Thursday, January 9, 2014

Winter Flowers

I received a lovely gift in the mail this week:
an amaryllis bulb called "Red Lion."
My grandmother had several bright red amaryllis, 
and I was fortunate enough that my mother gave me one of them.
Unfortunately, it died the unhappy year I lived in Wisconsin--
that metaphor wasn't lost on me, I can tell  you.


Regardless, the amaryllis I received this week reminded me
how beautiful and uplifting it is to have flowers in winter.
If I manage to nurture this amaryllis to adulthood,
it will join one of my favorite winter flowers: snowdrops.


Every winter when the inevitable sunless days arrive,
I'm heartened to see a cluster of white snowdrops blooming outside  my window.
Flowers inside, flowers out.
What could be a better way to spend winter?
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