Today I am taking care of my violets.

First a little background. I collect violets, or should I say I save them. You know the ones, the half dead violets you see at the grocery store or Home Depot, the ones you know they will throw in the trash rather than give water and light and make healthy again. And even though you know you are going to still pay full price for it you take it home anyway because it still has a chance. I started doing this when I got my first apartment, I have all the special pots and tools, the violet food and rack to sit them in the sun together. I continued my little hobby when we bought our first house but went on hiatus when William was born (once he was mobile he started knocking them over on an accidental, but regular basis). Then came Patrick and I left the pots in a box a little while longer. But last year I saw a sad violet in the store and and brought out the box. Now I have three, in varying states of health. Once upon a time I would tend to the violets every couple of weeks, now with kids and work, and everything else going on I only do it when they really need it. Today they didn't, but I did.

To take care of violets you need to cut out all dead leaves, but not just the dead ones, the dying leaves, when they get to big and start to die, they still pull nutrients from the new ones. The trick is to know when to cut them off. Sometimes you cut a few, and sometimes you cut a lot. You don't always want to cut them off, but you do because you know that in order for the rest of the plant to have enough energy to grow, they need to go. You also need to turn the soil. add a little new soil, a little food, a little water, a little sun, a little faith, and a little love.

So today I am deciding which leaves to cut, how deep I need to go to find the healthy plant again.

Hopefully if I do it right...every once and a while....I might get a flower.