Handsome Hunks and Blossom Fairies

Well, we did have a trace of snow on Christmas Eve, then a bit more of the white stuff on the Big Day itself, but alas, mixed with rain. The near freezing temperatures and the turkey on the table kept most people off the golf courses, but my daily trek to the movie houses was undisturbed by the weather.

First I went to see “The Good German” with George Clooney (why does he have to be so good looking? Just made it more poignant that I was munching on the popcorn all by myself). It’s about an American journalist in post-war Berlin.

I’m a sucker for fantasy, so “Night at the Museum” followed, in which Ben Stiller plays a guard who gets menaced by the exhibits that come alive at night. It was funny and scary at the same time.

Since I hate horror movies, I avoided “Black Christmas,” but did see “Blood Diamond” which has enough horror in it, thank you. It also has Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a great inspiration for giving up spinsterhood.

“Dream Girls” opened Christmas Day. It’s a thinly disguised story of the Supremes. My dad was a big fan of that group, so I watched with interest. Can be summed up with one word—glitzy.

I cried toward the end of “Charlotte’s Web,” and lusted after Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale.” All-in-all, I saw twelve movies in three days, and I’m all popcorned out. I loved “The Queen” with Helen Mirren, even though I think that the accidental death of Diana wasn’t entirely an accident.

On the way home from the last movie, I stopped in at Blockbuster and rented one that I missed the first time around. “Must Love Dogs” stars Diane Lane as a woman left stranded when her husband goes off with a younger babe. This one hit too close to home, but it had an interesting twist.

John Cusack plays a very handsome, sensitive male who builds hand-crafted wooden boats. He too was left abandoned by his ex. So Diane’s sisters put her profile on the Internet and John answers the ad. Or was it Diane answering Cusack's ad?

The mix-ups and foibles of Internet dating have Diane answering an ad by her own father, and her father’s middle-aged paramour hooking up with a fourteen-year-old, when she impersonates a teenager on line.

In spite of these hijinks, “Must Love Dogs” is a love story that leaves you feeling that perhaps that great love of your life is yet to come. Please!

The love of my life at present is gardening, more specifically growing single stem, Sim carnations in my basement rec room. As you know, I’ve set up a professional grow space with a Drip Irrigation Hydroponic system and my flowers have been receiving accolades at flower shows.

I grow them in all different colors, but my current favorites are pink blush and lemon yellow. There is something about bright colors in the middle of winter that cheers one up. Even if one is without a honey to snuggle up to at night.

Ever since I started using Grandma Enggy’s Humic Acid and Golden Honey Fulvic Acid I noticed that the colors of my carnations have become richer and more vibrant. I got excited by this, so I researched these two Advance Nutrients products to ascertain their secret.

Humic Acid gets its name from humus, the rich decomposed organic material in fertile, black soils. It’s no secret that rich, organic soils have grown the best vegetables and flowers since humankind started to till the soil.

Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid are both derived from “leonardite,” a vein of hardened, organic material that has to be mined from deep below the surface of our planet.

What accounts for the more vibrant colors that I noticed on my carnations? Humic acid, according to its entry in Advancedpedia, increases chlorophyll synthesis, which explains the bright green color of the plants treated with it.

It also accentuates the colors of my flowers, helps reducable sugar accumulation, gives a boost to nutrient uptake, accelerates plant growth, aids root respiration, and increases the nutrient and mineral content of my flowers.

Fulvic Acid speeds up cell division and root formation, aids plant respiration an nutrient uptake, and spikes plant membrane permeability. Depending on the permeability of the cell walls, the transfer of minerals and nutrients play a major role in the growth rates and increased yields of my carnation plants.

Used in conjunction with Grandma Enggy’s Seaweed Extract, these three Advanced Nutrients products have a synergistic effect which multiplies their individual benefits manifold.

Seaweed Extract contains essential B’s and many other vitamins, including A, C, E, and K, as well as natural growth stimulants, antibiotics, auxins, and gibberellins.

I had to look up these last two. Auxins are substances that in minute quantities act to promote the growth of plants, specifically in root and bud formation.

Gibberellins are closely related plant hormones that regulate certain processes in higher plants such as flower formation, seed germination, and stem elongation.

Long stem carnations can certainly benefit from gibberellins. The word reminds me of goblins, which serves to reveal my fascination with fantasy. When I was a little girl I used to imagine that each flower had a tiny fairy living among its petals.

To this day I find myself talking to my carnations. Or am I really talking to the tiny, unseen fairies? The woman who founded the Findhorn community used to do the same thing to her peas and vegetables.

After talking to them for a number of years, she found that the Findhorn vegetable garden was consistently producing the most abundant vegetable crop on the unforgiving soil of the British Isles.

So talking to my carnations might be one of the secret ingredients in my award-winning harvest. The others are the Advanced Nutrient products that I use to feed my flowers.

In addition to Micro, Grow, and Bloom, this week I started mixing Big Bud into my hydroponic reservoir. This bloom enhancer is famous for producing large, scented flowers.