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The amaryllis is putting on quite a show. Two flowers are almost fully out, and there will be several others.

But what is this funny thing sticking up the top?


It's an amazing structure, this whole thing. Big tall stalk, huge crazy flowers! I'm a bit afraid to carry it around to get better light for photographing it, in case it tips over or something, so I do get some funny shadowy pictures, and I do some funny contortions to hold other plants out of the way and so on!

And speaking of crazy, I was cruising around Ravelry yesterday and found another KAL group I just had to join... The Knit a Block a Month group! This only adds one little bitty square to my monthly obligations, so, no prob, right? And it will help me use up some yarn, though I'm sure I'll find myself buying a bit more as the year progresses. I should end up with a crib blanket at the end of it, which will surely be put to good use somewhere.

Onward, with all those Monday chores....

More amaryllis

Will it be out by January 1? Who knows?

A tiny bit of sock knitting has taken place. Some fun and frivolity, mainly involving large quantities of food, has also occurred.

My finger is still not totally fine. The nail is broken down in the part where it's actually attached to the finger, so I live in fear of snagging it on something, which would lead to great pain. Band-aids work until one washes dishes or one's hand! Well, in the great scheme of things, a sore finger is not really worth getting too excited about, I suppose!

The amaryllis is blooming

Well, almost! This has a few flowers, and there is another bud coming up, too! So we will soon be inundated with big orangey flowers!

Meanwhile, I banged my finger in a door, or drawer, or something... One of those injuries that wasn't significant enough to register until a few minutes later, when I realised my right index fingernail was broken and the fingertip very sore and bruised, but I can't quite recall how I did it! Knitting may suffer!

Not spring here yet

I got a card from my sister today (because, in fact, it is my birthday), in which she hopes the snow is gone... It's not. It was supposed to get above zero today, but so far, no luck. We have some sun, but no actual warmth yet!

This is our slushy lane from my roof.

You can see the snow has come off most of the roofs. The CN Tower in the distance has been causing a bit of trouble lately, as you can read at the bottom of the history part of that article. And of course, it's on You Tube. I think we're safe now, but it's only mid-March; there's lots of winter left!

That same sister asked about the amaryllis seeds. The stalk of the plant has fallen over, exhausted and depleted, but the papery little seeds have been put into some dirt. We shall see. But this is what she told me:

I had an amaryllis that produced seeds once. I planted a few of them in pots and ended up with 2 baby amaryllis plants, one of which I gave away. The other I kept for many years. I watered it little and often. (I lost a big amaryllis plant when I put it out in the garden one spring and it rained and rained and the amaryllis bulb rotted).

It would put out a set of leaves which would stay green for quite a while, then turn yellow and die down. Then it would put out another set of leaves, a little bigger than the previous set. This went on for approximately 15 years.

[Fifteen years, folks!]

Then the large leaves died down and a new set did not appear, but the top of the bulb was green. So I put it in a dim corner and didn't water it for a couple of weeks or so. Then it put out a flower stalk and bloomed. That was about 3 years ago and it hasn't bloomed again. It didn't set seed either. But it's still making leaves.

That's my story, for what it's worth.

Well, it's off to a dark corner for this guy for a while.

Today is the last day of school till the 19th. Plans here include hanging around, watching cartoons, and maybe even going shopping tomorrow! I have the urge to use my Get out of Jail card (rule 2b), but have no idea what to buy. So maybe I'll just go look and stay out of jail.

The amaryllis cam

Sandy has an amaryllis cam. Norma has an amaryllis cam. And I know I've seen at least one more, but where?



Now, my amaryllis bloomed some time ago, was magnificent and lovely and amazing, and now all the flowers have faded and fallen off, but this one seems to have made itself some seeds in a pod. The pod is now drying out, but was once sleek and full and ... fertile-looking. So, my question is, what do I do now? Will the seeds fall into the pot and take care of themselves? Is there some tender loving care I should bestow upon them? Is this a freak amaryllis, or what?

And a snow update: Bleah! It's now above zero, the snow on the trees and rooftops is melting down into the snow on the ground, which is getting wet and slushy and messy, and if one should be outside trying to be neighbourly and clearing the snow from the sidewalk, one runs the risk of having a blob of melty snow fall right down the back of one's neck!

And that's why we turn to flowers...