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8 Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, January HI || 11 A View from the Hollow By John Romanehuk Entering the store you spy with leaf-like stems that can blooms in abundance, a boun- store a reasonable amount of tiful treasure that will glow water; therefore water only pink against the callous cold when the top half of the soil is backdrop outside any kitchen dry, A good rule of the thumb window. Getting the store- is to stick it (your thumb of keepers attention you ask in a course) in the pot to test for timid voice, "What is it?" In a dryness, hushed voice he replies, "That Prune your cactus by my good person is a pinching or cutting a few sec- Zygocactus trancatus." It tions off each stem after the even has an exotic name. blooms have fallen away to How mysterious, "Most peo- encourage branching, pie know it as the Christmas You can cut these sections cactus," he adds. in the spring or early summer. "Well, I'll take it!" you say, After letting them callous for and home you go, content a few days, place the plant in with your new found beauty, a moist vermiculite to propa- enshrined in a place of honour gate (bonus) new plants, on your plant stand. This ele- When the plants finish bloom- gance has become a favourite. ing, repot using a commercial But as the flowers begin to mix specially formulated for fall away, this cactus sudden- succulents. This plant also ly seems plain, ordinary. requires a rest period after You must face the fact the blooming so keep it cool, honey bloom is over and as (55F) and let it dry, watering the days grow longer and infrequently (until the end of blooms fall away, you find March) after which, treat like yourself spending more time the rest of your house plants, with those colourful glossy Move the cactus outdoors pictures in the seed cata- in the summer to a shady to a logues, dreaming more of semi-shade spot (remember to summer perennials than of protect it from slugs). As the blooming Christmas plants. days begin to get shorter If not given the right treat- (Sept. - Oct.), this plant needs ment,, this deflowered cactus another period of low water may never bloom again. It and cool temperatures in will require some diligence order for the flower buds to and a bit of skill. form. Water normally after it Here are the facts. The buds, maintaining a minimum Christmas cactus that you temperature of 55F and voila, bought at the florist is likely a a profusion of Christmas hybrid whose specie is native flowers, to Brazil where it is found There is a cactus for every growing on trees in the rain holiday; Thanksgiving forest. These forest cacti dif- (American), Christmas and fer in form from the spiny Easter. Each plays by the desert types and not surpris- same rules but flowers at dif- ingly require a different care. ferent times, thus requiring a This cactus is a succulent different rest schedule. When House Plants Get To Established in 1972 Newcastle, ON Tel: (905) 720-8786 ARTHUR BLACK THE MULLET IS DEAD ! There waS a fair bit of ink splashed around the newspapers newspapers last week regarding Mel Gibson's latest movie, What Women Want. The movie reviewers are ad hot and lathered lathered because M £ 1 is trying his hand at a new genre - romantic romantic comedy a -}a Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy. They're exc'tod because of Mel's on-camera performance - I'm excited because the papers carried pictures of Mel nuzzling his §o-star, Helen Hunt - and guëis what? Mel's got a real, honest-to- gosh, short-back-and-sides haircut. He's not wearing his trademark Mullet. You know Mel's Mullet - his hairstyle. The one he wore in Braveheart and Lethal Weapon I through MCLXXIV. The one that looks like a wolverine died on the back of his neck. The haircut is not exclusive exclusive to Mel. It is favoured by hockey players, good of Bubbas, virtually every steroid superstar in the WWF and pretty well anybody who drives a pickup with a rifle rack across thi rear window. Nobody knows exactly how the name "mullet' came to be applied to this, the goofiest of hairstyles ever to be adopted adopted by the male ego. After all, a mullet traditionally is a kind of bait fish, small and forgettable. forgettable. Those are two adjectives that will never be applied to Mullet the hairstyle. I've heard the Mullet called other names Kentucky Waterfall, Mud Flap, Beaver Paddle, Ape Drape, Neck Blanket and Hockey Hair to name but a few. The memorable Mullet sported by one-hit country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus led some cynics to dub the hairdo 'Achy Breaky Big Mistake-y' - but alas, the name never caught on. Other famous Mulletheads? Bon Jovi, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton and my favourite - Larry 'Bud' Fortensky, famous only for having briefly performed stud service for Elizabeth Taylor. But I think Mel Gibson was far and away the most illustrious celebrity ever to sport the 'do, and now that he's given it up, methinks the Mullet is doomed to become a footnote in the annals of ton- sorial excess. It will go down to the hirsute netherworld, there to languish unlamented along with the Afro, the Brush Cut, the Beatles Shag, the Mohawk and the famous Elvisonian ducktail. Do I sound gleeful? Well, maybe a tad. As a man who has long since lost the option of cultivating anything curly north of the eyebrows, save a scrawny horseshoe of furze, I derive great, if immature, pleasure in watching male foliage patterns come a cropper. cropper. It's not easy for bald guys you know. Even horseshoes of hair grow. I still have to go to the barber ever three weeks and fork over my fifteen bucks to watch him cut my hair in less time than it takes to clear your throat. I complained about it once. I sat waiting my turn, watching watching my barber shear a guy who looked like the missing link. When he was finished the floor looked like the aftermath of a sheepshearing sheepshearing contest. "That'll be $15" my barber told the guy. I climb into the chair, the barber makes about three cursory cursory strafing passes at my head, shuts off the clippers. "That'll be $15" he tells me. "How come you charge me the same price for a haircut as that other guy? Shouldn't I get a discount?" "I only charged you five bucks for cutting your hair" he says. "And ten dollars for searching for it." (T Community Events OPTIMIST CLUB OF NEWCASTLE VILLAGE The Club presents Youth Dance for ages 10 - 14, Friday, January 12, Newcastle Community Hall, 7 - 9 p.m., Admission $5.00. Questions Connie 983-5139 or Diane 987-5653. CANADIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY Emergency and Standard First Aid Courses are being held on January 20 and 21, 2001. All courses include the book "Vital Link" and Basic Rescuer C.P.R. Please call (905) 723-2933 to register. \ J :|N [i] E Northcutt Elliott Funeral Home THOUGHTFULNESS, SERVICE & CONCERN A Family Owned Business, Offering: Traditional Funeral Services Pre-arranged & Prepaid Services - Cremation Arrangements Alternatives to Traditional Funerals - Out of Town Shipping CORY KUIPERS - PRESIDENT 53 Division Street 623-5668 Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 2Z8 OFF STREET PARKING John R. O'Toole MPP Durham Would be Honoured With Your Presence at Our New Year's Levee 2001 Sunday, January 14th 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Trillium TVails 53 Snowridge Court Just off Simcoe Street North, at Raglan Oshawa, Ontario Constituency Office 75 King Street E. Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 1N4 Telephone: 697-1501 Toll Free: 1-800-661-2433 Ontmio Canada The Future's Right Here