A roundabout journey to nature
Mar. 12th, 2024 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI've never been a very nature focussed person, but have generally still been a lot more into it than Cam, who is a Very Indoors Person. I used to enjoy the odd bushwalk, which Cam Does Not. I have always been the one in charge of the garden, and wasn't good at it but was more enthused and competent than Cam, who only took over if I was away at a maths conferences etc and did not have a good time doing it. But now that I am sicker and we don't have to worry about rent inspections I haven't been going out much and our small garden has straight up died. So I have been very disconnected from nature.
Last year Cam asked what I wanted for my birthday and I said a car drive somewhere I could sit in nature without many other people around. On the day itself we were in the middle of a heatwave, so Cam gave me a "Token For One Drive" and a little succulent pot plant in a cute cat shaped pot.
CW: Brief mention of car accident, it's all fine.
This delighted me, and I was charmed when he said he'd bought the plant some time ago and had been secretly keeping it in his study ever since, and had enjoyed the experience more than he expected. I loved having a little plant to look at, and put it on the kitchen shelf where I would see it whenever I did the dishes.
And then Cam had a car accident and the car was totalled. I think I only talked about this under lock at the time, since it was pretty upsetting, but it's all fine now, we have a new car and Cam wasn't permanently injured. Still, it took driving anywhere off the table for quite a while.
Also the plant died, probably because we both thought we were the one in charge of watering it, oops.
So Cam bought two new little indoor plants, which he would be entirely in charge of since he turned out to be both more enthused and more competent about indoor gardening. He still killed one of them, oops, but the other turned out to thrive when put in up on a high shelf near the window in the bathroom, where it can enjoy filtered sunlight and damp air. It's really nice having it there.
He also went to a one day terrarium making workshop, and came back with a little garden in a large glass jar of about 20cm/8in across. It's too big for the study so at first he put it on top of a bookshelf in the loungeroom but that was too dark and it started looking peaky.
Our back garden is all paved. I sit in bed for most of the day and usually have the blinds in the bedroom open so the cats can look outside while they sit with me. They enjoy watching doves walking through the weeds etc, but for me it's a pretty boring view of an empty wall with the occasional visiting lizard and the tops of any especially tall weeds that poke through the paving.
Our front garden is an actual garden bed, but there's no reticulation and the plants all died over the last few very hot summers after I forgot to water them enough. So I have decided to slowly work on fixing that: first remove the large dead bushes (done!), then get reticulation installed, then get new hardy plants.
Cam thinks this is a great plan but is leaving it to me since he continues to have negative interest in outdoor gardening. I discussed the possibility of putting some reticulation and pots in the back garden, but we eventually agreed it would be too much hassle and expense for limited reward, especially since the part of the garden I can see from the bedroom window is at the farthest end from the tap by the back door.
Instead I am going to look into getting a bird bath and a hose, so I can step out the back door and spray it clean/full with the hose whenever I have energy. I also looked into a bird feeder, and decided to start with a $2 hanging bird seed lump from the supermarket, which I put on the washing line near the window. Zero birds so far oh well. Everything I read said native Australian birds need water more than food anyway, and water helps bees too.
But! All this conversation inspired Cam to put the terrarium on his bedside table, where it gets frequent sunlight through the open blinds. I can see it whenever I think to look over, and it makes me really happy. Since Cam only comes into the bedroom to sleep he doesn't see it as much, and he still wants a plant or smaller terrarium he can keep in the study with him, since that's where he spends most of his time at home. But knowing it makes me happy makes him happy.
And eventually we'll get around to that drive!
Also we celebrated 25 years of being together lately, by... both forgetting until one of us went "Oh right, happy anniversary! Wow, 25 years, huh.". Which is how we like it.
Pia meanwhile LOVES nature, and would help with the gardening if it was practical, but instead I'll just enjoy their nature photos and art from afar. Still, I hopefully get to sit in their Actual Garden With Plants soon which will be nice until the heat gets to me.
This is the most nature focused icon I could remember having haha. It's even got a cat having fun with something in a tree!
Last year Cam asked what I wanted for my birthday and I said a car drive somewhere I could sit in nature without many other people around. On the day itself we were in the middle of a heatwave, so Cam gave me a "Token For One Drive" and a little succulent pot plant in a cute cat shaped pot.
CW: Brief mention of car accident, it's all fine.
