Scribbler's Cafe

Bonsai! Bonsai!

I buy a bonsai for my desk. My first bonsai. The woman at the flower shop speaks a little bit of English. Brilliant. I linger in her shop. She tells me the name of the strange yellow vegetable with all the nodules pointing off in different directions. I think the veggie looks hilarious and say so. She wraps one up for me to take home, free of charge. She gives me extensive directions on how to care for my bonsai. In the morning, I am supposed to put the little tree outside on my sunny balcony and drench the rocky bottom in filtered water. When it starts to get dark, I’m supposed to bring the tree inside and spritz it lightly with a fine mist.

Not gonna happen.

I love plants, but I’ll never be called diligent in my care for them. I almost feel sorry for the plants I choose at the shop. Their days are numbered from the minute I lay hands on them. This bonsai will get some extra sun when I remember and I’ll try to water it at least every other day. We’ll see how long it can hang in there. When it finally kicks the bucket, it’s death will give me a good excuse to go back to the flower shop and speak some glorious English.

Last Friday was family karaoke night. We took Kiomye to the karaoke place just a few blocks away from our house. Our friend Abby came along to. We prepped Kio by telling her we were going to play superstars and sing songs. Kio kept asking on the way, “Am I a stupor star? Are you a stupor star? Is Abby a stupor star?”

Karaoke is a great activity for toddlers. We get our own padded, sound proof room where Kiomye can bounce off the walls and climb over the seats without disturbing any uptight Japanese strangers. We handed her the microphone right off the bat and her entire face lit up when she realized it would amplify her voice and she could hear her own singing coming out of the overhead speakers. Kiomye totally rocked out. When she wasn’t singing, she was dancing like a maniac. We even found tambourines for her to bang on. Good stuff. Yet, while I say that karaoke is great for toddlers, I mean that only if the adults that come along don’t really want to sing their own songs and are prepared to cut their fun short if the toddler gets too sleepy and loses it in he karaoke room, banging the microphone and her head on the concrete floor. Yep. Kiomye only lasted about twenty minutes. It was a glorious twenty minutes.

posted by Scribbler @ Monday, October 04, 2004