Global Chaprazz: Snapped-in-Half

There's nothing worse (as far as my pathetic, first world problems go) than having a shitty week, being engaged in a serious, week-long fight with your entire family, enduring weeks of sleeplessness, the feeling that everyone hates you, then waking up saturday morning with a feeling of doom and devastation in your stomach and shoulders, trying to hide in the pillows until finally you decide to get a grip and start the day, then brushing off the gloom with the intent to make the most of your day anyway, going into the garden where you know your loyal plants are there, not judging you, not hating you, not making fun of you, and then finding your tomato plant snapped clean in half...yes, the one that had just made its first fruit. Now that is the start of a miserable day.

Breakdown. My dad had tried to fix the AC unit, which just happens to be next to all of my plants, and somehow he managed to destroy the plant completely. About 1/4 of the way up the stem, the top, leafy half of the plant was hanging over the side of the pot, attached by a few taut fibers of celulose. Of course my first thought was to forgive him, and that surely this wasn't an intentional murder... I wouldn't even charge him with manslaughter, because there's really nothing that can be done to remedy the situation. But inside I felt like I was going to vomit up my organs. DEEP breath.

It's a tragedy. I didn't feel like this when either of my great-grandmothers passed away, or when the duckling that my sister and I tried to rescue died. Not even when I found out that my grandpa had cancer (which has been cured) did I experience such pain. Great grandmothers who are ill are supposed to pass away. Accepted. Rescued ducks probably would have died anyway. Accepted. Cancer can be treated, so there's always hope. Accepted and cured. Snapped-in-half-tomato plant. No cure, no hope, just cold, hard death.

Obviously there's no crying over spilt milk, but that incident was the worst thing I could have imagined waking up to. It'll take me some time to get over it. But moving on, I set up three new tomato seeds to sprout, so hopefully it'll be replaced soon. It's just devastating because out of 30 seeds, it was the only one that survived, and it had just started bearing fruit. That's like the death of a pregnant endangered species animal... it's just tragic. I clearly love plants. Maybe more than humans. They're a lot nicer, anyway.

What lightened my mood a little bit was finding some random mushrooms in the lawn. And not just the one "shining star,"diva mushroom that tries to make a big scene with his presence, but ten spindly, little creeps congregating in my grass. I have no notion as to the nature of these mushrooms. Whether they're poisonous or not, magical or boring; I haven't a clue. And frankly, I'm not going to test them to find out. But I set them up to dry in the kitch so that maybe I'll have something to research on a rainy day. They were clearly labeled: UNSAFE to EAT. It was surprising to find them, because I don't associate Hawaiian-fall with mushroom-picking. In Sweden I'd found the most amazing mushrooms in the woods, but I had left that experience as a Europe-fantasy, never to be carried out here in the tropics.

Even more on the brighter side, 12 little sprouts of arugula have appeared in their neat little rows, 4 salad-bowl-blend lettuces, still only one marvel-of-4-seasons lettuce, four beets, five carrots, and my BEAN, which is unfurling its cotyledons and raising its head slowly. In addition, some of my herbs sprouted. They got mixed up before I had the change to label them, so I'm not really sure which ones have sprouted, but I think that oregano, lemon balm and thyme have all emerged. Now those are some adorable sprouts. They're hardly a millimeter in diameter and look more like spots of mold on the soil. But take a closer look and they are made up of two minuscule leaves. Hmm.. the plant kingdom is so magical. I could get lost in my tiny little garden if outside-life let me.

Yesterday evening, I was sitting out on the water, watching the sunset, and I noticed my neighbor hauling an arm-full of plants from his garden out to the marina. I ran up to him and asked what he had. Apparently he had been away for the summer and this succulent-like vine plant had taken over his yard. He said, "I'm just putting them out here, because I think they like water.." (Yes, but probably not brackish water!) I asked if I could break off a sprig for investigation and it's now happily drinking real water in my kitchen. Plants...

Today was a bit better than yesterday. My sister and I scavenged through the garage to locate our boxes of halloween decorations. This is it, the holidays have officially arrived. My family, despite being a bit uncommunicative and patchy never fails at celebrating holidays with a big, decorated bang! It doesn't matter how many vile words and bad memories are floating around the room, we decorate. At least my sister and I do. The boxes contain some pumpkins and candle-holders that have traveled thousands of miles from their origin, and are as historic as anything in our family gets. Those spark a feeling of nostalgia, especially when they're found in juxtaposition to handmade halloween cards from years ago. All of the memories rush back and push those other bad feelings away.

My sister and I also took it upon ourselves to make pumpkin scones. I saw one in Starbucks the other day, and decided I'd make my own, organic and not-filled-with-preservatives-and-other-GMO-crap ones. Oh the joy of baking! It was the first time in two years that I've opened a jar of cloves and nutmeg. (Being in Germany last year for the holidays robbed me of all tradition and cooking wasn't really as easy as I'd hoped.) Whisking the spices together felt like concocting a witches' magic powder. We baked while listening to "Hall of the Mountain King" and "Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium" and other classical songs that have a fun spook to them. When we ran out of music on our ipods, we hummed the Harry Potter theme song, sang halloween songs that we'd learned at Waldorf, and talked about our favorite halloween movies. All while being dressed up. Me, as a raccoon; my sister... well she had long stripy socks. It was the first time I'd ever made scones, and I must say that they turned out tasting delicious. With that I can only say, "Let the holidays begin!"