Guess the Plant

The last week has been a busy one.  My husband has been taking vacation, which does not mean to him what it means to most people.  It does not mean pina coladas under a palm tree; it means Projects with a capital P.  We replaced an old door and two windows on our second-floor sun porch with a sliding glass door – and when I say “we,” I mean my husband and me, no lovely little construction crew.  That means we had to frame in a new opening, and then carry the door up a flight of stairs.  My husband does most of the work and I do anything an 8-year-old boy would normally do – pick up nails and insulation scraps, fetch the tools, remember the measurements, etc.  And carry big heavy doors.

I would post the pictures, but first we need to fix up the balcony.  The new door makes it look a little sad. It’s like getting a new dress, and realizing your shoes and purse now look shabby in comparison.

Then we had  a quick trip out to Del Rio for a brush management seminar ( I bet you didn’t know “brush sculpting” is an actual job skill).  Part of the seminar was plant identification, which, looking back, I think might have been unnecessary.  In the Texas Hill Country, there are only three plants you really need to know- blueberry juniper,  redberry juniper, and mesquite.  Those three are the problems and everything else is desirable in comparison.  And if you’ve got blueberry juniper, (which we do) you thank God every night, because that’s the only one that there is a hope of managing.

This reminds me of my favorite want ad ever, from my favorite newspaper, The Mohair Weekly. ( I am not making that up.)  Someone figured out all the skills a ranch hand actually needs and put them in the ad.  Notice the salary offered.  The ad is from 2002.

So all of this is my way of saying that my farm and ranchita have gotten in the way of my usually stellar textile production this week.

Fortunately, there is one little project that is progressing on its own.  This beautiful plant is my protest against the scary monocultures of the multinational companies, and it will provide samples I can share with kids when I do textile talks.

That ought to be enough hints.  But did you know how beautiful it is?  It deserves to be planted everywhere, just as a landscape plant.  Can you guess it?