- What in the world is the Rockstar doing with his pointer?
This one brings back memories of playing in fields all over Malaysia in early childhood…
- Is he TICKLING something??
- JD’s none too fussed…
You have your toy, I have my toy… So says the dog… Her glow-in-the-dark ball so much more atas than the Rockstar Amusement (btw if you visit some of the parks at night, you will find owners deck their dogs in lights or are toting battery-powered lighted ball toys and things)…
- Why’s he tickling the leaf?
OK. No way the Southeast Asians at least didn’t know this right from the second pic. (According to Wikipedia it’s native to Central America but it was a real weed all over Malaysia when I was growing up… Quite “malu,” I think, if you didn’t catch this immediately 😉
- Rockstar’s teasing Mimosas!
Yup, those are Touch-Me-Nots, Semalu/ Malu-malu, Mimosa. Rockstar calls em Shy Plants. The leaves “hide” right before your eyes if you touch them, the rapid movement while apparently meant to deter predators is just great Rockstar entertainment. (And yes I remembered to tell him to keep away from the thorny stems.)
7 years in Hong Kong, walking JD through various parks and shrubbery, I’d only noticed these fairly recently – either they don’t grow that abundantly in HK, or else the big-*ss hairy caterpillars and spiders in summer distract me every time.
Anyway Rockstar had been asking about the different defense mechanisms animals and plants employ… Then he brought home a library book from school yesterday about Trap-door Spiders which was just gross…
Did Rockstar discover this shy mimosa plant on his own while playing in the park with JD?
Nah, I don’t let him in this field that much at the height of summer – it’s full of mosquitoes and he’s a bug magnet. I filmed the plants on my cellphone and then he went on and on about wanting to look for them on his own, so…
Ah, I see he is a hands-on guy, must have real-life experience – keen on learning which is good. 🙂