Where did I come from?

I was born in Richmond. I Don't remember the house very well, but i believe we definately didn't have a backyard. From there my family moved to East Malvern, where we had a small house and an enourmous back yard. My parents were the type to send us outside till dinner time, and saying we were bored was a big no no. I have a lot of fond memories from that house. like the cubby house we had and the swing set. We played totem tennis and cricket, we had one of those token paved strips leading to the hills hoist that we used as a pitch. My family has great memories of the fruit trees and they are still mentioned today.
We had a blood plum tree Prunus cerasifera you know the one with the dark purple red leaves with the fleshy fruit that stains your clothes red. We had one in the front yard which produced plenty of plums. We had a lemon tree Citrus × limon, an apple tree (i think they were of the Malus ballerina variety) and a pear tree Pyrus in the back. The pear and plum didn't do that well, their fruits were always hard and a bit sour, but the absolute favourite was the apricot tree Prunus armeniaca. It was massive! we spent all summer sitting under it and devouring the fruits, we shared them with the neighbours and friends and they were just awesome.
I don't think my folks were particularly into gardening my dad still loathes mowing the lawns. actually come to think of it my dad did have a little horticultural hobby. he had "special plants" the kind the kids weren't allowed to touch. We could only look. He would put seeds on pieces of cotton wool and keep them moist, then after a while little sprouts would shoot up and then he would put them in pots, they would then be transplanted into the special plants area and they would grow huge.... funny those plants always got stolen.

As an adult I believe those plants are called Marijuana plants. also known as Cannabis, Gunga, weed, Mary-Jane hooch, Choof, 'Pass the dutchie on the left hand side', anyway you get my point!
Actually called c.staiva it is an annual plant or herb from the cannabaceae family. Humans have cultivated this herb throughout history for many different reasons such as industrial fibres, oils, and food but perhaps more commonly it has been used as a drug or can i say medicine. Each part is harvested differently depending on the use.

I can't really say my parents were hippies, I mean they grew up in the 60's and 70's i guess, my dad is a huge music fan and plays guitar and piano and sings, what this has to do with anything i don't know! My mum is super straight and doesn't even really drink and has no idea about gardening, i have a love of plants and nature but maybe that's because they always kicked us outside, i'm actually grateful for this.
about 13 years ago we moved to Moorabbin my parents bought a huge property there on the highway (1000 square metres) huge house and huge back yard, we had a pool that eventually died, but it was a great place to hang out as a teenager. My boyfriend at the time and now husband had moved out of one of his dodgy boy share houses, and was throwing away a poor sorry looking cactus my mum put her hand up for it and planted it in the from yard, why am i telling you this? because after about seven years of this bloody cactus growing increasingly tall and multiplying all over the place something remarkable happened.

Cool huh? The flower showed it's face for one day only! And then died.
anyway my parents like so many have just sold that dump, I mean my sentimental family home that I grew up in and loved.
and have bought a one of two brand new "low maintenance" town house with little to almost no garden, there is an atrium which my mum keeps saying 'maybe we'll just put some succulents in there'. It's all about low maintenance. What happened to everyone? Whats wrong with a bit of hard work? I forgot to mention we lived on a kibbutz for 4 years, there was no bloody low maintenance. It was all hard work and being outside. Our houses were so small we had to be outside, and we loved it! low maintenace succulent what the ? I protest! however it's pretty nice going to my parents clean new sparkly house.....
that cactus didn't make the cut to that house but the Peyote my brother was growing well lets just say we didn't see that when we packed up the house hmmmm???