Taking a short break from my worries by visiting my neighbor, and taking pictures of her plants

I know many of us have days when we feel worried or stressed about life, and sometimes we need small ways to help us feel better. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I decided to go out and visit my neighbor.

Janela is the only neighbor I decided to visit, and she is also my close friend. She told me that she has many beautiful flowers that I can take pictures for my vlog. We spent a lot of time talking and laughing together while sharing stories about our daily lives. She even prepared snacks for us, of course we also did a bit marites, hahaha. It’s always fun and part of our bonding time.

We talked about plants for a long time until it started raining. Her palm plant got wet, and it looked so fresh and beautiful. I joked that maybe the plants were saying, Thank you for the free water. She told me that she started planting palms during the COVID time, but the variety she bought doesn’t grow very big or maybe it’s because the pot she used is too small. It’s really different compared to my other friend’s palm, which has grown very tall now.

I don’t know the names of her plants, but they all look familiar to me. I just kept taking pictures while the weather was nice, but eventually the rain started while we were busy doing our marites talk. Next week, I will go with janela to buy some new plants. She said she already talked to someone who sells plants, so we’ll check them out and see if there’s anything she likes.

There are a lot of pups on her aloe vera plant, and she said she uses them for her face and hair, so she’s trying to make them grow well. It’s very important to her, so she takes good care of it. However, she’s a little worried because her daughter sometimes waters the plant too much and she’s afraid it might get damaged from too much moisture. She also noticed that the color looks a bit different compared to before. I told Janela that aloe vera doesn’t need a lot of water and it’s better to let the soil dry before watering again.

This plant grows thick and healthy leaves and it’s not sensitive at all even during the hot season, it stays alive and strong. My grandmother have this plant before too. Maybe one of her neighbors asked for it because they knew no one would take care of it anymore since my lola Puren has already passed away.

She was teasing me and said I’m really good at taking pictures, like a photographer. Janela is very playful and loves to joke around. I told her that her plant is beautiful, of course I couldn’t miss taking a picture of it. Hahaha, I joked back and told her to remove the weeds around her plant so that the next time I visit it will look clean.

I don’t know what kind of plant that is, but ever since I was a child, my mother has been growing one like it. They have different colors, but I think they are the same variety. I told her she should try making it into a bonsai because I’ve seen the same kind of plant as a bonsai before. She just needs to buy a nice pot or even better, use one made of rubber that would be perfect for making a bonsai.

In the house next to hers, Janela wants to put fertilizer on the eggplants so they will grow healthier, but she didn’t buy it yet. There are also bitter gourd and okra plants, which belong to her brother in-law but they were damaged too. She asked me what she could do and I suggested putting some vegetable peels and covering them with soil.

Those are the vegetables she loves. She just adds sweet potato leaves, saluyot and alugbati,then some fried fish or bagoong, boils everything and it becomes a meal. It tastes really good. Only Filipinos can really relate to this kind of cooking simple but very delicious.

I’ll finish my story here. Thanks for spending some time with me on my blog. I hope it gave you a little joy and inspiration. Until next time, take care!