I got the surprise of my life yesterday morning while watering our houseplants. Another one of our cacti is blooming -- and this one has never bloomed before! It's the left-hand cactus in this post. What's funny is, I had always imagined that if this cactus ever bloomed, the flowers would be pink. It's like I manifested them.
It's only blooming on the side that faces a sunny window, which is interesting. I feel a little bad that it's putting so much effort into flowers when there are no pollinators around, but I get to enjoy them, at least. (When I crane my neck to see them on the opposite side of the plant!)
I had a busy morning yesterday doing all the predictable things that I do around here -- cleaning the house and mowing the lawn and plant caretaking. I intended to go through our old paperwork and shred some of it, because seriously, we are saving things that are of no use to anyone. I discovered that while fishing around for documents for our citizenship application. But I just didn't have the heart to immediately tackle that project.
I will say this about computers -- it's great to go paperless and have so much stored digitally, as many things are nowadays.
Of course I would never throw away my elementary school annuals, which I came across in my rummaging. Here's my fourth grade class. Can you find me? Hint: I had the biggest forehead in the room.
What's funny is, I still remember many of these kids' names. Not all of them, but many. I don't know who that kid in the second row is with the bowl haircut, looking like Cousin Oliver from "The Brady Bunch." And I don't know why Gary wrote that I have a bad temper. He was a pal so I'm sure it was a joke. Mrs. Herb, my teacher, didn't have her photo taken so she drew herself in, with eyelashes weirdly on the bottom of her eyes.
Oh, and Melissa's last name was not "Mouse," despite being from Florida and thus potentially related to Mickey. I'm not sure she was even in my class -- her photo's not there, in any case.
My tax preparer got back to me with our completed US return yesterday. I looked it over but it was huge -- 50-something pages with worksheets and supplemental material, far bigger than any return I ever prepared myself. That accountant knows how to parse everything properly. I could really only skim through it to make sure it basically made sense, and it did. So I signed it and Dave signed it, and it's been filed and we've paid what we owe (not too much).
Next, we get to do our UK taxes! Woo hoo! (Sarcasm, in case that wasn't clear.)
Perhaps turn the cactus so the other side faces the sun? Or would that conduit?! (I wrote "confuse it" ...predictive is getting beyond a joke)
ReplyDeleteI have a shredding session every year at this time..unless it is something important or business related everything over two tax years old goes.
It sounds like a good Idea having a specialist doing the tax filing with that much paperwork to do!!
It's worked so hard to bloom on the sunny side, I don't want to deprive it by turning the plant! Shredding is always a cleansing experience.
DeleteYou haven't changed at all! - maybe less hair - a lot less hair!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can't even remember what it felt like to have hair like that!
DeleteWhat a lovely surprise to see your cactus bloom just as you imagined, alongside a nostalgic dive into your fourth-grade memories and the triumph of conquering a 50-page U.S. tax return—good luck with round two in the UK!
ReplyDeleteI am not looking forward to it -- but again, at least I have a professional preparer.
DeleteWere the black kids ill or on vacation the day that the photographer came to your elementary school? I guess they would have been in the scroll, flowers and palette squares. I like to put the cora herb in goulash.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure there were any black students in my elementary school. By the time I got to high school, there were about three. We lived in a lily-white suburban area, though we did get Mexican students in the winters, mostly of migrant fruit pickers.
DeleteI had a cactus like that and I think it only flowered once, but all over and it was quite spectacular. I was about 18 and I've no idea what happened to it.
ReplyDeleteI struggle to recognise myself in some old school photos.
It really is a bit like looking at a different person, isn't it?
DeleteI love that you have all your grade school annuals. I’d scan them, but I wouldn’t part with the originals either. My grade school photos were all very “white bread,” as well. I’ve only got my 1st, 4th, and 9th-grade photos. 9th grade was a bit more diverse. We had a multi-headed cactus like that in full sun on the terrace in Fuengirola that bloomed almost year-round. What a major treat that was. I’m amazed at what you accomplish on a window sill in London.
ReplyDeleteI have annuals for 4th, 5th and 6th grades, and then yearbooks for each year in middle and high school. I guess before 4th grade I didn't know about them, or maybe they didn't even exist that far back.
DeleteThe cactus flowers are very delicate, and the color is great. My cactus has never bloomed so I love seeing a cactus in flower.
ReplyDeleteYour 4th grade class group photo is adorable. I have a few class photos too. The photos are a flashback to childhood and lots of memories.
I was stunned that this one bloomed finally! I'd about given up on it.
DeleteI have none of my grade school annuals, I guess my mother must have them. I do have my first yearbook in my first year of teaching. My how I've aged!
ReplyDeleteYou should ask your mother about them next time you see her!
DeleteAlthough I have had some of my same houseplants for nearly 50 years, counting their years with my mom, cacti tend to be short lived. I guess spending my entire life in the Midwest doesn't give me the knowledge base for watering them properly.
