the plants need watering
"the plants haven't been watered yet" my mom says to me as i enter the dining room.
i just came back from sitting outside on my laptop studying a photographers website and his works. scrolling through his work projects with different actors and brands. i choose images that i like from that project and write the technical stuff and what i personally like about the image. it keeps me busy since it's summer and i'm done with uni.
the plants still need watering.
i place my laptop on the dining table and turned to the kitchen. i grab the plastic jug that i've washed this evening placed next to the sink to dry, and filled it up with water. it takes me two steps from the sink and out to the backyard. thankfully my mom only has 34 (rough guess) potted plants for me to water.
"you can give them one jug each since i've watered them properly last week"
and that i did. i gave all 34 potted plants a full jug of fresh water. i got used to it quickly.
twist the tap for water to flow and fill up the jug. twist it close. take 2 steps out to the backyard. walk to the plant. pour all of the water. walk back to the sink. and repeat 33 times.
yes we do have a water hose and my mom suggested it but it's kept in the garage and i have to twist it under the sink and do 145 more steps before i can actually water them... and for me to put the hose back? ... no thank you i'm happy walking back and forth with my jug.
at some point i properly paid attention. or noticed. or felt present. and remembered.
i felt the humid air
(heatwave? nope, global warming, this is the new summer from now on).
i hear the bubbling sounds coming from the plants i just gave water to.
(drink up, you need it for tomorrow, it's gonna be hot again)
i noticed flower buds, some flowers wilting, berries coming through, and flowers from the succulent!
(they're so pretty they look like a cauliflower with tiny white stars packed together. it's called a white stonecrop)
i remembered growing up with my grandmother who looked after all the plants. she would often ask me and my cousins, one or two of us, to water the plants at night. she would hand us these garden spray pumps to fill up with water, and you have to pump it a few times, then spray it to the plants.
if my mom had 34 potted plants my grandma had plants surrounding the whole house...
before i knew it, that's the watering of the plants done. for a moment i felt present and i was also reminded of a memory that otherwise wouldn't have passed my thoughts if i didn't do it.
pretty cool how memory works.