“The Appendage”

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Aw…come-on!

I noticed it from afar, “wait, is that a ?”

“Why is it protruding out the side like that?”

“Thats not normal.”

I subconsciously tried to shield my kids from this sago’s rather confrontational appendage, bundling them quickly through the front door of Dave & Busters.

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Really?

The reflecting window made the scene even more obscene. Upon leaving the establishment I made sure to comically obscure part of the strobilus with a white napkin.

Forrest-gump-originalThat’s all I have to say about that.

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Cold temperatures and even colder rain have taken care of the usual frost-prone victims,

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I knew purple heart was about to go. I used to cut all the mush back but found the faster way is to just snap it and pull from the base, slopping the frost-bitten blood and guts into Home Depot buckets for composting.

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A messy job, but much faster.

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Canna lily wasn’t far behind, along with

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some now ominous Hoja Santa Ring-wraiths.

In the darkness there was some light,

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a solitary cone flower refuses to give in to winter,

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and if there was sunlight, rest assured he was basking in it.

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Fatsia Japonica catching some sun.

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One of the best firework displays I have ever seen them produce.

Finally:

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Ghost plant,

Graptopetalum paraguayense

 

taking shelter from the cold winds under a ‘Hardy Red’ Oleander. Although they look and feel delicate, these ghosts can handle very cold weather, drought and a significant amount of shade apparently.

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Stay Tuned For:

“Nosy Parker”

 

All material © 2015 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

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We had once again survived Christmas.

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A set of styrene guns kept him busy,

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she got the doll she had coveted for the last 6 months,

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and we got a bunch more stuffed characters for Kumo to terrorize and pull the eyes off well into next year.

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We hunkered down with blankets on the couch, drank Bailey’s Irish Cream and watched all of the Harry Potter movies…once again, one a night for eight nights.

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We indulged in fine Christmas fare straight out of the garden,

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and exercised regularly in the recycling bin.

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Even the Largus bugs were in a festive spirit, staggering around on the dance floor, spilling their champagne and telling bad jokes.

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I am about as tough on watches as I am with work boots,

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so I was very happy to open this on Christmas morning.

My previous Swiss Army watch had an extremely rare and distressing appointment down the u-bend of our toilet last fall, one of those “I couldn’t repeat that again if I tried” accidents. It was not a fitting end for a timepiece that had survived huge pieces of flagstone rolling and scraping across it, with never a hint of a scratch.

Moving along:

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I did say I watched ALL the Harry Potter movies.

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Purple heart is still hanging in there, it will be a big heaping pile of festering sludge in no time at all,

but for now:

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Purple heart to wild purple mold,

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just because I can.

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I always crave a full English breakfast after looking at the flowers on Fatsia Japonica,

straight out of a fantasy book.

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Loquats are also flowering prolifically at the moment,

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along with some shrimps,

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and the copper canyon daisies.

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Habaneros and satsuma also providing some winter color. Only three satsumas on the tree this year and they were huge, larger than oranges. They were ripe and it was time for the annual tasting ceremony.

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DSC08230DSC08238Well,

what do you think?

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“Tastes like orangery-water and peel, want some?”

“Nope, I get it.”

She proceeded to devour it all.

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Thanks to all who have read, commented or just lurked in the east side shadows this past year.

Stay Tuned For:

“The Appendage”

 

All material © 2015 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

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