Category Archives: Celebrations

It was my birthday on the 24th of this month – I’ve now turned 56!

It’s something that I’ve not celebrated for many years, being a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses but, as I’ve left that organisation, I decided that I’d do something this year, and so our daughter, who is always so busy travelling around the UK, or Europe, or the USA and Canada, decided to visit in time to celebrate with us.

I had wanted to go to a new Vintage Cafe, that has opened in my nearest town of Aberaeron, to have a High Tea treat (something I’ve not had since my Great-Grandmother died when I was 10), and so we booked a table for 3, down at the ground floor, as I can’t manage stairs, ready for my big day.  The place we chose, was here: McCowans, Aberaeron

I had heard good things about it, so we got there, looking forward to a nice meal – and we weren’t disappointed!

I enjoyed it so much, that I wrote a review for Trip Advisor, as it would be great for even more people to know just how good they are – so good, we’ve already booked a meal for our wedding anniversary in October 🙂

High Tea @ McCowans, Aberaeron

I didn’t expect much else for my birthday, as everyone we know were used to me not celebrating, but I got a wonderful card from one of my sisters, made by her own fair hands – and lovely it is, too. I also got wonderful cards from good friends of ours, and also from my hubby and our daughter – and some great pressies, too!

But only a daughter would know that a Unicorn Egg, and a Venus Fly Trap Terrarium would be things to please me greatly! Lol

I was determined to make sure that I kept a pictorial record of my presents, as both from my daughter were meant to develop over time. So I started to take photos of the Unicorn egg first, as it was supposed to be immersed in water, in order to grow.

Within hours of putting it into water, there was a crack in the egg, and, over the next few days, I’ve watched it grow and grow – I’m not sure how much more bigger it will get, but I’ll leave it a few more days more, just to see if it does. I beleive it shrinks back to the size it began with, if you take it out of the water, so I’ll be trying that, too.

I have to admit, for a child’s amusement, it’s kept me so, too 🙂

The Growth of My Unicorn

As for the Terrarium, ever since I saw the first photos of her carniverous plants, posted by a fellow Blogger The Snail of Happiness, I’ve really wanted to attempt to grow some myself – especially as we get plagued by midges and mosquitoes at certain times of the year, living near boggy ground as we do. The delight I felt, when I opened my second present from my daughter, knew no bounds! A Terrarium, and everything I needed to grow around 10 Venus Fly Trap Plants!

My daughter apologised, telling me that it would take some time for them to grow, but I knew already that it can take up to 3 years for a seed to grow into a fully mature plant and, stuck in bed for so much of my time, patience is the one thing I’ve learned really well.

I was all for starting straight away, but it turned out that I would need distilled water to plant my seeds, as Venus Fly Traps, as well as most carniverous plants, can’t tolerate a richly mineralised soil and, as my daughter’s shopping trip, locally, produced absolutely Nil in the way of the water, I had to succumb to going online, and I bought 10 litres of the stuff, just to make sure I always had it here for them – and there was the added bonus that I could use it for my crochet steamer, too!

As soon as the water turned up – on the day that my daughter had to leave, due to work commitments, unfortunately – I quickly placed the peat circle provided into the base of the terrarium, then added the 480ml of the distilled water specified. I couldn’t believe just how quickly that thin circle blew up and, before I knew it, there was enough peat to fill the base.

I then had to put the small blue stones provided into a container, so that I could swill them through, until every bit of dust was gone, then I carefully arranged them over the peat, in a swirly pattern, I then opened the seed pack, and gently poured the seeds  onto a creased piece of paper, then gently shook them so they landed as evenly as I could make them, on the peat.

The instructions then told me to put the lid on the terrarium, which I did, and to make sure I open it up once a day, to make sure plenty of air gets in – but to make sure the peat doesn’t dry out, which I’m doing every day now.

So I guess it’s now a waiting game, and I’ll know at least in a month or two, whether the seeds have germinated – and I’ll be taking photos to keep track of them as it happens – what a wonderful experiment my daughter thought of, to keep me amused, and to whet my appetite for learning about those strange plants, by watching them grow! 🙂

The Beginning of my Venus Fly Trap Terrarium

Oh, I was also provided with a tiny plastic Iguana in the kit, to put on the stones – are they to frighten away something, I wonder? Lol