Month: August 2023

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Answers From the Universe

Any answers I will ever find from the universe won’t be written in the sky in trailing airplane smoke.

They’ll come from one of two places.

The most likely place will be in the lines of verse, whether Biblical or modern poetic. Those golden lines, illuminated not in their own context, but in the context of circumstance, hold ancient wisdom and divine truth.

The second most likely place is outside my bathroom window in the voices of birdsong as I’m getting ready for the day. I often crack the window open just a tad when I’m showering and putting on my makeup – just to hear the lilting melodies of my feathered friends. Sometimes it’s almost as if I can understand what they’re feeling, despite the lack of words. Just this morning, a Northern Cardinal called, “cheer-cheer-cheer, purdy, purdy, purdy,” like she was cheering my cosmetics to do their prettying.

The more I observe birds and use my Merlin app to help me identify the different species by their calls, the more I find myself focused on their messages.

Somewhere in between what sounds like I should make a call to report a Tufted Titmouse domestic fight and the cooing of pure love doves outside my windows, I listen. Quietly. The words and feelings I need to hear are no farther away than my own back yard…..

…..and resting on my bookshelves.

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Saving Steve

Our School Superintendent recently retired and left behind a palm plant he’s had for years. He told his assistant that he was donating it to beautify our lobby area.

The problem was that the plant wasn’t beautiful. In fact, it was hanging on by a few roots.

She came and asked me if I thought I could save it.

“I’ll give it my best shot,” I assured her. So I brought it home and named it Steve, after our retired Superintendent.

I did some Google searches and learned that the plant is an Areca Palm. It needs diffused sunlight and thrives in summer. Its dormant time is winter. It needs liquid fertilizer, a pot with good drainage, and a fair amount of coarse sand mixed in with the potting soil.

I decided to do some surgery on the plant and divide it into three pots. Two small sections would go into the new pots, and the rest would remain in the current pot with new soil and a hefty dose of root aeration.

I began trimming the plant fronds way back.

First, I cut all the fronds back to allow more energy to regenerate the roots as it grows back. Then, I shopped for Miracle Gro potting soil, some Perlite, a few Job’s Plant Sticks, some pebbles, some sand, and two new pots with good drainage holes in the bottom. I filled the base with pebbles, then added the new soil and perlite.

I mixed the potting soil and the Perlite together with some sand and placed the separated sections into each pot. Then, I stuck some Job’s plant fertilizer sticks into the root ball base of each plant before watering them.

I watered each plant and moved them all to the back porch to enjoy some diffused sunlight. Early in the week, I’ll move them indoors under the living room window at the base of the stairs, where they’ll receive diffused east-facing sunlight for a couple of weeks.

We’ll see how they do re-generating and growing, and with a little sun-kissed care, hopefully Steve can return to the district office lobby and be the beautifier he was destined to be.

We’ll think about the plans for the new set of twins and where they will live their best lives.

If you have any suggestions for names for these little transplanted palms, please share in the comments. I’ll announce their names next week.