Christmas Cactus Crunching Cat

09Jun06

…how's that for some alliteration?

Notice the holes in some of the arms? And the dead, brown edges of others? This is what happened while I wasn't paying attention!

Here's the story -

My mom has had a Christmas Cactus for as long as I can remember (is that their real name?), and it sat on her back porch for years. When I asked her about it once, she said it had been her mother's (my Grammy). After I got over the shock that a houseplant could actually live that long (I'm not known for having a green thumb, unless I paint it myself trying to fool nature), she told me that it blooms when it's supposed to (I guess from December through February?), but it also was blooming when Grammy died in June 1985. About 8 years later, it bloomed when her sister, my Great-Aunt Raisie died in August. Two years ago, their other sister, my Great-Aunt Helen, died and it was blooming. No one in our family finds this odd or even a little morbid – it just is. That plant means so much to my mom and she understood how much the connection to Grammy meant to me so guess what I got for Christmas? A Christmas Cactus! I can't see one of these plants without thinking of my mom and grandmother, so, naturally, I love it!

But they don't need to be watered too often, so I found myself only really paying it attention when I dusted my furniture (oh, the shame of dusty end tables!). One night, I was watching a movie and noticed my furry feline climbing up on the stand this plant sat on. When I got up to shoo her away, I found teeth marks and eaten stems! I know cats like green stuff, but why my beloved cactus?! Could you pass me the cheese to go with the wine?

The picture above was taken with the new Sony camera a couple days ago. The plant is actually healing very nicely and is sprouting new growth (notice the pink tips). If the scars never completely heal, maybe I can just consider them part of our family legacy and Christmas Cactus story!

I hope I haven't bored you too much (if you've even gotten this far!)…. so just for kicks, here's a picture of a beautiful sunset colored rose from the Rose Festival…

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