Happy Thanksgiving...

[fajrdrako]

To all my American friends¹:


I like Thanksgiving. I like the psychological concept of being thankful. I am thankful for the following:

1. Living in a great apartment. I love my place. It's set up the way I want it, it has enough space for me, three budgies, many books, and a zillion comic books; it's friendly and bright. I've had fannish friends walk in for the first time and say, "You can tell a fan lives here." I like that. I love my tasteful fandom-du-jour decor in the bathroom. My decorative harp in the living room. My view of a maple tree outside the window.


2. Living in a great city. I might prefer London or New York for the theatre, or Italy for the art, and anywhere for the weather, but Ottawa is a lovely place to live: enough of a city to have whatever I need of libraries, bookstores, areas to walk, with decent public transport and a sense of history. Besides, I live right beside the prettiest canal in the world.


3. Living in a good country. Canada isn't exactly perfect, but it's got a lot of the right ideas.


4. Having enough to eat and a roof over my head. Basic.


5. My friends.


6. Fandom.


7. Books. Especially the world of slash. Especially Torchwood, Doctor Who, Dunnett novels, Bujold novels, The Professionals, The Lord of the Rings, and all those other joys.


8. The net, including LJ and the Dunnett mailing lists. They keep me sane when they don't drive me crazy.


9. Certain actors, writers, and artists. If you've been reading this LJ, you know their names.


10. Being who I am: human, female, Canadian, bisexual, a writer, a fan, a history-lover, a budgie-owner.

~ ~ ~

¹ This picture was taken from this site.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

"I have a wonderful husband, exciting new house and baby – aren't I lucky?" spiel

Right.

Speaking of baby plants: My plumbago seems to be withering away and I don't know why. Poor thing! My orchid, on the other hand, is flourishing with aplomb. I'm currently down to two plants: the orchid is a delightful and serenidipitous find from the last trip to Costco.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what a plumbago is. The orchid sounds fun (but then, I too have them! Eight of them!). What family is it? I wasn't sure when you first mentioned it whether you were talking about a plant or a cut-flower. The thing with orchids is, they thrive on benign neglect: not being watered too often, and not being repotted until they're actually trying to climb out and make a break for freedom.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Plumbago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbago) is a flowering ground-cover (and wall-cover) plant that grows in profusion in Malta. Beulah and I both thought it was utterly beautiful, and she managed to get her hands on some seeds somehow and grow me a little plumbago plant for my apartment, which she gave me for my birthday.

I've been doing my best to keep it alive, poor thing. I see this wikipedia article specifically mentions that it is "native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world" so it may simply be taking offense to be forced to reside in snowy Ottawa.

In any case, benign neglect is my gardening specialty, and I'm getting along fine with the orchid, who is leaning artfully over a few of my history books on the living room writing table.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Poor thing! I hope it recovers! It should be warm enough indoors: after all, the budgies are also from sunnier climes!

The orchid sounds lovely.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It should be warm enough indoors: after all, the budgies are also from sunnier climes!

That was my reasoning. Fingers crossed! Beulah will be over tomorrow, and we can confer on care and treatment.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Good!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Have looked up "plumbago": it's pretty! I hope it gets better!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a gorgeous little flower, and so pretty in the Maltese sunshine!

Here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/azurite/60397368/) is a picture I took myself of plumbago growing in one of the Maltese parks.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

That's lovely! Is it the same colour?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't know what colour my plumbago is or will be because it hasn't flowered yet. All the plumbago I saw on Malta was blue - though possibly I saw the non-blue variety and didn't recognize it? Anyway, vast quantities of blue plumbago, so it was a surprise to see in wikipedia that it can be all sorts of colours.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Four of my triffids haven't flowered yet in my care, so I don't know yet what colours they will be. It's exciting!