Explore

Well, I really explore all sorts of weird things. Here is one of them: ever wondered what a carrot flower looks like?

It all started out of vanity. My favourite Alvar Aalto vase has been home to plenty of beautiful flowers. One fine day, I decided the size was just right to fit some organic carrot I have in my fridge, and its orange was just the right shade of radiance to match the other flowers.

So it started to grow. Sprouted right through the top, with its equally happy green leaves.

And it grew and it grew and it  grew. For a couple of weeks, it just kept growing taller and taller. I then named it Jack. Yups, Jack as the Been Stalk. It has been living beyond its own imagination, I presume. Would it ever occur to a carrot that it is more than its root?

I got curiouser and curiouser. How high can Jack grow before it succumbs to its own weight? So I continued tending to it. And, one day, it flowered! Oh dear me, I can even say that it seeded! It looked like a floret of seeds, held together and held itself up high, beaming and saying “look at me, I’m a flower!“.

Started on a bed of roses

It grew taller and taller

And it flowered

Assisted living via plasters

Shrivelled to oblivion

Guess that was the peak of Jack’s life. It started to bend under its own (and its spawns’?) weight. Yikes. Should I euthanise it? Or, how should I euthanise it? It was too hard for me. So I assisted in extending its life instead. You can see the plasters I applied to hold it up a little. I also moved it little by little against the wall, for extra support.

Well, as with all life, the ultimate destination is death. Jack slowly shrivelled to oblivion.