ReplyDeleteOnly 50 pages? I think if I included all my worksheets, my taxes this year were close to 80 pages. I usually only print out the required pages for filing in case I have to recreate them in the next three years and that alone was around 25 pages. As someone else said on their blog recently, anyone who talks about simplifying our tax code has got my attention!
I have the cactus in special cactus compost and I water infrequently -- maybe every three weeks, or even monthly.
DeleteThe cactus is so pretty.
ReplyDeleteYour class photograph is lovely. I have none of mine. I don't think we had class photos, just singles, or maybe we did and my parents didn't want a class photograph. I have one of my father's when he was about 4 or 5 in 1908 or thereabouts.
We never took group photos either. We just got single shots which were compiled into the format you see above, so it's kind of like a group shot but without the faff!
DeleteI have some of my annuals & I'm conflicted about them. Sometimes I like to look people up, but really do I NEED them?
ReplyDeleteI look at them rarely but I would never get rid of them!
DeleteI have a bin of school things that my Mom saved from elementary school to college! I wonder what my kids will do with it all when I'm gone?
ReplyDeleteI inherited similar stuff from my mom when she died --- my old report cards and that kind of thing. I don't really want any of it but I don't dare throw it out!
DeleteI was looking at some succulents at Trader Joe's yesterday and I should have bought one but I am in that weird place right now where making even the simplest decision is beyond me so I didn't but I thought of you and your pretty little cacti.
ReplyDeleteYes. I found you in that page. Big brains require big foreheads. My elementary school was so poor we had nothing like an album. Not one darn thing. We did get school pictures. And I don't think that elementary or middle schools did things like that when I was in them. You know, when dinosaurs walked the earth.
Ha! I think the year I bought this annual, my 4th grade year, was perhaps the first year our school offered a "classbook." I don't ever remember one before this.
DeleteSuch delicate blossoms, great picture. While I can remember most names of my school mates, I have a hard time recognising them now esp the men, wonder why (hair?).
ReplyDeleteHair (or lack thereof) makes a big difference!
DeleteYou have reminded me that I need to do some shredding soon. My home office is becoming too full with overflowing paper files.
ReplyDeleteIt's an essential task, but tedious!
DeleteIt's always a pleasant surprise when we discover a cactus bloom.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was in this case!
DeleteI found you in that photo! That's a fun photo. I don't recall getting one anything liike it. Just those little individual photos.
ReplyDeleteThat cactus looks great. I see lots of those with the tiny little flowers at the botanical garden. They always make me think the cactus is wearing a floral crown.
They do look a bit crown-like, especially when they're in a full circle.
DeleteWhy do you have to pay taxes in the US when you don't live there?
ReplyDeleteMy shredder broke down, so I need to buy a new one. Buying things has become a quagmire of where was it made? How much does it cost? Sigh. Not a huge problem but I did notice that a bag of three romaine lettuces has gone up from $7 to $10. Thanks you piece of shit trump.
All US citizens must file an income tax return, regardless of where we live. It's the law. (We can also continue to vote no matter where we live.)
DeleteI used to shred stuff at home but now I take it to school and put it in the shredder box. We have a company that comes and empties it frequently and securely shreds it all.
You went to school with Cousin Oliver????
ReplyDeleteApparently!
DeleteAre you blondish? Taxes are no fun and the more pages, the more you have to pay the CPA. :( I owed $8500 more in taxes this year which was a big ouch.
ReplyDeleteYes, "blondish" is a good way to describe me at that age. That IS a big ouch! My US bill was far less than that, but my UK bill is more.
DeleteAren't old school photos fun?! I have all my class photos and with the exception of Kindergarten (which wasn't public) and first grade, all mine have little black children as well as white children in them. Ours were always taken on the stage, standing on risers.
ReplyDeleteWe had virtually no black kids in our school (or even living in our area). It didn't strike me as unusual until later.
DeleteI found u, u haven’t changed x
ReplyDeleteWell, I weigh more. :D
DeleteSweet. Maybe those are freckles?
ReplyDeleteI did have freckles as a kid!
DeleteI saw you right away. British citizenship eh? I get it.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have a backup plan!
DeleteI just now remembered to look for my mother's Russian Dressing recipe. I found it along with recipes for French and Thousand Island! The Russian Dressing is the only one cooked on the stove. The other two are just blend and chill.
ReplyDeleteOh, interesting! Maybe that's why Russian is darker -- because it's cooked?
DeleteAre you the boy in the first column from the left, third row from the top?
ReplyDeleteI am not keen on cacti, but I like it that one of yours surprised you with pink flowers just like you had imagined them if it would ever have any blossoms.
Yep, that's me! I am very surprised the cactus bloomed exactly as I imagined it.
DeleteWe didn't get grade school yearly albums, nor high school either, thr=ough I htink some schools here do that now. We did have yearly photos taken, but I have no idea where mine are. All I have is a photocopy of my 6th grade class and it's on paper not even photo paper. I kept all my kids school photos in photo albums for them.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine not having a high school yearbook. That's such a tradition in the USA. (And it makes money for the school photo companies!)
DeleteMaybe you should rotate the cactus once a week so both sides get sun.
ReplyDelete