neighbours, I plan to make a little garden with all of them at some point. I had to learn to translate from metric to imperial system, from litres to gallons, meters to feet. I learnt what a quarter acre is, as that's the size of the land our house is built on. I have all these new words or old words with new combination and meaning: regular water, low water, full shade, full sun, bright light, partial shade. One has to match the environment with the plant you want to add. I actually started a compost heap. It's fun to pile the leaves and stuff on, and watch it shrink.


I have a really large lemon tree, a little lemon tree and an small orange tree. The leaves are all yellow and dry with green veins. The last seven years before me, the hill was neglected and left to fend for itself. I now know how to read leaves as if it is a palm (if you believe in that sort of thing), brown edges equal not enough water, yellow means not enough nutrients, green veins means it needs more nitrogen. There are all these ways to fix it through organic fertilizer, or growth bacteria that you can add, there is the bright green synthetic crystals you add to water. I use both because the tree needs a lot of everything. The lemons are bigger now that i have pruned the three (with a saw! by hand! by myself!), I make lemonade with the ones I picked. The leaves are turning greener, I hope they will get to dark one day.

I have three step-nephews, due to unfortunate circumstances they are more or less neglected by their father and mother. They don't have medical care, no help with school work, and one of them have sever learning disabilities. He's twelve but he's only really about eight. So I take them out. I go to their house and pick them up and take them to do fun things, and I bring them to our home so they can have a comfortable and safe place to play. I attend the school fair because their parents won't. I go to the meetings with the principal because finally someone turned up in school to talk to the teachers. I get all the important signatures, I read the report cards. I taught them to make cookies, Pieter taught them to saw and nail a small photo frame. I haven't seen them for two weeks now, I miss them so much. One day soon we want them to take them to the zoo. I really want to see the hippopotamuses.

We are fixing up the pond. After the raccoons came one night and ate all the goldfish and knocked down the pump, Pieter left it until it became what I called the "Health Hazard Black Lagoon." So now i have moved in, we're fixing it up. One day when it's ready, we're going to take my nephews to the fish shop, a local one, not a chain one coz I want to support local business, and get the boys to choose some fish. Ben -the more healthy of the twelve year old twins- he never wants anything. He's pretty reserved, but when i went to the school fair, the other kids were all getting goldfish prizes, I saw for the first time real yearning in him. So since he can't have pets at home, I want to take him to pick some so he gets his fish, even if it's in a pond at his aunt's house.

I never do my hair anymore really, I haven't worn high heels, I have only gotten my nails done once in three months. In fact, I haven't done my own nails much at all because when you garden, the soil gets in them, and the varnish chips. Today I found a pair of gloves that has special finger protection, a bit more padding on the tips so they protect your nails. I was happy. The glove is mauve, and it's perfect for a girl. We went to home depot on a Friday night because there were things we needed. I was happy with that.

Sometimes I go to the west side, which is the more urban, modern, young part of town, and I look at the skinny, pretty LA girls dressed so well, and I feel a pang. I think, it would be so nice to look like that, and be concerned about the things I used to. I joke that I am now an "East Side House Wife" with all the connotations that LA people can conjure up in their heads... I wear a lot of hair bands. I bought a pair of slip on black shoes that only has a two and half inch platform heel. I think it looks a bit frumpy but that's all I ever wear. Most people think they are quite fashionable, but they aren't the shoes I used to wear. I think they are okay but they are easy to drive with, I can walk comfortably, I can carry plants and chase after kids.

it's odd for me to think that everyone else is living the lives they lived before. They go out with the same people to the same places, and be the same person. I am still thinking of going to law school but I can't make those decisions until the green card comes along. I can't work, I can't go to school, it's imposed by the US government that I have to look after the home. It's actually really nice when I am on the ball, and things are going smoothly. It's like all these new things that I never experienced but always wanted is here. A house, a garden, a partner, kids. They aren't my kids, and we're not married, but it's good to have it all even if some things are missing. I would like a job or school eventually to add to the mix. I want to take some classes, to get me out of the house.

But right now, I am planning to start knitting again, I want to clear out all the land, and make a butterfly garden. I want to put up some bird feeders, maybe a bird house or two. Pieter and I are building a new room for me so I have a proper studio instead a small space at the end of his tiny office. We want to clear out his music studio so he can start making music again, as it's now the spare room with all my stuff I shipped from Hong Kong. I might learn to sew and make some things. I liked doing all those crafty things as a kid. I love cooking, and it's fun to have someone dedicated to eating it.

It took three months and I finally had some time to sit down and write. Will do some again..