My little piece of earth

A few days ago I chased stalked this butterfly around my yard.  It was quite an experience.  I got very close to him a dozen or so times, but just as I was ready to shoot, he'd get fluttery or fly off.  Then I would guess his new perch and wait for him to land again.  We did that for several minutes, while my lunch got cold.  Not once did I  think of all the other things I should've been doing, it was great, satisfying fun.

These are the results of an experiment I started several weeks ago.  I wondered if I would have to first dry tomato seeds for planting, and if the seeds left over from that night's bruschetta would yield similar beautiful Roma tomatoes.  However,  I decided to just dump the seeds in a empty planter and think about it another day.

I ended up with a planter full of seedlings.  So I did it again a few days later, and have hundreds of teensy tomato plants.  Now I know I should just cull a few of the best and use the rest as compost, but aren't they just so beautiful, so sweet and hopeful?

I am not even sure if any of them will bear fruit, and after living here and having suffered the devastation of pests so many times I am afraid to invest too much enthusiasm in them, but here I go.  I went through and potted a few.  I wonder if there is anyone else on Okinawa the least bit interested in them, perhaps a home schooler or some one who needs to see something grow from the beginning.

And, my whole Saturday was made, despite all the uncompleted school and house work, by my first cherry tomato -from seed.  The girls accidentally picked from/killed some earlier plants, so they are very aware and excited about the small green fruit this time around.  I offered to share this with them, as excited as they were, but they said, "Tomatoes are disgusting, Mom, yuck, you can have it." How very generous of them.