Shoot 'Em Up

Apparently bamboo ranks up there with titanium, cockroaches & Cher as being nearly indestructible (unless within the vicinity of a panda). Someone told me it brings good fortune. In my case, the bamboo dies quickly and miserably, and I'm still poor. Of the dozen different shoots i've bought over the years, only one has survived more than a few months, despite the best efforts of me, my cat and my perishingly cold house.

Today I noticed a new shoot had grown in at the bottom of the stalk - several inches inches long, leafy, a healthy shade of green, and entirely missed by me until now (this may indicate my attentiveness towards plant-care).

I will do my best not to parch, drown or rot the new addition, but I need to be realistic. I give it a week, maybe two, before it ends up composting alongside the batch of red peppers I bought with the best of intentions for making soup.... but appear to have forgotten about until i saw some suspicious gloop escaping from the vegetable rack.

shot: Impossible to get a good picture through the vase due to the amount of reflections/glare, so i tilted it onto its side and took a photo down through the twisted stem/glass vase.