Day 353- Suitcase Garden For RosaM

I took a long time deciding what kind of a suitcase garden I could make for Rosamargarita. It only came to me after we finished Heaven For Dead Cars that perhaps I should make her something to commemorate her friendship with a special lady.

I remember being very moved by the post Rosamargarita or RosaM wrote in May last year when she lost her dear friend. It was simply written, this short post but it was poignant and I could feel her pain. 

I built this little garden imagining their laughter, experiencing their tears and sharing their banters. It was almost like hanging out with a girlfriend myself. 

Unfortunately, this suitcase which I sent out in October last year has yet to reach RosaM. I wonder where it went. 

I hope it will eventually arrive at your doorstep, RosaM. 

Day 360- Suitcase Garden For Victoria

Dear Hattie or Haggaleana Amphibiana Tactlessa Tattoomama Indelabella Esmeralda for long, 

Once again, congratulations, dear girl, on THE wedding of THE century! FINALLY, if I may add, but the wait was well worth it, right? What a FANTABULOUS party that was! You have NEVER looked prettier, my dear and I just loved that new colour you used on your face. Seasick Green? You couldn't have chosen a better shade to match your lawn. Such a BRILLIANT idea too to hold the reception there. Heard that your wedding planner was Victorian Secrets? She's just the BEST!

And my, o my, what a handsome devil that Count of yours is. He looked so PERFECTLY pale. One look at him and you'd know what answer the mirror would give when asked who's the FAIREST of them all? I heard the freshly-dead look is all the rage now in Transylvania? Who did his make-up? Vlad? That Vlad is not called The ImPaleFace for nothing, I tell you. 

Alright now, back to business. I have finally completed the Broomsticks-On-The-Go and here they are, all packed in a suitcase and delivered. Now, let me explain how it works.

The fibers for the bristles come in 7 colours, a colour for each continent. Now, now, you should know better than to ask me which colour for where, dear girl. Why do you think my tagline is Fly To Find Out? Hahahahaha. Such a clever tagline, don't you think? AND that's not all! I am throwing in the ones for Heaven, Hell and The Middle Earth, all bundled and ready to fly, FREE! The continental ones are perpetual because  you can grow them in the suitcase and they will NEVER, EVER RUN OUT! Those for Heaven, Hell and The Middle Earth however are good for 3 flights. Listen now. It's NOT one, NOT two but THREE good and long flights! What a deal, right?

AND THERE'S MORE!

You get a single-valved, combustible, slim & sleek broomstick, FREE, of course! 

One size fits all, GUARANTEED! 

And if you think there's it, boy, are you wrong, wrong, wrong! Of course, there are more, more more! 

This Mega-Pack also includes a Long Haul and Short Haul Flight Stick, batteries INCLUDED! Short and sassy if you are out only for some domestic flying and for those long international flights, you can now do them comfortably, LYING DOWN with our ultra long but stick thin option! How's that for COMPLETE?

And I am so saving the BEST for LAST! DRUMROLLLLL please!!!!!

While I unveil something I have built JUST FOR YOU!!!!

THE TWIN TURBO SWEEPER!

No, no, no darling, it doesn't go twice as fast. I know you want something slow and easy, after all, it's your honeymoon. This is just a fancy name for a broomstick built for two. Now you, my Highest Countess, and your magnificent Count, need no longer fly in separate broomsticks with our supercharged single engine but twin turbo sweeper. What a savings on wind fuel! AND AT NO EXTRA CHARGE! 

What do you think, dear Hattie? Do all the extras more than make up for the time taken to finish your order? I know you are still stuck somewhere on your honeymoon because these broomsticks couldn't come to you in time, but slow and easy is always good on a honeymoon, right? 

Good doing business with you!

xxx

Bloody Awe-Sans!
Brooms-To-Go. You'll Have To Fly To Find Out!

P.S. No returns allowed, sorry!

Day 365-368-When Nature Takes Over

That week went by in a blur. I knew I was as enthusiastic and energetic as a cheerleader when I started. How on the first day, I felt like I could do so much in 1 week, 7 days , a whole 168 hours.  There was no doubt in my mind that I could finish project Housing The Homeless in that time. Having set myself what I know now to be an impossible goal, I pushed myself, working days and even nights with the help of a portable searchlight. I stopped only to eat and I camped at the House, sleeping an average of 3-4 hours a day. After about 4 days, Project House was nowhere near completion and all I had to show for for all that hard work was a terrible ache everywhere. I fell ill and then there were other demands and always, that perpetual, torrential, December rain. There was just no going back to the House.

