Weeds and Plants

When you fly into Doha, what you see out the window right before you land is not impressive. It's brown, dusty, flat, yucky. Not exciting at all. So last year I occupied myself with growing a baby. This year we have a small moving baby that makes noise and acts cute for us. We are so grateful for the cute baby we have.

But I need another project. So I decided to plant a garden. A very small one. In my windowsill. Another reason I decided to plant some plants was because I was inspired by this book I'm reading. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. Whenever I read it, I feel the guilty push to do something to connect my children with nature. Of course, it's really really easy to rationalize my way out of it because HELLO EVERYBODY, I LIVE IN DOHA! How could I possibly connect my children with nature here?

I actually have two answers to my lame question. Desert=nature. Ocean=nature. It's not like I have nothing to work with here. But, for the days that I can't go traipsing around in the desert or run off to the beach, I needed a reminder that I do live on a planet that can give life. So I bought all the supplies I needed down at the plant souqs. Potting soil, a planter box, and seeds. The kids were excited about the seeds. They each chose what they wanted to grow. Atticus chose cabbage, Sherman chose tomatoes, and Cinci chose peppers. Something they each like to eat. I chose radishes because I knew they wouldn't take much time or effort to grow. And I was right. They were the first to sprout.

Since we started our garden two weeks ago, Sherman has managed to dump Cinci's plant out on purpose, and even with two tries at planting, Cinci's plant hasn't sprouted. I think he's got the habit of over watering. Don't most kids?

I've planted some flowers. Can you believe that I planted some outdoors on my windowsill and they sprouted in two days. Two days! Doha is a magical land of wonderful sunlight, all year round.

So now I have several plants to care for. It's nice to have living things growing up around you. Living things like vegetables or flowers, not those four very large weeds we have tumbling around our house. Just kidding. They are nice too. But they tumble a lot and sometimes I get tired of the constant tumbling. Oh well. These little plants that are growing on my window are quiet and still and green. They make me smile.