Venus

S just recently discovered that the plant on our window sill, the one I've had since way before he was born, is a carnivorous plant. It's a pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, and my love for this plant goes back to childhood. My great-uncle Phil took me for a walk in the woods behind his home in Maine to see a patch of Pitcher Plants. I examined the contents, the bugs lured into it's soupy interior. I was smitten.

Many years later I began growing them on my window sill in Manhattan. At one time, I had 2 varieties of pitchers, a Fly Trap that flowered several times, and a Sundew.

The latter died when we moved.

When I told S about my former Fly Traps, he went wild!. I immediately called our local nursery and put in a request. A few days later, we received a call and went to pick up our son's first fly trap. S spent a good part of the day examining this plant - completely freaked out about the bug eating bit. He looked at it closely with a magnifying glass, and I showed him the trigger hairs.

Later he drew he this picture!

I love his creative spelling!
Yesterday I took S on a long walk outdoors and he had NO reaction to the pollen! I'm so grateful and so happy for him. The smell of freshly cut grass and flowering trees were enough to make one swoon, but the highlight of pushing him in the stroller for 4.56 miles was the little fluffy yellow gosling that crossed our path and the first caterpillar of the season, whom he named, Gloria.

Gloria: [Middle English, from Late Latin Glōria , from Latin glōria , glory .]