Pleasant hours

I was shopping. Again. Driving around by bus saves lots of money because it is impossible to buy more than you can carry. It doesn't save time, though.Then I joined the party. I met some friends and talked to people. It was nice, it was pleasant. We said those words, good wishes for a new year. Because most likely we won't see each other until mid January.

Another pleasant moment awaited me this morning when Ž said: "What's this - is this plant blooming?" Indeed, a croton (Codiaeum variegatum) showed its first flower. Actually there are two, male and female. I wanted to post a photo of it but the light is still terrible over here. I bought this plant for less than 1 Euro more than 10 years ago. It looked half dead but it was so cheap that I gave it a try. It was about 20 cm high then with couple of leaves. Today it is more than 1,5 m high and it occupies quite a large space in my living room. I had to cut it almost to its roots six years ago because it was infected by red spider mite and it almost died because of that. Most of the time it was growing in a pot which had eventually become too small for the plant, so it started to drop its leaves this summer. I replanted it and then it dropped more than half of its leaves. At the same time the new ones started to grow, and now - it is showing us its first bloom!

Little joys of these last days before holidays. Hope yours are nice, too. Happy holidays!