Sunday, January 14, 2024

Amaryllis and ❄ Cold ❄ Weather!

 

Back in November Chris and Kristi (my son & daughter-in-law) gave me a lovely gift of an Amaryllis. Believe it or not, I had never had one before. What a fun gift this was since I was able to watch it grow from a bulb to beautiful flowers! 

11-26-23  This tiny growth popped up.

12-1-23 Five days later it has more than doubled its size.

Between 12-1-23 and 1-5-24 this little plant grew very tall, but no flowers. Then on 1-6-24, it greeted me with a bulb just beginning to open.

1-6-24 The first bulb opens!


1-11-24
                                                                    
Four days ago I woke up to three large blooms. By this time it had grown so tall that I had to tie it to a small dowel to support it.
 
1-14-24

Yesterday I discovered a fourth full-size bloom plus another bud getting ready to open! Kristi told me it would grow fast and she wasn't joking! Although it spent a month growing very tall with no flowers, once the flowers started coming they have not stopped!

It seems like winter has really arrived for most of us in this past week. Much of the country has had record-breaking low temperatures. Sunday we did not get above 0 F and on Saturday we didn't get much above it. I know the states north of us have had it much colder than that recently but for the Midwest, these are pretty cold days! Saturday our football team, the Chiefs, had a playoff game here and it ended up being the fourth coldest NFL game on record. It's hard to believe people fill the stands in this kind of cold but they do. Even Taylor Swift was there but she was in one of the enclosed boxes. She has been attending almost all of our games since she started dating one of our players, Travis Kelce.

I hope everyone is staying warm and healthy!



Monday, January 1, 2024

Happy New Year!

 


I hope this new year has started out well for everyone. I always become a bit introspective on New Year’s Day but I think that is a good thing. I like to reflect on both the past year and the new one. I see the new year as a book of blank pages waiting for me to fill. I always hope each year that I can improve on how I fill those pages!

2023 has not been the best year for us in many ways but I am thankful that we have had some very happy days sprinkled around to help keep us going! My granddaughter, Annika’s wedding provided a great joy for us all. Each family birthday gave us a chance to come together and enjoy each other’s company. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my family. And of course, our two cats Sophie and Zeus always bring us love and happiness.

I look forward to the ways I find to fill these new blank pages of 2024. I have much I want to accomplish and blogging more often is high on my list! Thank you to those who have stayed with me through my blogging absence. I appreciate you! I hope you all find the happiest of ways to fill the blank pages in the book of your new year!