Looking for Dragons

One day, she went looking for the dragon.

She set out on food, walking through the trees.

She walked past the hidden apple tree.

And strolled through the sumac tree wood.

And stumbled into the Enchanted Forest.

She saw a bird. It wasn't singing.

When she reached a strange rock wall, she paused and looked around...

Was she lost?

She turned back. Everything looked the same.

She frowned, concerned, and began walking again.

She walked for hours.

Finally, she found an old birch tree. It seemed to be

pointing her towards something. She began to walk in that direction.

Suddenly, she stumbled into the field on the edge of the Enchanted Forest.

She breathed a sign of relief.

She began to head towards home, disappointed that she hadn't found the dragon.

Then, out of the corner of her eye she saw a splash of red, 

amid the green wash of green and brown that surrounded her.

It was beautiful.

Then she looked up.

She saw something in the trees.

She moved closer.

A wall? She began to follow it.

It was the Lost Fortress!

Her mind began to spin castles and adventures...

...and suddenly there were knights and witches

and fairies and animals...

...and there was her dragon.

Plants in a Bubble

Hydroponics on the Destiny. Image credit.

In Stargate Universe, there is a hydroponics lab (see right). What is hydroponics? you ask.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Simply put, the necessary nutrients for growth are put in water, and the roots absorbs them without ever touching soil. The Stargate version has the plants growing towards a centralized light source while spinning slowly and watering the roots at the base (which you can see in the image). The water is of course filled with the necessary nutrients. You can find more information on this system here.

The Boston Fern is
named Franklin.
He's cute.

I have more recently been interested in plants, especially the live kind that grow (as opposed to the dead kind that don't). My new(ish) apartment actually gets light during the day, so I have found warm and wonderful spots for my plants. Here they all are in a row, happily out of the snow (left). 

When I no longer have an apartment and am also not living with relatives or in a van (this assumes that I can afford a house at some point in my future), I would like to build a hydroponic garden. I have to get to it before the hipsters, though. My other option (if the whole house thing falls through) is to build an ecosystem in a bottle. I guess I could do that anyway. Look at this guy. He appears incredibly happy. I imagine I would also be happy if I had an entire ecosystem that I could hug.

David Latimer, hugging an entire ecosystem.
Photo credit.

Now, if I were to grow an entire ecosystem in a bottle, I would include fairies. In fact, maybe that's what genies are - fairies trapped in one ecosystem that is somehow contained inside a magic lamp. That is probably why genies are always grumpy - weeds are constantly taking over everything! If you don't believe me that genies are grumpy, read Arabian Nights.

At any rate, until I can afford a house and power tools, I guess I will have to stave off my impatience by growing real plants and doodling pictures of plants. Maybe some plants hanging off of walls, or plants stuck inside bottles (see image to right) or even plants that can fly! Plants that can live in outer space! Plants that are intelligent life forms!

And then, of course, I will share my plant pictures with you.