And on another note ...

 This post is not about letterboxing, but it may be useful for those especially taken with house plants.

So, as you may know, we took a month-long road trip across the country. There is so much to say about that, but it will keep for now (more posts to come!). One of the conundrums when considering leaving the house unoccupied for a month was how to keep the house plants from withering from lack of water. Well, we discovered a great DIY method, and you know what? It worked like a freakin' charm!!

this is what I found upon returning
from our road trip - happy plants!

Look closely - we positioned the plant over a bucket of water, using the lid with holes cut in it. Then we poked a cotton (doubled-over) clothesline up through the hole(s) in the pot and pulled it through to the top of the dirt. We dangled the clothesline into the water in the bucket, and voila! the clothesline wicked up water and kept the dirt in the pot at just the right moisture level! 

The clothesline was coaxed through the bottom of the pot, and
laid on top the dirt. The other end dangled out the bottom of the pot and into
the water. It wicked the water up into the soil, thus watering the plant!

All the plants, including my picky Ginseng Ficus bonsai, were watered and happy during our absence. I must admit I was a bit skeptical it would work, but really had nothing else to try. I am thrilled it worked ... and so were my plants! 

I actually had this string of pearls sitting over a smaller bucket while we were gone. It did so well I decided to continue with the wicking-cotton method; I rigged up a small container to hold the water. 

here you can see the cotton clothesline
dangling into the water

Prior to leaving, we arranged them all under one of our skylights, which I am sure, didn't hurt. No direct sunlight, but lots of light. 

So, you may want to give this a try the next time you have to leave your plant-babies unattended over scheduled watering. Just make sure you use cotton clothesline, or something similar, that readily wicks water (not plastic or poly-anything). We used cheap buckets from Ace Hardware and cut holes in the lids with a hole-cutting drill bit. The hardest (and messiest) part was running the doubled clothesline through the bottom of the pot to the top; I taped the tip to help poke it through. You can separate the clothesline into smaller strands for smaller pots/holes.

Have you had to leave your house plants for extended periods of time? What did you do to keep them watered and happy?