My Plants

I have been away from home, because my dentist is in Dallas. It was the last step on my implant getting a crown for it. I got back last Sunday. Before going I requested Son, and wife to look after my indoor, outdoor plants, and vegetables patch in my absence. Son, thankfully came back for me to bring me home, otherwise I would had to travel by bus.

Nola (daughter) dislikes my plants. I won’t stay for longer periods because of my plants. She would like me to forget them, which I can’t. They are living things. If they are not looked after properly, they die. Son keeps busy because of his job (he is in Arizona for a day). I have asked him time, and again to get me a sprinkler system, but he hasn’t got around to do it. At the moment I’m patiently waiting for that to happen.

Alas my worst fears were realized. Most of the flowers, and vegetables seedlings disappeared. Others were shriveled due to lack of water. Whenever I asked Coco (daughter in law), she would say it has been raining almost every single night since I left. I would feel relief at nature taking care of my babies. She mistook the condensation on windows (in the mornings when you draw back the curtains) for rain. How could one even think that way? I’m thankful—- the inner ones survived.

To the Rescue

The Okra Plants

A few days back, there was a mild storm. Because of incessant rain, I didn’t go out in the backyard. I got a reprieve from watering the veggies, and other plants. I spent the time bingeing on movies on Netflix. It was the third day, I ventured out. Imagine my consternation on finding the okra plants in total prostration on the ground. If I had known, I would have gone to their rescue.

For a minute I was flummoxed 😶 on what to do? Son was in Sacramento, California, and I was on my own. Gradually my senses resurfaced. I needed to find nails, so I could hammer 🔨 them into the fence, and then tie the okra plants to make them stand. There are two sets of these plants. The second set was already leaning into the fence, so they weren’t sagging into the ground.

A quick tour of the garage, and then Son’s bedroom, and closet didn’t yield the whereabouts of Son’s toolbox (the search for nails). Giving up, I was looking at the plants in frustration. And then my mind flooded with relief. There was no need for nails. I could tie the plants to the fence with the polyester thread I had. It’s not actually a thread, but not a rope — something in between, and that’s what I did.

In between, I kept glancing fearfully at the lizard 🦎 like thing in the okra plant. It was green, but much prettier than a lizard. Nether the less, I was afraid 😱 it might decide to jump at me, and what the ….. I was going to do ? Thankfully I was spared from that evil fate. The okras are standing as you can see them in the photo.

Homage

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I was asleep when my daughter’s text woke me up. She was the first to tell me about Hurricane Harvey hitting Houston. I got immediately worried about Son as he wasn’t home yet from his job. Soon after that Son let me know that he was on his way, but was shopping, getting the grocery we needed. 

Son told me to pack some clothes, and that we would be leaving for Dallas, as it wasn’t in the path of the hurricane. Earlier in the afternoon, I had watched my neighbor loading her car with several bags. At that time I had not known about the hurricane. I thought she was going on a holiday not knowing what was going to come. I usually watch tv in the evenings, that’s why I didn’t know.

Son told me there was a great rush at the gas stations, and long lines at the stores in stocking up on water, and other essentials. He had a case early next morning. We couldn’t leave right away as other people had done in our neighborhood. We planned to leave the next afternoon, before Harvey came at six in the evening.

It was IB’s weekend with us. Son went to fetch him. It got quite late, and in the end we didn’t leave home. I didn’t relish the idea of spending days in a hotel, plus the rush of many people on the road, and the tiring journey. 

I’m glad we stayed back, despite the ear piercing alarms from my iPhone on hurricane warnings, and the impending floods. Yesterday in the evening it was a tornado warning. Son was worried. He thought that the safest place in our apartment was the washer, dryer small space. He put chairs for us there to sit, a torch if the electricity got disconnected, bars to eat in case we got tombed in, and ofcourse water bottles.

IB the smart boy he is, pointed out to his father that his bathroom was a better place than the tiny place Son was getting readied for the coming emergency. It wasn’t safe even as the water heater was directly overhead. Son then shifted everything to his bathroom. Except for the lightening and thunder, and the torrential rain, nothing much happened. Son was stressing about the warning for two am, and that we should keep awake so that we could rush to his bathroom if the need arose.

I told Son to keep his belief in God that nothing drastic was going to happen, and we should all go to sleep in our own beds. That’s what we did. The danger is not over. The forecast is still for Tuesday. In the end we should pay homage to God to keep us safe in trying circumstances.

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DAILY PROMPT

Homage

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

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Foggy

2nd August is my husband’s fifth death anniversary. May his soul rest in peace. Ameen.

