love to listen / Grimes

If you haven't heard Grimes yet, you definitely should! I was at London Calling last year where she played. The upstairs room where she played was stuffed with people, so I watched her in the main hall. I didn't know her yet, else I would have tried to get in anyway. She even got a hall full of people dancing with just her projection on a screen! Amazing! Ever since I've listened to her a lot. Her clips are also amazing. So here you go:

things I do / dance

What else do I do:

I dance!!
I follow ballet lessons once a week and for the last 5 months I've participated in an choreography project. Last friday and saturday we had to perform our piece, which was a modern dance made by our teacher and ourselves. We had such a good time and our group was great! Definitely doing it again next year!

today

Today is lovely. I said goodbye to the boy yesterday, had an exhilarating night dancing in a performance we've been working on for 5 months and had a good time with friends. Today I'm taking over the house, put my big computer in the living room and moved the coffee table out of the way so I can relax and weave and dance as much as I want.
Hope you have a lovely sunday as well!

More on plants - saving an invested plant

I have loads of pests on my balcony, slugs, thrips, aphids and what not. I'm doing my utter best to get healthy plants, but as a city gardener, my options are limited. I can't always plant different species next to each other to help each other. So I thought I'd share some of my tips and tricks and experiments. This time: an experiment.

My once beautiful rosemary wasn't looking so beautiful anymore... It's green leaves had developed yellow spots as you can see. Not very edible looking... On closer investigation I found thrips! These are tiny flying bugs, who live on sucking your plant empty. They can be hard to spot, but I managed to photograph an adult, see below. I think the larvae live on the underside of the leaves and the adult on both sides. 

Since yellow leaves won't turn green again, I made up the next plan: I would try to grow new plants from cuttings. This I have done before, with 50% success (1 cutting died, the other one is growing into a beautiful plant!). So I cut all the healthy looking tops, removed the lower leaves and stuck them in water. I checked every cutting at least two times in case there were any thrips left on them. 

With a bit of luck and time the stems will grow tiny little roots. It took quite a lot of time the first time, but now it's summer, so I expect quicker growth. When tiny roots appear I stick them in the ground and hope for the best. It is important to refresh the water at least twice a week. Also make sure none of the leaves are in the water, just the stems. 

As for the rest of the plant: I cut it down! All the way to the ground. I kept the stump in the ground, as an extra chance for the plant to regrow. I put the cuttings in a plastic bag, so hopefully the thrips didn't fly to my other plants. I keep checking them a lot and squeezing any of those buggers when I see them. 

I'll keep you updated on any growth or death

p.s. can you see my nailpolish matching my balcony floor?!

Plant porn

I can't help it, plants make me so very very happy. I love their colors, the way they grow, flowers, seeds, roots, fruits, leaves, I can go on an on. Taking care of them fills me with joy and sometimes I even cry when a beloved one dies.

The plants on my balcony have had a bad start this year, because of the cold bad weather. I hope they will be more lush soon, so I can share an update, which will including my beautiful blue balcony floor.

I think I got my love for plants from my dad. When he lived in a flat with my mother, before any kids were born, his house used to look like a jungle. A genuine jungle, with plants growing from floor to ceiling. I know I have to restrain myself from not buying or growing too much plants. My boy shivers lightly every time I tell him I've been to the garden centre and maybe found a new way to add yet another plant to the house. I'll just have to wait for the time we'll have a garden!

Here are two of my newest plants. The left one I grew from a cutting, same way as this one. I also made the hanging basket for the pot. The right one I bought.

Spring!

My boy calls me Hiawatha, who is actually a boy, but never mind that.


Skirt - thrifted, top - Monki, necklace - my own

Love to listen - Tunng

Sometimes I love Spotify. Normally I only listen to artists I'm familiar with, but every now and again I search for similar artists. It's not often I find music I love this way, but now I did. Listen to Tunng:

Also: I've updated my blog a bit, what do you think?