I think we have a Dragonfruit

I was walking around the front garden the other day looking for the egg that Hildegarde the chook lays amongst the Agapanthus most days and while I was there admiring what is left of said front garden after Hildegarde has single handedly double leggedly wrecked, I came across what I used to think was a Dragonfruit plant but as it had never fruited I decided it must just be a cactus as the CEO is always putting cuttings in the ground around the place and then forgets what they are.

Amaryllis Belladonna

I had been keeping an eye on this 'cactus' as the CEO is keeping track of which coloured flowers they are producing ......

It did look a little different from the other plants so I made sure I had my camera with me in the mornings as the flowers don't last very long....

....and there it was completely opened last Wednesday week...a beautiful flower...

...which very quickly died and now there is a swelling at the base of where the flower was and I have checked online and I am sure it is a Dragonfruit and is getting its first fruit. It was planted a number of years ago, possibly eight and originally was a cutting from Mt.Isa. So it would be a bit out of its comfort zone here I guess. I can't wait to see the fruit and taste it although I think the CEO said it tastes like perfume. Well, that's something to look forward to :-)

As I said Hildegarde and sometimes her friends who join her are making short work of the front garden while I wait impatiently for a chook pen to be built but I am not holding my breath. I'd build it myself if I knew how to and was about 40 years younger...well maybe about 10 years younger and I have considered buying one of those kit ones online but I saw on someone's blog what one of them looked like after a couple of years and it was falling to pieces. 

Never mind, in the scheme of things that isn't really a problem and certainly not anything to worry about. So I tell myself. Anyway I felt much better about my week when I read about the one that Mem Fox had recently as she was detained at LA airport by immigration officials when she was on her way to speak at a conference. She was questioned for two hours before being released and said she collapsed and sobbed when she got to her hotel room. I used to work in a library so have a soft spot for Mem who is just a little older than myself and felt so sorry for her. I mean who could do that to the author of  'Koala Lou' :-) You can read about the saga here on the ABC website.  For my Northern Hemisphere readers, Mem Fox is a well known and much loved author of children's books here in Australia who had never had any problems travelling to the US before and really likes the American people. 

I hope everyone has a great week. I have been totally unmotivated and a bit flat this past week due to this and that plus the closure of the Down to Earth Forums which was a shock as I have learned so much from there and have made so many friends some of whom I have met in real life. Understandably Rhonda want to spend more time with her family as she has little grandchildren to nurture and love as well as the rest of her family and, of course, that scallywag Scottie dog, Gracie who I met last November. 

I will take a photo if we end up getting some fruit on the Dragonfruit plant in case anyone is interested in how they grow.