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Today is the day 

You left elsewhere

Five years of my life have sped away

Foggy days reminds me of you

Makes me inexplicably sad

Overcast skies spill rain from above 

Joins me in tears shed this day

(Sheen-August2017)

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DAILY PROMPT

Foggy

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Blossom

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Blossoms litter the ground where once they adorned trees

The torrential rain had hit them mercilessly 

Why cruel rain you couldn’t be gentler

Had let them stay till their time was over

And tiny fruit had taken their place

(Sheen-June2017)

…

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DAILY PROMPT

Blossom

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Tenacious

I could see the growing patch on the wall near the ceiling of my bedroom in Peshawar. It looked unsightly, and rather ugly. It also meant that the occasional rain water was making its’ way in, and marring my wall.

I climbed to the roof to determine from where the rain water was sneaking its way inside. That’s when I saw a small plant flourishing on the roof top. It wasn’t exactly on my side of the house, but was on my tenent’s side of the house next door.

I walked over to it, and tried to pull it with my bare hands, but it wouldn’t budge. It’s roots clung tenaciously to the cement in the roof. Peshawar is a city where rainfall occurs in certain months like January, or July and rest of the year the weather is dry, and dusty. It hardly rains. 

I recognized the plant. It was a small peepal tree in the making. The small branches with large green leaves waved gaily in the wind in the early morning. It seemed to be smirking, telling me you can’t take me out. 

I called a mason to discover the leak in the roof on my side of the house. He pulled out the plant easily enough for me, but hasn’t been successful in finding out the leak, and cause of the growing patch on the wall.

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DAILY PROMPT

Tenacious

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Water

Henderson Lake
We travelled through a storm while passing through West Virginia. Water was pouring through the skies, and the truck was buffeted by the angry wind and rain. Directly above the driver’s seat rainwater kept sprinkling on my son. There must have been a hole someplace above. 

Houston Downtown
Clouds dot the sky above Houston, but little rain.  Where do these clouds go? I have no idea. If there was as much rain as the clouds are, Houston by now would have been submerged by water.

………

DAILY PROMPT

Water

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/water/

My Faithful Buddy

My nearest to having a buddy is my car. It can take me to stores for buying sustainance, or anything required. Women friends I like, live quite a distance from me, so we can meet occasionally. Going for a visit is a problem. I have yet to acquire a driving license.

People tend to tell me “if you need to go tell me”. For Heaven’s sake I am not going to ask. If you really want to help someone tell them a time to get ready and then take them.

People at dmv in Charlottesville tend to more Trump like in attitude towards Muslims. I am shying of another test there after my last encounter. My children suggested Waynesboro,  Staunton, or Richmond for a test. They are at a distance from where I live.

I do shorter drives to Food Lion,Kroger, or Exon for gas, then scuttle back home.

Day before yesterday I needed a fan for days when it gets warm. The choice was to go to Lowe’s or Walmart. I needed groceries too. I reached Walmart and parked my car. When I came out with my purchases it had rained and it looked like there was going to be another downpour coming.

I looked for my car. I couldn’t see it. One lady wanting to help told me to press the panic button on my car key to locate it. Nothing happened. I continued my quest for a sighting on my buddy, all the time praying for not getting drenched from the skies above.

A husband and wife climbed out of their car and asked me , “do you need help?” The wife laughed as she told me when she looked at my face she knew what I was looking for. She told me she had exactly the same expression on her face when she had mislaid her vehicle a month back. They asked about the make, color and number plate on the car. Both went in opposite directions. The wife came back — no success.

Her husband returned with the good news of where it was parked. Both were angels in helping me. Who cares a hoot in giving their time to a stranger? Both of them restored the sense of goodness in people. I hope we get to elect people like these not Donald Trump.

DAILY PROMPT

Buddy

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

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Going Back Home

Free Association
by Michelle W.
Write down the first words that comes to mind when we say . . .

. . . home.

. . . soil.

. . . rain.

Use those words in the title of your post.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/free-association/

Where To Go

Daily Prompt: Ready, Set, Done
Today write about anything — but you must write for exactly ten minutes, no more, no less.

The rain is pelting the lone window of my room. When it’s raining, for no reason, I feel sad, and a sense of irreparable loss overwhelms me.

There was a time, when I used to enjoy rain. Rain was a time to snuggle into a duvet, and fall into an oblivious sleep.

Sometimes sleep is hard to come by. It eludes me, and forgets its way. When it’s time to sleep, all my worries resurfaces, and come back to haunt me. I escape with difficulty. There is no where to go, when they try to overcrowd my tired brain (as if daytime wasn’t enough).

At moments like those (of sheer panic), I feel I am suffocating. I can’t breathe. I take long breaths, trying to stifle the overwhelming sense of intense dread overtaking me.

Where can I go to escape reality? There is no way —

Is there?

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