#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden after More Rain and Enjoying Rom-Com

Published on by Yinglan

Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. It’s a comfortable day, let’s head out into the garden.

This summer is turning out to be a wet one. It rained for 2 days this week, which amazingly not only fulfilled the rain quota for August but also made up for July. Mother Nature is so amazing sometimes.

Have I mention I love being in the garden after a rainstorm? Everything feels refreshed, even the air. Have you noticed that where you’re at? The air before a storm is stale and yucky like something that’s gone bad in the fridge. Meanwhile, the air after a rainstorm is cool and refreshing like a rainforest.

I also love getting pictures of the garden after a storm and this week, I got an opportunity of snapping a few shots using the big camera. Instead of telling you all that I did on that rainy day again, I will direct you to the post I wrote yesterday.

I’m especially excited to show you the Indigo Rose Tomatoes.

It’s my first time growing these and for a cherry-size tomato, these are gigantic compared to the Gold Nugget yellow tomato as shown in the photo. I’ve tasted two of these already and I found that as antioxidant-rich as these are claimed to be, the taste is kind of bland compared to the other tomatoes in the garden this year. Maybe the ones I picked were ripe enough?

On Tuesday’s post, I mentioned how I tried to get mom’s blessing for me to get one more raised bed in the back garden and she said no. I went for it anyway. I made the purchase yesterday after finding the same raised bed $1 less on another store’s website. I feel like I’ve done enough self-sabotage and lost enough sleep this last week that I should just do the selfish thing and get what I want instead of playing the back-and-forth mind games because I couldn’t convince mom to let me buy it. After all, I’m using my hard-earn cash, not hers.

I also took action in other areas this week. After nearly a month of learning Japanese on Duolingo, I decided I needed to implement a tool from when I was learning English – watching TV. I started watching a Japanese rom-com series on Thursday night.

Strangely, mom joined in and after watching the first episode, we became addicted to the series. We watched the first 4 episodes on Thursday while the other 6 episodes on Friday night. I rarely get addicted to a series. I usually can’t watch more than 3 episodes at a time but this series, despite not understand much of what the characters were saying and solely relied on English subtitles, I was at the edge of my seat through each episode, wanting to know what happened next.

The show is about an outer space alien getting stranded on Earth for 400 years after failing to save his first love who got killed and finding love with his neighbor 400 years later. There was drama, suspense, and romance – three of my favorite genres.

As I watched the show, my ears were shot up like antennas trying to catch each phrase the characters were saying. I could catch familiar phrases from time to time but mostly, I relied on English subtitles. After watching this, I know I need more work with my Japanese.

You want to know the strangest part in all of this? Mom likes this kind of show.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by. Until next we chat. 🙂

22 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden after More Rain and Enjoying Rom-Com”

    1. The insides kinda look like plums though I must say, the taste doesn’t pass any test. It’s bland and watery but it does have the same amount of antioxidant as blueberries. I guess sometimes the stuff that are good for us don’t taste good, even if it’s homegrown.

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  2. Funny enough, I had a dream about you and your mom the other day. I was staying there with you as a guest, and both of you were fighting over the placement of a table. I woke up wondering if that argument had actually happened. Lol

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  3. Two things. Those tomatoes are beautiful. And we were watching Russian moves for a time. I’m of Ukrainian descent but only speak a few words, however the two languages are close enough that the dialogue sounded very familiar to me.

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    1. Thanks. I think regional languages are all pretty similar, the difference may be the pronunciation of words.
      I heard Russian is a pretty difficult language to learn, so I find anyone who can speak or understand Russian quite impressive.

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  4. Hi YingLan,

    First of all, I have a suggestion. Stop asking your mom for permission for anything that does not directly impact something that is hers. If you were going to spend her money, then yes, asking is the respectful and right thing to do. But asking her permission for something like you did, is likely to fail because of who she is rather than the merits of the request and then ignoring her answer falls into the disrespecting category. In these cases, would you agree that mature adults should be able to ask instead something like, “I’m considering buying another [whatever]. I’ve got the money and plans for it, but do you have any thoughts or opinions that I should also consider?”

    This way you’ve limited her to a safe zone of being able to give her opinion without expected that she controls your final decision and if you decide not to take her advice, there’s no disrespect with proceeding according to your own wisdom.

    Next – so – how’s your story for Marsha’s Story Chat Y3 coming along? I’m ready to put words to digital paper for mine and hope to do so later today after getting some chores done. I think I’m going to need almost all of those 1500 words for her new limitation. This was such a great experience the two times I did it before and I’m looking forward to engaging the conversation with a new story from you.

    Best regards,

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    1. Hi Gary, I’ve been asking why I still ask her for permission to do the things I want to do for years. I don’t understand why I still do it but I understand your point. Part of me feels like asking for permission to buy things with my own money or go somewhere I want to go is an excuse for her to put a hold over me (to remain in control).

      As for the story, I had a story panned out in my head but it didn’t play out on paper. I started writing before another story interrupted and I lost the story. I have another story going and about 400 words into it. Hopefully, I don’t lose it this time. Good luck with your story. 🙂

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  8. I am in agreement that it is your money and your life. Stop asking for permission. She will be upset whether you ask her or not. She seems to enjoy drama and control. (I realize that it is easier for me to offer my opinion since I don’t live with her than it is for you to deal with her.)

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  10. When it comes to watching a show in a foreign language it is slang words while the languages we are taught through class and Duolingo are more formal. Have you tried looking for someone to Skype/Zoom with to learn Japanese.

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    1. I’ve heard that about Duolingo, about learning a more formal speech rather than learning how we speak on an everyday basis. I haven’t tried looking for someone to practice Japanese, haven’t thought about that yet, I guess.

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