Oh, mango, mango

After our discovery of the mango tree, my parents couldn't sit tight for 10 minutes at a time. They kept opening the backdoor to check out the tree, hoping that mangos will parachute one night (see the mango pictures above). In order to prevent unforseeable neck injury from looking up the tall mango tree, yesterday I asked Ibu Tinah to plant some papaya seeds in the backyard so my parents can watch them grow from the GROUND. When Ibu Tinah was digging in the backyard, a gardener saw her and took over the mission. He planted the papaya seeds in 4 different spots and told me that the seeds will germinate in 2 weeks, and the tree will bear fruit in 3 months!!! Of course, I only understood the dua minggu (2 weeks) and tiga bulan (3 months) part. He also said that I could ask him to plant anything I want because it's my backyard. Well, not really mine forever, but for the next 3 years.

What's surprising me was that Ibu Tinah walked in 15 minutes later with 6 beautiful mangos from the tree (see the 3rd picture above, minus the sweet potatoes in the back). The gardener climbed up the tree and picked them for my parents so I don't have to pay hospital bills for their potential neck injury. To thank the gardener, I asked Ibu Tinah to buy some cigarette and coffee for the gardener. Well, the real intention is that I have bigger projects in mind since the gardener said I could ask him to help any time. I want to have the pebble stones removed from my front yard and grow some herbs. Those pebble stones are there because the previous occupant of the house that we live in wanted those compound cats (cats with no owners) to have a decent place to release themselves, hence adding stones and sand. Can't blame him since those cats are really cute. But since we could barely feed ourselves during the first week in Jakarta, those cats no longer hang around our house, and probably have found a better 'bathroom' with more sand. I think it's time to remove their previous 'bathroom'. Don't know if they have left plenty organic fertilizer in our front yard. We will know the answer after we have some seeds planted.

On a separate note, Eddy has become such a good swimmer that he wants to show off his skill of holding breath in the bathtub. He has also developed a new hobby - photography. He couldn't wait to take pictures of me. Of course, I can't let my age show in his photos so I edited it before posting. Hope he'll become a good photographer soon.