Dear Dreadful Diary, As I’m reaching the midway point of my trip I can’t help but reminisce about back home. Well, this place is home but my other home of course! They both have their positives and their drawbacks but I do feel a bit …. other-homesick. I suppose it’s mostly due to my family. I cannot reach them from here, it is not allowed. And I miss them dearly, mother and sister especially, but of course grandmother as well! Back home it is also a bit difficult to contact

Was it curiosity, fascination, or maybe even comfort that settled in your bones when you first learned that a forest can be a single tree stretching out for miles reaching out into the earth with root systems more awe-inspiring than trunk or leaf, bark or long limbs reaching into the sky? Did you smile to think of me? Imagine me a kindly neighbor, uncle or grandparent to the whole community, playmate and playground and secret place all at once? Maybe you even

Every night, they come alive. Five Dark Hours Night had fallen at the botanic garden and the plants were out to play. Vines stalked voles, swallowing them whole. The koi hid from the lurking lily pads in small caves and burrows. No bird dared land on a single piece of foliage lest it be turned into a puff of feathers. Gnats were snatched from the air and gobbled down by violent violets while cicadas were devoured by howling jacarandas. The plants were on their nightly hunt an

Chapter 6: The plant was alive. He had thought it dead for weeks. Its leaves had curled inward, and the soil had hardened into a crust. He had stopped watering it because he couldn't remember whether it needed water or sunlight …or both. That morning, he found a new leaf. It was small and pale, folded tightly around itself. As he touched it,. the leaf recoiled. He quickly withdrew his hand. The plant stood on the kitchen windowsill, where his wife had placed it years ago. Sh

Dear Dreadful Diary, Mother always reminded me that I must tend to the plants and the garden while I’m home. They can feel your energy too so you must give them love and care! I also had a few remedies that needed restocking in the pantry so I decided to do some trimmings. We have the usuals stocked in our garden: herbs like rosemary and thyme, lots of roses and lavender, other things like ivy and periwinkle! We even have a few mushrooms around that have sprouted all on their