Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks:  December 17, 2014

Winter Pleasures

Before I left for Charleston, SC, for Thanksgiving, I bought three amaryllis bulbs and left them, each in a brown paper sack, on a counter downstairs.

When I got home, this amaryllis had grown out of the bag by about a foot.

I put it into this glass vase designed for amaryllis, and soon it straightened itself out and grew tall and straight.

Here it is in the kitchen.

The drama of an amaryllis bulb never fails to fascinate me…

Sister-in-law Maryann Enright and cousin Ann O’Callaghan were here for Christmas By The Sea weekend in early December.

We did some shopping, and I came home with this little tree–made of wired and shiny glass beads.  I added the little finches for decoration, and the whole thing makes me smile every time I pass by it.

My little flock has come together nicely now.  That’s rooster Pumpkin with the grand tail.  The three (red) Buckeye hens remain unnamed, but loved, as I cannot tell them apart.  The darker Cuckoo Maran is Chocolate, or lotte, and the lighter one is Cocoa.  The Americauna on the far side of Pumpkin is his beloved, Ginger, who lays blue eggs.  She’s older and was so not happy to shared her coop with upstarts.  These young hens are starting to lay now, but only a little.  They won’t lay fully until the days grow longer again–or unless I extend their day with added light in the coop, which I don’t do.

Chickens are master beggars and know how to hang out at the kitchen door for a handout:

On the J&E Riggin this summer, Jeanne Gervais gave me this little green bag for my knitting when she determined that my plastic sack was way too prone to being blown away in the wind.  Here it is at Camp St. Christopher.  It carries my handwork with such style:

The HUGE/TALL amaryllis fell over, and the glass vase broke all over the kitchen.  I cut off the bloom stems and put them in another vase.  I don’t know if the bud will open or not…