Tuesday 15 May 2007

"Tom leaves home"

Oh, it is with much trepidation that I write this, "Blog" being totally alien to me, but I must progress beyond just mere emails, so here goes....
22nd April 2007
Chaomi has trusted me to look after and nurture a tomato plant (obviously oblivious to my lack of green fingers - this is the woman who managed to kill a yukka plant and most other green things). Anyway, I call my plant Tom and our journey together begins. We leave the safety of Chaomi's and take the relatively short walk to my house, the wind trying it's hardest to destroy Tom before I even get him home. So his new life starts, on the window sill in my kitchen, watching the world go by............
15th May 2007
Tom is looking remarkably healthy and has settled into family life well, getting fed at the same time as the cat (I have a better track record with cats, than plants). He is a healthy 18" tall and quite bushy. Am thinking he'll need a bigger pot soon, but can't bring myself to put him outside, as it is too cold.
I am about to push a button called "publish" now.... please send me to where I need to go.....here goes....

4 comments:

Sera said...

Ah, bless Tom, he sounds like a lovely little tomato plant. It's looking a bit sunnier today so hopefully soon it will get warm enought to report him.

A little unrelated to your post, I found this email today from soemone I have no idea about, I think its some bizarre company harrasing people and trying to sell them clothes?

but the email was quite funny. It goes.......................................................
"An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.

Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"


If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.

If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.

If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.

If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But.......




If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.

If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.

If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.

If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.

If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.

If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.

If you plant greed, you will reap loss.

If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.

If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.

If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

So be careful what you plant now, It will determine what you will reap tomorrow, The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today."

The person who sent it is apparently called ALG DONALD?

Hope you're all having a great day!

Sera said...

oops, i meant re pot Tom, not report -unless you want too??!

Sara said...

Ha ha, I thought "report" was some technical tomato grower term of which I knew nothing about....re pot makes much more sense.
Loved the emperor story

chaomious said...

Welcome Tom,I'm glad to hear about you from Wivenhoe. I should introduce you Sarah el who is a friend from the London Met. very talanted and her tomato is "Miss Plum", you can see from the previous story that Miss Plum had an accident,so we hope she get well soon. ChaoMi