on orchids

He was here this weekend, visiting, and it felt like he had never left. We went for a long walk today -- breakfast at the counter at Joe's (only $4.50 for eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast) and then May Wah Market for green tea powder (for my next ice cream recipe) and then the magazine section at Green Apple Books.

When we came back to the apartment, he said: "So how are the orchids?" He has this way of touching plants, of lifting leaves, gently. He grew up farming. He knows.

So I am trying now to fix our orchids. I am supposed to be watering them and repotting them and re-staking them while he is gone. But they are on a shelf too high for me to reach without a stool, so I always forget to do what I should be doing.

And now our orchids are infested with mealybugs, probably largely due to underwatering, which makes a plant more susceptible to pests. These mealybugs don't look much different from the dreaded vine mealybug, which I wrote about in great length in my former life. The bugs are white and oblong-shaped with thin horizontal stripes. And they look sort of fuzzy, like they're covered in cotton. And they secrete a sweet, sticky juice that ants like to eat. Hence, mealybugs are often called ant cows. (I can't believe I know this stuff.)

I should have noticed the mealybugs earlier. I shouldn't have even let the plants get to this point. Instead, I just spent at least an hour -- possibly more -- attempting not to be completely sicked out, then researching what to do next and then cleaning each leaf and crevice with alcohol and a Q-tip.

I tell myself, At least, this is a distraction. At least, I am thinking about something else, something besides the day he'll be in town for good.