Entry for May 05, 2008

"II kisetsu!"

Good season!

It's Golden Week here, that string of national holidays in the last week of April and the first week of May. Some go on exotic vacations, others stay at home and fix up. The Pumpkin family did the latter. On April 29th (Showa Day. It was the previous Emperor's birthday, and I guess people don't really want to mess with a national holiday that was around for 63 years), we went and bought gardening supplies and plants. We now have a couple tomato plants, a basil plant, and some flowers. Some of the plants went to the garden, and others are in pots outside the terrace and front door. We also bought an olive seedling that we planted in a large pot on the terrace (exit from the kitchen). We're hoping that the new olive plant will mean olives on the tree in the yard.

This past Saturday, we bought a bench to put beside the front door. It adds a nice touch to the front porch-ish look of the entrance. and it's also convenient for putting things being loaded and unloaded from the car. However, I think the main reason the Pumpkin Daddy wanted it was so that he could sit down while smoking outside. I have a not-so-secret agenda about making him as uncomfortable as is possible about his nicotine addiction, so this is a step back (Yes, I know, it's meddling with the affairs of an adult, but it's because smoking is proven to be a health hazard and everyone knows the tobacco companies up the nicotine in your tobacco on purpose). Sunday (yesterday) we got some more gardening supplies and also some wood varnish for the pergola over the terrace. Today we re-potted one of our larger plants.

I know all of this probably doesn't sound like much. It used to be that I could get so much stuff done on holidays, but with the Pumpkin Princess around, it just doesn't happen. She either isn't interested, or is way too interested and she wants to "help" plant the flowers (read: smash the flowers to bits before picking them all off) and water the garden (read: soak herself from head to foot before rolling around in the dirt). Then she'll see a bug and come running while screaming her head off.

Yes, my daugher is deathly afraid of bugs (I think she tolerates the occasional butterfly, but that's about it). I don't know where she got this fear of bugs. I am OK with most of them (unless I know them to be dangerous, like wasps) and so is the Pumpkin Daddy. The Pumpkin Granny smashes cockaroaches in her hand after capturing them with 2 layers of kleenex. I think it's a phase because I distinctly remember her staring at an anthill while the worker ants hauled seeds and dead bugs into it. We'll see. It's modern society, a phobia of insects is compatible with life.