This delighted me, and I was charmed when he said he'd bought the plant some time ago and had been secretly keeping it in his study ever since, and had enjoyed the experience more than he expected. I loved having a little plant to look at, and put it on the kitchen shelf where I would see it whenever I did the dishes.
And then Cam had a car accident and the car was totalled. I think I only talked about this under lock at the time, since it was pretty upsetting, but it's all fine now, we have a new car and Cam wasn't permanently injured. Still, it took driving anywhere off the table for quite a while.
Also the plant died, probably because we both thought we were the one in charge of watering it, oops.
So Cam bought two new little indoor plants, which he would be entirely in charge of since he turned out to be both more enthused and more competent about indoor gardening. He still killed one of them, oops, but the other turned out to thrive when put in up on a high shelf near the window in the bathroom, where it can enjoy filtered sunlight and damp air. It's really nice having it there.
He also went to a one day terrarium making workshop, and came back with a little garden in a large glass jar of about 20cm/8in across. It's too big for the study so at first he put it on top of a bookshelf in the loungeroom but that was too dark and it started looking peaky.
Our back garden is all paved. I sit in bed for most of the day and usually have the blinds in the bedroom open so the cats can look outside while they sit with me. They enjoy watching doves walking through the weeds etc, but for me it's a pretty boring view of an empty wall with the occasional visiting lizard and the tops of any especially tall weeds that poke through the paving.
Our front garden is an actual garden bed, but there's no reticulation and the plants all died over the last few very hot summers after I forgot to water them enough. So I have decided to slowly work on fixing that: first remove the large dead bushes (done!), then get reticulation installed, then get new hardy plants.
Cam thinks this is a great plan but is leaving it to me since he continues to have negative interest in outdoor gardening. I discussed the possibility of putting some reticulation and pots in the back garden, but we eventually agreed it would be too much hassle and expense for limited reward, especially since the part of the garden I can see from the bedroom window is at the farthest end from the tap by the back door.
Instead I am going to look into getting a bird bath and a hose, so I can step out the back door and spray it clean/full with the hose whenever I have energy. I also looked into a bird feeder, and decided to start with a $2 hanging bird seed lump from the supermarket, which I put on the washing line near the window. Zero birds so far oh well. Everything I read said native Australian birds need water more than food anyway, and water helps bees too.
But! All this conversation inspired Cam to put the terrarium on his bedside table, where it gets frequent sunlight through the open blinds. I can see it whenever I think to look over, and it makes me really happy. Since Cam only comes into the bedroom to sleep he doesn't see it as much, and he still wants a plant or smaller terrarium he can keep in the study with him, since that's where he spends most of his time at home. But knowing it makes me happy makes him happy.
And eventually we'll get around to that drive!
Also we celebrated 25 years of being together lately, by... both forgetting until one of us went "Oh right, happy anniversary! Wow, 25 years, huh.". Which is how we like it.
Pia meanwhile LOVES nature, and would help with the gardening if it was practical, but instead I'll just enjoy their nature photos and art from afar. Still, I hopefully get to sit in their Actual Garden With Plants soon which will be nice until the heat gets to me.
This is the most nature focused icon I could remember having haha. It's even got a cat having fun with something in a tree!
no subject
Date: 2024-03-12 07:07 pm (UTC)2) The terrarium sounds really cool! Good luck with all your nature plans and congrats on the low-key anniversary!
Winter is ending here and I just saw a little bird land in a mud puddle and start splashing around on its tiny legs, not drinking anything, and my whole mood brightened. So, a nature fistbump from North America! <3
no subject
Date: 2024-03-17 03:39 am (UTC)Thank you! I've often thought that there's a sort of symmetry between Summer here in Perth (and most of Australia) and Winter in cold temperate northern hemisphere places like the PNW: everything dies down for a while over the end of the year and you stay inside to avoid the unpleasant weather, and then life slowly returns as we head into March/April.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-18 04:22 pm (UTC)Being able to see plants makes a surprising difference for me. I didn't think it did, until one time I was apartment hunting in the city and I was like "I feel dead. This place is dead." Too much concrete, too little vegetation.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-19 01:08 am (UTC)Yeah apparently there's research that it has a measurable effect on mental well being. Maybe I should be more appreciative of the weeds that poke their heads high enough to be seen from my window haha.