Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Some wonderful stuff from "the jungle"....

Motivation. Hmmm...I wonder where mine went.
I have been sitting here at my computer for the past couple of hours and other than check out twenty or thirty a few videos on YouTube and "play with" some pictures, I haven't really gotten anything accomplished. My Google Reader is up to 118 posts that are patiently waiting for me to read.....and though I really do want to go and read them all.....I'm having a hard time doing just that. Am hoping that "this too shall pass" and I'll be ready to kick some blog-reading-butt tomorrow night!

Today....when I was outside hanging out some laundry (SEE!!! I did get something accomplished today!!), I realized that, smooshed in the middle of the K-Man's raspberry bushes and the cactus that has gotten out of control....there is this growing....

Seriously....I didn't even know we had a gladiola planted!!! What an incredibly, wonderful surprise!!! The best thing is.... it is in a place where it can't be stepped on and will be safe...until someone decides to cut it and put it in one of my really nice vases in the entrance way of our house!!!

I also noticed that our kinkan (金柑) tree ("kumquat" tree) is blooming!!! Kumquats sound so exotic, don't they?? I have to admit that, until I came to Japan, I had never actually seen one...let alone eaten one!!! The blossoms are very tiny, white flowers that smell......very sweet. They have a honeysuckle-ish aroma...except about 10 times stronger!!! Kind of like a honeysuckle on speed. You don't really have to get very close to the tree at all...from a few feet away you can smell the sweetness. And....you can hear the bees!!! Lordy, lordy....we got ourselves a bunch of buzzin' going on right now!!!

The fruit of the kinkan is small and orange, sometimes round but usually oval in shape. They are very small....the boys usually just grab some off the tree and pop them into their mouths...eating the whole thing in one bite!! The neighbor ladies will come and pick most of what they can reach (and ones that haven't been eaten by the boys!!), when it's time, and they make a marmalade/jam that is great in hot tea.... especially, if you have a sore or scratchy throat....the kinkan jam with some honey in a cup of tea is really good.

Aaaahhhh.....and now a little something for me ..and you, too, if you're into this sort of thing {teehee}.....if not...just keep going...there's nothing more for you here. See you again soon!!! :-D

10 comments:

Mrs. G. said...

They're such pretty little fruit-the man ain't so bad either.

Janet said...

he could feed you kinkan and possibly make it into a lovely perfume for you :-)

C. said...

You know that if you pull the bulb of the gladiola out 14 days after it blooms and then put in a paper bag somewhere dark and replant it in the spring it will keep multiplying...I have 12 plants this year. I started with one. Love them!!

The Girl Next Door said...

That lyin' cheatin' stinkin' man-whore. He said he loved ME best. Sigh. I just can't compete with your....fruit.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Our neighbor has a kumquat tree and we love it. I bet that jam is delicious. As is that man!

stephanie said...

That hand, it is a good one. And the stuff about flowers and kumquats, etc. is interesting too.

:D

ms-teacher said...

I have never had a kumquat! Loved the pictures of the flowers, but loved that last pic the best :)

Anonymous said...

mmmm, kumquats!

3rdEyeMuse said...

a gladiola and a cactus in the background - what a great juxtaposition! and a beautiful bloom, too. :)

Hula Girl at Heart said...

I don't know which surprise is best, the gladiola or Matthew at the end. God, he makes my toes tingle.