An Amaryllis Blooms

My Aunty Nancy had asked me to share the progress of my amaryllis as it bloomed so I thought I'd make a little movie to show you all the process from start to finish.

I think it's a lovely way to start a chilly winter's day.

Enjoy.

The Giveaway Prizes

Some of you may have wondered just what the little extra's the giveaway winners received were.

Other's may have wondered what the 'little something' I found for the extra winner was.

Wonder no more!

Both calendar winners received the same thing, aside from the fact that one was a wall calendar and the other a desk calendar.

A calendar, a Growing Wisdom note book and wrapped in tissue, a tiny tin of the wood butter I had made the day before.

Wood butter?? What in the world is wood butter?

You'll have to tune in later this week to find that out . . .

 Then there was this cute gift tag Val showed me how to make when she had come for a day of creating a few days earlier . . .

I have been seized with the compulsion to find the perfect bible verse for everything lately. (This was a reminder that spring will come. Probably later rather than sooner, but still, it will come.)

My cousin Marie was the extra giveaway winner. I bribed her with a larger gift if she was willing to come into town for a visit. (She lives about an hour away.)

Not only did she come into town, she also took me out for lunch!

Good thing I had something nice to give . . .

These are the bulbs Nicole and I started last fall.

To bad Val hadn't come yet but I still had fun making this gift tag . . .

And because I said a little something extra . . .

She got to pick one of these concrete leaves!

Which one would you pick?

She picked the gray one.

I do love a giveaway!

Planning For Early Spring. . . By Forcing Bulbs Indoors

On the Saturday before surgery Nicole came over and we spent a couple of hours planting a variety of bulbs in pots.(Okay we probably spent less than an hour actually planting and the rest of the time chatting but hey, that's what good friends do!)

There is nothing like pulling a pot of daffodils or tulips from the cold room in late winter, placing them in front of a cool basement window and waiting for the day they begin to bloom and they are finally ready to move upstairs, beautifying a warm and cozy home while the snow is still flying outside.

I do it every year and every year it is just as thrilling as the year before. . .

 Every year it's a leap of faith  and that's something that's more important than ever this year. . .

Tulips in January!

Can there be anything better than tulips in January?

The first picture was taken yesterday afternoon and the second this morning. I'm not going to go into how to force bulbs like this now. We'll save that for this fall/winter when I get a batch ready for next year.







They do give me great delight. The flowers are great of course, but even better.... I now get to phone my sister Lisa and tell her all about it!

Now you need to know that Lisa lives on the Lower Mainland in British Columbia, about an hour or so out of Vancouver. Every year in February when we are chatting about how things are going she tells me how wonderful and mild things are,... about how green the grass is getting... blah,blah,blah... and then.... that the crocuses are blooming!! Argh!! February in Edmonton usually means more snow, and temperatures that cause me to add third and fourth layers when I go out! With no end in sight!!

Well this year I've got her beat! I'm going to phone her and tell her...... well, you know....


The tulips are blooming! In January!

Ha! So there!

Do me a favour though ... please... don't tell her they are in pots!

Amaryllis

I took this picture yesterday. My youngest son Jesse bought it for me before Christmas as I just couldn't justify the expense with so many presents left to buy. It was very exciting picking through all the bulbs available looking for the largest possible one! I'd like to tell you which one it is but in my post Christmas cleaning/organizing frenzy somehow it got thrown out. I could tell which bulbs I planted last spring... those label's I saved.

Well as you can see it's not blooming yet but I'll post pictures every week so we can watch it's progress.