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2024 52 Card Project: Week 46: Amaryllis
Nov. 22nd, 2024 12:22 pmI had a bit of trouble coming up with a topic for this week's collage, because what has preoccupied me the most for this particular week were two topics I'd done collages about before: the arthritis in my hand and my sleep disorder. Both have been extremely troublesome.
But I've done those subjects before, as I said, and frankly, they are pretty damned depressing topics. Good lord, I don't want to be a tiresome old lady who natters on boringly about details of her life that cannot possibly interest anyone else.
After the election, I wanted to do a collage about something hopeful.
Upon thinking about it further, I realized that I did have something hopeful to talk about specific to this week.
Every year, the week of Veteran's Day, my Dad's birthday, and Rob's birthday, I always plant an amaryllis bulb. I do this at this time of the year because if you time it this way, the bulb will usually flower right around Christmas.
Planting a bulb for Christmas does not cost very much at all. I usually buy a bulb at Ace Hardware every year for about $12, which includes the soil and the pot, but I always use the same red pot I got years ago and use only for this purpose. This year, I am simply re-planting the bulb I used last year as an experiment. I had put it in the basement in the dark for several weeks in preparation--we'll see if it works.
It is a Christmas ritual that is dependable, comforting, and cost-effective (which cannot be said of all Christmas traditions). And it is hopeful. I plant the bulb and can look forward to a huge, extravagant bloom.
I need some hope this year.
Edited to add: A friend just emailed to remind me of this song, Amaryllis by the Flash Girls.
I can't get the embed code, but you can listen to it here.
Background: fallen autumn leaves on concrete. Lower center: a red ceramic pot planted with an amaryllis bulb. Hovering over the pot: a semi-transparent red amaryllis flower in full bloom.
Amaryllis
Click on the links to see the 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
But I've done those subjects before, as I said, and frankly, they are pretty damned depressing topics. Good lord, I don't want to be a tiresome old lady who natters on boringly about details of her life that cannot possibly interest anyone else.
After the election, I wanted to do a collage about something hopeful.
Upon thinking about it further, I realized that I did have something hopeful to talk about specific to this week.
Every year, the week of Veteran's Day, my Dad's birthday, and Rob's birthday, I always plant an amaryllis bulb. I do this at this time of the year because if you time it this way, the bulb will usually flower right around Christmas.
Planting a bulb for Christmas does not cost very much at all. I usually buy a bulb at Ace Hardware every year for about $12, which includes the soil and the pot, but I always use the same red pot I got years ago and use only for this purpose. This year, I am simply re-planting the bulb I used last year as an experiment. I had put it in the basement in the dark for several weeks in preparation--we'll see if it works.
It is a Christmas ritual that is dependable, comforting, and cost-effective (which cannot be said of all Christmas traditions). And it is hopeful. I plant the bulb and can look forward to a huge, extravagant bloom.
I need some hope this year.
Edited to add: A friend just emailed to remind me of this song, Amaryllis by the Flash Girls.
I can't get the embed code, but you can listen to it here.
Background: fallen autumn leaves on concrete. Lower center: a red ceramic pot planted with an amaryllis bulb. Hovering over the pot: a semi-transparent red amaryllis flower in full bloom.
Click on the links to see the 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
