Change in Comment Moderation

This poor neglected blog gets over a dozen spam messages every day. I've changed the comment moderation to allow only people with google accounts. I hope this doesn't present a problem for any of my regular readers. 

By the Lake

A few pictures taken on today's bike ride. I shot these with my phone. 

Last Year's Amaryllis

I'd heard it was possible to overwinter amaryllis so I decided to try. This is an Aphrodite amaryllis. When fully open, the blooms are ten inches in diameter. 

This is what I did to get a twofer out of last year's bulb.
When the flowers dried up, I cut them off. Similarly, when the flower stalk dried up, I removed it. 
I put the amaryllis in a sunny window for the rest of the winter. The leaves are graceful, curving structures. 
In the spring when the nighttime temperatures were reliably above 40 degrees F, I moved the plant outside to our sunny porch. 
The amaryllis went a bit feral outside. Weeds grew in the potting soil, and a spider took up residence in the leaves.
I intended to give it some liquid organic fertilizer, but that didn't happen. 
If the leaves wilted, I removed them.
In the fall when the thermometer started to drop below 40 F, I brought it inside. 
After a while, I cut off the few remaining leaves and moved it to the basement. I didn't water the bulb while it was in the basement.
I'd read that the bulb was supposed to stay in the dark for 6-8 weeks. 
At 7 weeks, the bulb had grown a 10" stem with a flower bud, so 6 weeks seems right. 
I brought it upstairs, watered thoroughly and put the plant in a warm, sunny spot. 
Flowers happened. 

Surprise! Pictures of Ice: part 2

Here are the rest of last weekends ice pictures. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The last two are the same ice formation from different angles. 

Surprise! Pictures of Ice: part 1

I hike in the winter when it's too cold to ride my bike, so winter pictures tend to dominate this blog. This has been a warm winter, but we had a cold snap followed by a rare sunny day. I took enough pictures for two blog posts. As always, click on the picture to enlarge. 

 

Please stop by later in the week for more pictures.

This Year's Amaryllis

Nothing like bright pink blossoms to ward off the gray skies of Michigan winters.

Please drop by again  in a few days. I found a number of interesting ice formations by the Red Cedar River last weekend. As soon as I sort and crop the pictures, I'll put up a couple of posts.

For posts on writing, check my website blog.

Change of Seasons

This year, we didn't have many bright, sunny days when the leaves were changing, so I couldn't get those lovely yellow, gold and red reflections in the river. The leaves are down now, and we've had our first snow. 
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.