Balcony Gardening

Soon after I arrived in Japan, I decided that I would try gardening in pots on my apartment's balcony. I used help my mother with her large flower gardens at my father's house during my childhood years. I loved helping with my father's vegetable garden, too.

During those the first years, I tried tomatoes, cucumbers and numerous flowers. However, the heat from the mid-day sun is just too hot on my balcony. I live in is concrete apartment building and it just retains the heat from the sun. In mid-summer, the soil in the flowerpot dries out too quickly on my balcony. There were numerous insects that attacked my balcony garden and all too often the plants died.




I love the delecate flower of a blooming orchid cactus. As a result of numerous trials with many varieties of flowers, I found that the plants that grow with very few little problems are numerous varieties of cactus and amaryllis.




I have been growing amaryllis from the large bulbs and enjoying them because the parent bulb has baby bulbs. These baby bulbs grow after transplanting them to a larger flowerpot. In a couple years, the baby bulbs grow large enough to have a large flower.

I have given many of the lovely plants to family and friends. They are all having successful flowers, too. I think one of the reasons that I can grow amaryllis so successful is because they flower before the very hot summer season.



No matter how small of a space you have, watching a flower or plant grow brightens your day.

more later...

my hand-painted teapot

On our recent trip to Yamanashi, we stopped at a place that sold teapots that were ready to be underglazed (decorated). This place would send it to a place with a kiln to be finished. Then, these pieces would be dipped in glaze, fired, and shipped to the address of the artist.

my hand-painted teapot, originally uploaded by martian cat.

I was so lucky to have the time during one morning. Everyone mentioned that I would have only 15 minutes to make the decorations. However, I actually had to spend almost 1 hour to make the sketch, decorate, and make any of the final touch-ups it needed.

The underglaze was a natural pigment. Taking the time to do this brought back many, many memories. Imagine... it is more than 20 years ago that I did type of pottery decorating in the States. There are actually two different colors of blue that are on this teapot. Then, by adding water to the glaze to "thin out the color"... highlights were added. It will be fun to see how it turns out.

I can hardly wait to have it for my morning cup of tea. Imagine... an original decorated pot for my morning tea. It sounds like a good plan to me!

more later...

yesterday's challenge

I love to collect porcelain china.

Yesterday's challenge was to rearrange dishes. To accomplish my task, I had to make space in the closets, shelves and drawers to make some safer space for my collection. It is not as easy as it sounds! This is always fun because it means that I can revisit my favorites. Even more fun is to put away one friend (a cup) and bring out another older friend.

Life is always a challenge. Yesterday was no different!

Every day is lovely if it begins with a delicious pot of tea which is served in a beautiful porcelain cup. It does not matter if it is European style tea or Japanese tea. I have beautiful cups and tea pots for both... It is the relaxation time it takes to drink the tea that is very important. Some days, this time could be only minutes... it depends on how busy my schedule is...

more later...