I no longer remember exactly what I did those few days, least of all, what flowers I planted and where. I thought I was only working with the abandoned pots of plants I found. It was only when I went through my gardening basket looking for my scissors that I realised all my old packets of flower seeds were opened. I was confused at first, wondering why in the world they were opened. These seeds were bought so long ago, it felt like another lifetime. It was a time when I was not so consumed with this rat race, a time when  I actually dreamt of building a Sanctuary by Sans! A sanctuary with all the pretty flowers I love. I still remember that afternoon , 20 years ago, when I bought those seeds from an old gardener. He had joked about how these were magic seeds that would bring me happiness. When I laughed, he told me : Well, when you finished planting them and they grew into the flowers you love, wouldn't that make you happy? 

That was an incredible afternoon. I had tea with the old man at his shop, him in his rocker and I on a small bench covered in century old kilim. I had walked into the shop not knowing that he was selling flower seeds. I had thought it was an antique shop because it housed some really unusual and unique pieces of furniture. They were old but really beautiful. We started talking and I found out that the old man was in fact a gardener. He showed me pictures of a most amazing garden house that he had built single-handedly and we chatted till dusk fell. I think it was that day that I thought of the sanctuary. It would be like the house that the old man had built. 

20 years later and there was no sanctuary by Sans! Nor did I ever meet the old man again. For some reasons though,  I never threw the seeds away. I realised now that I must have used them at the House but what was I thinking? 20 year old seeds? Oh yes, I wasn't thinking, was I? I decided I had to go back to the House. So I packed my basket and set forth.

Imagine my surprise when I saw what I saw. 

Sunflowers! ? ! They were the first flowers I spotted as I was walking in because these flowers were huge! They were also my absolute favourite flowers. 

How in the world did they grow so fast? Every single stalk, so majestic and proud! Even the wilting one looked like it was bowing bashfully instead of dying.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw wisteria at the window! Just like how I had always visualised my sanctuary. More than anything else, I had wanted wisteria at my window. But how did I climb that far up?  

Of course I could not explain the flowers in the birdcage too. Or the white grape hyacinth.

And definitely not the rambling roses!

Oh my, those roses!

They were on the roof!

A roof that has turned from harsh, dry streaks to a lush moss green!  

There were only two things I was sure of. Every single one of those flowers were flowers I love and I had bought the seeds of these flowers from that old man. I definitely didn't remember planting them though or how. 

Bewildered, amazed and overwhelmed, I was walking around the house, trying to let everything sink in when I saw 

the ladder.

And that was when I remember.

Day 364-365- Housing The Homeless

I am no gardener but somehow I know.

This is where my unwanted plants belong. 

I knew I had to do as much as I could in that 1 week between Christmas and New Year before I had to surrender myself once again to the relentless demands we call Life. So for everyday in that week, I took my basket of gardening implements and pots of homeless, dying flowers to the abandoned house and started digging, trimming, watering, feeding.

I didn't have to plan.
 The House told me what to do. 

It said: Look at the sunrise orange flower on the decorated front door. This is where the once dying roses shall adorn.

Then it directed: After you are done with the blazing roses, go to the wall of the broken window. This is your next canvas. Use the faded murals to start composing and bring life back to my once glorious vases. You must not stop until you have painstakingly re-created my still life with the wild flowers. 

Thus I worked, day, night, then day again, then night and in the wee hours of one morning, just as I plucked and planted what I thought was the last stalk before my rest, the house called my name.

My dear Sans, you must sow the seeds for a curtain of vines before noon; a curtain heavy enough to protect my art from the harsh sunlight yet sheer enough not to obstruct its view  from afar. 

Don't forget the colours, the whisper continued, I want them for compare and contrast.

I tried, I really did but my mind was in a sleep-deprived stupor and my eyes were already half closed. 

That was when I felt my hands left me, as if in a dream and I saw how the House took complete control of them. They moved deftly, through the painted vines on the rickety spindle posts and planted, plucked and placed. They knew that the peach flowers should grow where the single carved flower was and they knew where the lilac patch should be. 

When dawn broke, I woke and saw that the curtain was sewn. 

Thick enough for a shade, 
sheer enough for a view. 

I was exhausted and reluctantly I left but not before I carelessly sprinkled the contents from an old, neglected packet of seeds along the edge of the house. 

Day 367-Basket Of Tools

I had been working. Almost all my waking hours, I was consumed with trying to finish. 

Now that the holidays are over, I have had to stop. Soon, I will show you what I have done thus far.