Sunday 5 June 2016

A Tale of Two Cacti

One of the items I brought home from my mother's house is a very unusual family heirloom.  It is a Christmas cactus that we can trace to my great grandmother.  Her name was the same as mine - Mary Jane.  She went by Jane.  She passed away in 1938.  My mother inherited the plant when Jane's youngest daughter, Hazel passed away in 1977.  It did not like the spot in my mother's house where it lived.  It was yellowing and rather sad looking.  I used all my strength to lift the large clay pot it was in and put it in the passenger seat of my car.  Over the course of the trip home in the full sun in the car the plant turned a dark green again.

As soon as I could buy some new potting soil, I repotted the plant.  Here is the old one.


Over the years it had cracked.  The salts in the soil crusted over the top and were eating away at the pot.  I bought a new clay pot and here is Jane's cactus in its new home.

I like having the plant.  It feels like a living connection to a fellow knitter even though we never met.  The only memory my mother has of her grandmother is Jane's funeral.  Jane was a knitter.  I learned this when I found a copy of her obituary.  According to the newspaper, many residents of the area where she lived were the beneficiary of her knitting largesse.


 I already had my own Christmas Cactus.  It gives me a connection to my own past.  I bought a home in 1988 when I was single and starting a new job in a new city.  TD Bank held the mortgage and they sent me a collection of plants in a single pot as a thank you for signing with the Bank.  The plants soon outgrew the single pot so I separated them.  There were five.  I still have 3 of them.  One sadly had to go to make room for the new cactus.  One of the original 5 was also a Christmas Cactus.  I always thought it was doing well in my house.  It grew and bloomed each year.  It stayed a nice green.  I thought it was happy.  I don't know if plants experience jealousy but as soon as Jane's cactus arrived, mine started to drop leaves.  Not one  leaf here or there but whole branches.  It is still drooping and I am worried about it.

Here is mine.


It looks fine in the photo but it is about 2/3 the size it was two weeks ago.  I am still afraid the branch on the left may go next.

The long weekend was taken up by a yard sale at my mother's.

Here is what I learned at the yard sale:

  1. People will buy the strangest things.   My brother and I argued about this one.  I toured the near empty back garage with him to see what else we could put out for sale.  There were two pike poles.  Just the poles.  The pike ends were missing.  My brother said they were useless -  poles without pikes.  I insisted that we should put them out anyway.  Within 5 minutes they were gone.  A lady thought they would be perfect for attaching to bird houses.  The tire chains for a long gone tractor soon followed - chain is chain.  An old rope sold and a coil of old wire soon went too.
  2. It is a great way to meet the neighbours.  Over the course of the sale just about all the neighbours stopped by.  Sad to meet them now that my mother is moving.
  3. Most people don't know where they are.  My mother lived on Four Mile Creek Road.  If you are driving on Four Mile Creek Road, why would you think that the body of water you are driving along is called anything other than Four Mile Creek?  I was asked numerous times what that body of water was called behind the house.
  4. Sometimes a $1.00 can bring happiness.  Our happiest customer was a little girl of about 4 years of age.  She bought a box of barbie dolls with a few hand made clothes then proceeded to sit on the grass happily playing with the dolls while her father examined the rest of the items on sale.  Once he was done and she packed up the dolls, she insisted on telling all the other people at the sale about her purchase.
  5. Stop accumulating Stuff. Possessions can become shackles.  Our memories are in our heads.  They should not be imbued in our things.  Stuff simply becomes a burden for someone to deal with later. (I get the irony here from my earlier comments and the ones that follow)
Following the sale, Hubby and I filled each of our cars with things from my mother's house.  Monday night we started purging our our house of stuff to make room for the stuff from my Mother's house.  We have made some progress.  There are boxes in the garage for shredding.  We took boxes of books to a used book store and sold them.  Each week I have an extra garbage bag out on the curb with things I realize I don't need or want.

I think I like the stuff I knit because if you use it then it will wear out and there should be no guilt when it is tossed.  There is irony here too.  I took two sweaters from my mother that my Aunt Irene knit.  They are now stored next to the sweater she knit for me.  Now there are three sweaters in the spare closet I can't wear.

There has been some progress on the knitting front.  I finished the cushion entry.  Finished is not quite the right word.  It still needs to be blocked, assembled and stuffed.


The pattern called for the back to be plain stockinette.  I had enough yarn so I made the back and front patterned.  That way it should wear better in use as it will be fully reversible.

The pattern is the Interlaced Cable Cushion from Hayfield's Bonus Aran Tweed #9804.  The yarn is Briggs and Little Heritage 100% wool in colourway Sheeps Grey.  Both pattern and yarn were picked up at the Little Red Mitten in St Thomas on my last visit there.

I have started the Tea Cosy.


The pattern is Sheep Carousel by Kate Davies.  I love Kate's description of it as a Jolly Tea Pot Cosy.  It starts with a provisional cast on with waste yarn, hence the orange yarn at the bottom.  I am at the second Vikkel Braid and then there is just the top shaping left to knit.  Of course it will have to be blocked, the steeks for the spout and handle cut and finished but it is almost done.  Right?

The yarn I am using is Harrisville Shetland in colourways Toffee and White.  Toffee was as close as I could come to the moorit colourway called for in her pattern.  Again, the yarn was purchased at Little Red Mitten.

I should be able to start the blocking process.  I like to block items on the double bed in the spare room.  It has been out of commission for a while as it was covered in things from my mother.  I have cleared the bed now and it is available for use again.

I decided to check my progress towards my goal of 42 items.  I ended up depressed instead.

I have:
  • 19 actual completed items.  They are now stored in a lovely tall boy dresser from my mother's house.  The dresser was a gift to my father from my grandmother June 2, 1969.  At least that is what it says on the back.
  • 5 items awaiting blocking and finishing.
  • 1 item on the needles in progress.
  • 4 projects chosen but not yet started.
  • 13 items where I I haven't a clue what pattern or yarn I will use.
There are 12 weeks and 3 days left to go.

1 comment:

  1. Glad to see the blog back!!!
    The Christmas Cactus story is quite intriguing as far as the age of Jane's plant is concerned and it is also mysterious, seeing that your very own plant is now suffering some ill effects.

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