When we moved to Texas a year ago, I had to leave all my houseplants behind. (I had years of history with those plants. A couple were gifts from people dear to me. It was very sad). So last August or September, I set out to find new ones. I was excited, thinking that because there’s so much more sun in Texas, there would be significantly better houseplant options.

Not so.

Apparently, they don’t really “do” houseplants down here. At least not in the Austin area and surrounds. (I miss Molbak’s so bad, I can taste it). Pretty much, all you can find are asparagus ferns, philodendron (seriously? like you even NEED sun for those) and lucky bamboo. If you look, you can find some cool bromeliads. If looking turns into a year round habit, you can see a few other plants here and there, tucked in corners of shops on occasion.

I finally found a prayer plant this month. I’m ecstatic.

So in the end, a year ago, I settled for a jade plant from IKEA that came with bugs and totally died, an incredibly groovy bromeliad that I love from Home Depot, and a rabbit foot fern that I picked up at what everyone here in Buda claims is their favorite nursery. (They’ve never experienced Molbak’s, I can’t hold that against them). I’ve been enjoying my little collection, and with the exception of the jade, which wouldn’t even give me a chance, they seem to be very happy with me and have grown a lot.

Hence my problem, and this post.

More than lack of plants in Central Texas, is a decided lack of indoor pots. It seems that ’round here, people prefer their plants to stay in the great outdoors. I find that ironic, since most houseplants will fry in direct sun. Or morning sun. Or late afternoon sun.

I have been to many stores, looking for a suitable pot to move my very overgrown rabbit foot fern into, and have failed spectacularly. For the most part, all I can find are outdoor pots. Very rough undersides that will scratch the heck out of my table. No saucer to contain drainage. And lacking in the appropriate symmetry and refinement in craftsmanship necessary for an indoor pot.

Sigh.

Plus, our home has a specific look. A style that the pot needs to fit.

Nothing.

So, last weekend I finally found something that was the right size and shape, that would work indoors, on the less expensive side for a pot, and on sale to boot. It doesn’t remotely match my house in the slightest, but it was pretty, Nate liked it, and I’m flat out tired of looking.

That’s the back story.

Nate has named this fern Shelob. The “rabbit’s feet” don’t look like rabbit at all. It looks like a giant tarantula. Or 10 of them. And it was climbing out of its 8 inch pot.

The “feet” (legs) are very stiff, so I figured I’d bury them when transplanting into the new, 10 inch pot. Nope. They were having none of it. Aside from the creepiness of feeling like they were clinging to me as I was trying to dig the fern out of its old pot, when I dropped it into the new pot, they stretched out and over the rim. I’d buried about half of them when I noticed that they were sort of popping back out again.

Creepy. And still kind of cool.

So here she is with room to grow.

In talking to the nursery, it doesn’t sound like she’s actually going to stop growing. Great, like I’m going to be able to even find a 12 inch indoor pot down here. Maybe if I start looking now, I’ll find something by the time she starts climbing out of this one.

Abby and Liv are both in high school now. So cute to see their relationship change as they have more in common.

In Texas, Elementary school starts first, so Clark and Veronica leave the house at 7:30. Clark’s school is in the neighborhood, Veronica catches the bus to middle school.

We’ve become quite the Doctor Who fans this year. What’s great about it, is it’s a whole family thing. Everyone loves it! This year, replacing his previous Batman setup, Clark has a Tardis lunch box and a Dalek backpack.

Here we go, another year. 10th, 9th, 7th, and 2nd grade. Max has 2 more years before he’s in school.

For me, I’ve been running. I run about 2 miles at a go, and it feels great. I like feeling strong. I’m also lifting weights, doing pushups and such. I’ve lost 30 pounds this year. It came off fast, then totally stopped. I have 60 or so to go, so that’s annoying. But I’m still working at it, and feeling good.

I’ve also played our local farmer’s market a couple times. That was a lot of fun.

Nate had hernia surgery a couple weeks ago. He’s healing well.

We’re still loving Texas. I love being warm. It’s an entirely different kind of beautiful here.