Sunday, I went out and bought 3 mini dens. They are the only ones small enough to fit under the flourescent table lamp, which is not as tall as I imagined after I measured it with tape. The plants are a little too tall but properlly angled, they fit okay under the light. One den has a little inflourescent that is now turning towards the tube. Best of all, in the day, if I draw the curtains, they will catch some sunlight. My father surprised me. I kept the light on the whole of last night and he said nothing, only that he had noticed them [the orchids] reaching towards the light. Excellent!

June is my lucky month. The mini den at work is growing a baby and there is another bump on the unifoliate cattlya. I think they like the heat.

I have been closely observing the unifoliate cattlya and another den. The den is going to growing a cane. I'm suspecting the cattlya too but it's being sneaky: it does nothing for a few days and then grows a little. The other cattlya that has a tiny plant is growing so slowly I am beginning to think it's not going to grow at all.

Doing my work at another workstation earlier today, I noticed that a colleague is extremely mad about african violets. She has a really pretty purple one. She says they are fool proof. I thought about trying them and then realise I can never get them to bloom in my dark corridor.

My father has installed in the study a lovely bright flourescent lamp for his reading. HA HA HA HA HA! The fool! The orchids will take over that room sooner than he realises.

I have decided, for father's day, to buy my father a plant he can go ahead to kill if he so wish. A hardier plant, I think, would be good but no more dens from Far East Flora: they all come with crawlies. I'm thinking of getting some more mini dens to keep them indoors in a planter.

It's been hot. I inspect the plants daily, looking for signs of new growth. Today, I found a baby plant on the cattlya I missed - how could I? - and one of the dens is growing a fat cane. The mokara roots are thickening nicely but still no flowers. They seem to be concentrating on root than flower and leaves - why? The dead looking phal has little baby leaves that seem to be increasing in size. The office plant is also showing green tips on their roots.

I've heard of orchids shooting up just before they die. I suspect the ones that got special attention from my father is racing to their greenhouse heaven: the den has little babies and the leathery phal have baby leaves.

Hmm. The den at the office looks a little depressed: it's not having any sun from where I'm sitting. The flourescent light is too weak to help.

I'm glad I brought the orchids to the office because just about the only good thing that happened today was the rain watering the ones at home and the mini den blooming. Frankly, it's just amazing watching the bud slowly opening. It's my excuse for staying late to do some work.

I got a birthday angpow from my aunt yesterday and so off to the plant retailer I went. My plan was to get two plants for the office. It is a defensive strategy: I'm defending my orchids from my father, and as a bonus, I'm trying to use it to dispell the 'sha qi' from my boss who sits diagonally across from me.

I almost blew it all on a phah. [A PHAH!, my brain screamed.] Out of whatever small puddle of discipline left in me, I walked right by and got a brown mini den with fantastic messy roots and leaves and a yellow phal. (The phal is just pure stubbornness: I refuse to believe they will die even in air conditioned environments. The den is an indulgence. While I'm not so keen about dens I love how they grow this way and that: they remind me of a rich rainforests.)

I'm crossing all my fingers for the yellow phal.

I have lately stopped blogging about my orchids because I have heartlessly decided to let them die in my father's incapable purple thumbs. My father is an incompetent gardener of the worst kind: he refuses to acknowledge his incompetence and he argues with everyone about the right way to grow them. Due to his care, the spider orchid has grown brown and died; two phals are withering from root rot; the Mokara and Vanda has roots thin from poor fertiliser; a mini den and another mini cat became badly sun burnt. And because his eyesight is bad, he did not see the holes the adult weevils made. Still, with such proof - just in a month he insisted on caring for them - he refuses to acknowledge he's such a bad gardener: he blames everything else except himself for the ruination of the plants. I think planting shows up a person's personality in the worst way. In me, irresponsibility and in him, thick headedness.