there are 12 plants in my room. i don't know what to think of that. a friend gave me 3 salvia plants to take care of, and i swear they have personalities. he warned me they would move--visibley--and i guess he was right. sometimes i'm sitting here and one of them just starts shaking back and forth. i think they're trying to communicate with me.
today donna and i tried to walk to the psychonautical bookstore on belmont. the walk was successful, but the store is closed for renovation, so we walked to the paradox for dinner. on the way we encountered a gardening store for yuppies. we went in because i had been meaning to buy another plant (i really don't know why). most of the things in the store were not for gardening, they were expensive items with a gardening theme. $100 earings, ornaments, soap, candles, towels, etc. etc. the only plants they had were some nice ferns displayed on an expensive wrought iron shelf. i couldn't find any price tags on the actual plants, so i asked the lady if they were for sale. she said hesitantly and then enthusiastically, "uh, sure, i guess so! why not!" when i asked how much they were she said, "uh, how about five dollars" (a reasonable price) "no, how about two dollars. tell you what--i'll give one of them to you for free with any other purchase!"
this sounded like a good deal, so i spent a long time wandering around the store looking for something i actually wanted that was within my price range. then i realized the extent to which this was not a gardening store. they were selling tiny watering cans--with unusable spouts (i think they were drinking mugs). they had clogs--with the heels cut away to be more stylish and less useful. they had clay pots--but only tiny ones (1 inch) and huge ones (2 feet). this confirmed my suspicion that the ferns were just there to show off the rest of the store and make you feel like it had something to do with gardening. i finally found some $2 candles which i bought to get my free plant.
when we left, we both started laughing at the absurdity of the store, and kept walking to the paradox. i got corn cakes and donna got a taco and we watched people. everytime i go somewhere like that i'm amazed at the sheer volume of the hipster population in portland. it's a little scary. donna and i both had the strange feeling that we knew everyone there; they all looked familiar. we continued to trace out a large square on portland as we walked south to hawthorne and division, and west to home. lately we've been sitting around the house spewing out nonsense for hours.
i think the plants are trying to tell me something. night-night.