Treeful

When Evey was an infant, we found a wonderful daycare lady in our neighborhood. Mrs. Jan kept her from the age of four and a half months until just past age 3, when she could start full time pre-school. On her last day with Mrs. Jan, Evey was given a little gift to take with her. It was a small cutting in a styrofoam coffee cup from Mrs. Jan's philodendron. Evey was so proud of it. She named it Treeful.

Over the years, Treeful graduated out of the styrofoam cup into a small pot, then a bigger pot, and a bigger pot, and a BIGGER pot. He is now 21 years old and lives on our lanai.

We used to keep him in the living room where the temperatures never fluctuated too much. It ranged from 66 to 80 degrees. (The only exception was the blizzard of 2010 when we lost our power for 26 hours and the temperature dropped to 52 indoors.) Treeful is a philodendron, after all, which means he is a vine native to the Amazon jungle areas. He likes low light because his relatives in the Amazon grow near the bottom of the forest. He likes to climb and spread out looking for that light at the top of the tree tops. He loves humidity, and he does not like the temperatures to go below 65, although up to 105 is just fine. Our lanai is perfect for him most of the time!

NOT NOW!! This morning it was cold out there. The thermometer says 62, so I'm sure he is surviving. It's going to go up to a high of 74 later today, but tonight it's going down into the fifties. The lanai tends to stay warmer than the outdoors, but I'm thinking it is time to bring Treeful indoors today. After all, I left him indoors last winter because we were in Maryland. I didn't want him freezing out there with no one at home to bring him in, so I just left him on the kitchen table the whole time.

I don't want him on the kitchen table now because we use it everyday! And did I mention that Treeful is BIG!! So this morning, Mark and I have mulled over several places we could put him that would give him light but not have him in our way. So far, the best choices are the living room, behind the kitchen table on the floor, in the bedrooms by the windows, or in the master bathroom in the giant tub. I'll let you know tomorrow which one we pick. I'll probably not experiment because he's BIG and HEAVY! We will make our decision, and then move him only once. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it. Meanwhile, here's a picture of him on the lanai this morning.

I also have a small plant that was a holiday present to me from one of my English teacher co-workers at Catonsville High. Thanks, Marie! Your angel plant is doing just fine, too. He's also had some transplants over the years. I think he's about five years old now. I have never given him a name, but I think she said it was called an angel plant. I think I just named HER Angel! LOL! I never thought about that plant being a female before. Treeful is definitely male, but I think Angel is female. I plan to bring Angel in as well because I don't know that she's going to like cold weather either. (FYI: The first picture is Angel, the one in the little pot sitting on top of a microwave oven. The second is Treeful, sitting on a box in a big green pot and growing up a trellis!)

Also, this morning the biggest tom turkey I have ever seen in our neighborhood strutted through our back yard. He looked like Thanksgiving dinner for 50!!

Time to eat breakfast because soon we are leaving for synagogue services. There is a bar mitzvah today. I had best be careful if we stay for the luncheon. I'm doing fairly well. I had about 1600 calories Wednesday, 2700 Thursday, and 1500 yesterday. I walked about 20 minutes yesterday and swam a few laps. This morning I am down a bit over five pounds since Wednesday morning. The weather today will be very nice for a nice long outdoor walk. I hope I actually get out there and do it!

Have a fantastic day.