Greening my life even more

Saturday 19 June 2010

Was so inspired by Ladia & Hana after the visit to their permaculture farm in Lenggong, Perak, that we came home and planted our own little garden.

Herbs courtesy of Hana (top) and planted Japanese roses above the pond

(from l -r) Basil leaves from Lenggong in a plastic container (see! I'm recycling!), my smiley plant which became more bushy and my newly trimmed (by Jerry) bonsai tree

My balcony

Jerry had a great idea to cover the balcony rails with netting and grow creepers on it. Hope it grows fast! Maybe I should play Beethoven to them more often. Grow green babies, grow!

Feeling the fresher air already :)

Welcomes Shelly & greens to the family

Wednesday 19 May 2010

I've been keeping tortoises since a few years back when I bought 5 tiny ones back home to my aquarium. These 5 beautiful creatures have grown steadily and a bigger home was built for them. As they grew, so did their appetite for adventure. One by one, they left for wider pastures - the grass is always greener on the other side you see (actually, I suspected they kamikazed over my balcony. May their souls rest in peace or may they have found a better home).

Anyway, out of the five (they've grown really really big!), only one loyal male remained. He's been alone long enough and deserved some company so one fine day after work, a trip was made to the aquarium shop in Sg Buloh and lo behold! a female tortoise beckoned to me from her container. She was a beauty this girl! Roughly the same size as him and oh was she active! She poked her sweet head out from her shell and wriggled her legs when I picked her up. I imagined her saying pick me, pick me! I had to bring her home.

I paid RM20 for her (yea, I know, there's plenty of free grown tortoises in Kiara Park and her previous owner would probably have given her to me for free but I take it as I'm offering her a better home, a new life) and packed a bag full of longkang fishes too. They love chasing them around the pond. Stimulates their mind I would like to think.

She took well to her new home - like a tortoise (fish) to the water (ha, lame). Jerry named her Shelly and gave our male a name, finally. He would be Tony from now on. They seem to take to each other and Tony even attempted to do some coupling after a while!

Here's Shelly!

Shelly in her new home

There was a nursery next to the aquarium shop in which I ended up buying a lil potted plant for my room. It doesn't need much sun apparently which is good. Yea! more greens and more cheers! Love the red flowers.

My new red and green addition to the room

Oh, and since we are on the topic of plants, bought this lil cheery fellow at the same nursery on Earth Day weekend. I was swayed by his bright green dancing leaves. Looks like huge tongues too. So buy more greens. Not only does it make your house prettier, it makes your air fresher and cooler too.

Dancing away in the corner - never fails to put a smile on my face