Market Friday: visiting old friends with lots of new plants.

The long lockdown had disrupted my regular visit to my old friend’s house for quite some time. People were quite reluctant to have friends or visitors in their houses for fear of catching the new coronavirus. After sending my friend many links to alternative sources of information on the whole matter; she gradually realised that her families had been programmed by daily dose of official broadcasts. She began to understand why I didn’t go along with main stream media and kept telling all her families’ members not to be jabbed. I also told them to get the traditional herbal medicine (“fah talai jone”) which could get rid or coronavirus in five days. Most people I know all took these capsules whenever they felt feverish; I had been through several bottles during the last year.

So, I was glad to visit my old friends and check out her garden once again. She has always been a keen gardener with lots of knowledge about plants. Her family has two houses in the countryside for planting trees and having their family holidays together. I often asked her to buy small saplings from nurseries in the countryside for me. She knew where to find all these small forest trees and fruit trees in a special area full of plant nurseries for whole sale prices. This had helped saving me a lot of money in the past. This time, I asked her to get a rare forest tree call “Marid” for me.

To my surprise, she got me a big Marid tree of about four years’ old. I already bought three very small saplings about one year’s old. This tree would take years to grow to one meter but it’s worth the wait. That was an expensive tree she gave me as a new year’s present.

I had to check out her new collection of pot plants. Two years ago, she was crazy about miniature roses which didn’t turn out very well. All the roses were attacked and eaten by hungry pests. This time my friend has been head over heel into Caladium. I couldn’t believe the numbers of pot plants in her garden. These Caladium became popular after being forgotten by consumers during the past twenty years.

I used to have about thirty Caladiums when I first came back home from overseas. It was my hobby during the first few years at the old family home before I had to move out to find a new place. The prices were very cheap then as growers couldn’t sell them in the plant market. Nowadays, these Caladiums became very expensive as they became very popular among fashionable gardeners.

Thinking about survival in hard times, my interest in plants ought to focus on edible fruits and medicinal plants. So, my friend couldn’t get me interested in buying Caladium! However, I did enjoy the different colours and markings on their leaves. Unfortunately I never took photos of my colourful Caladium pot plants collection. I guessed they must have all perished over the years as nobody at the old place was interested in gardening.

Seeing all these pot plants made me quite nostalgic of my good old days of care free lifestyle before the unexpected storm changed everything. I thought to myself that I should have saved some of my pot plants. But the new apartment had no space for gardening. That’s probably why I went on a crazy bout of planting over a hundred trees when I finally got my own place with gardening space.

My friend’s house represented a nice juncture in the transition of my life. There were so many unlikely stories concerning me, my friend and her mother in this place. It must have been fate that her mother took a shine on me and asked me a favour which I couldn’t tell my old friend. The timing had to be just tight and appropriate for me to disclose that personal message.

I was glad I could take as many photos as I wished and just be myself in that house. Although we were very different temperamentally, we could get along quite well to the surprise of many people. She’s very artistic and emotional whereas I was coldly objective and scientific in my outlook. My friend could do oil paintings, tapestry and design her own clothes without any lessons. I couldn’t do anything practical with my hands; my cooking was also pitiful comparing with her skills. But I was a good reader with lots of useful information for advising friends on important investment. Other things I could do but these had to be used only in emergency according to the rules. My friend knew about this and respected my obligations.

We had tea by the swimming pool at the back of the house. It was good to be able to relax by the pool under bright blue sky once again. We chatted about the expensive plant which I considered to be quite cheap. I found similar tree of that size at much higher price online. I had brought that plant to my farmhouse; I was very pleased with the size and solid health of this plant. If I was really lucky, it should bear fruit in three years. This rare tree would feed us and look after us in the future.

I could foresee that fiat money would become useless or irrelevant some time in the future. We would need to grow our own food and make our own charcoals including having water source. My friend has a new house built on high ground near mountains in the north of Bangkok, about two hours’ drive. This safe house would be where the whole family would gather if there were safety reasons for leaving the city. Lots of people have been prepping in the north of the country; groups of engineers, retired journalists or correspondents and professors. The super rich class also had their ‘kingdom’ of hundreds of acres for farming and mansions.

But I think survival also depends on luck or good karma too. So many wealthy drivers in expensive European cars have become accident prone these days and couldn’t make it home. So, no matter how much or how well one tries to prepare or plan for the future, there is no guarantee for a specific outcome.

Two years ago, my friend thought I was an alarmist taking about prepping for different scenarios of the future. Last year, she decided to take me advice and started the building of a safe house in the countryside. It came as a relief to me knowing that her big families would be able to survive unexpected extraneous factors affecting our well-being.

I just hope that there would be mitigating factors helping to redress the situation. So, I continue to be pray, doing walking meditation and contemplate on positive vibes of compassion to heal all sentient beings and the whole earth.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday hosted by @dswigle