Amaryllis Star of Christmas

Well, I think all of the blossoms that are going to blow have blown on our Amaryllis, Star of Holland. There are 4 of them. They’re huge and glorious!

I didn’t know how it would turn out at first. It started off as just a little green stub. It soared to about 18 inches and then pushed out flowers in every direction.

It grew a lot quicker than I thought. I doubted it would bloom before Christmas. Now I’m not sure it’ll last until Christmas.

We do have a backup Poinsettia. And today, Sena just added a Zygocactus. I gather it’s a Christmas cactus.

Music creative commons attribution for video music:

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100189

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Announcements!

Today, I almost got a 29-hand playing cribbage with Sena. Almost is kind of like a fish story about the one that got away. I got dealt a Jack of hearts, and 3 fives, the heart, club, and diamond. If the Jack of heart had been in my hand and the 5 of hearts had been the starter card, and the other 5 in my hand had been the spade, I could have been a lucky guy, indeed. As it was, the hand was worth only 20 points. You can get better hands without all those fives, frankly. But it was still exciting. We both won a game and I finally won best two out of three. That’s rare.

There are definitely going to be 4 blossoms on the Amaryllis. They will make a great-looking bouquet. By the way, Sena has been to stores where the bulb kits are sold—some of the plants burst right through the boxes! That means you don’t have to do much to get them to grow—my kind of houseplant.

Amaryllis Blooming

The Amaryllis today is blooming like crazy. A new bloom opened today right next to the one that opened yesterday. Now there are two buds in the shade of the two open flowers. Will that stunt the growth of the buds?

Should I worry about what’s in the shadows or be glad for what’s out in the light?

New Juggling Balls!

Hey, the ugly juggler just got a new set of juggling balls! And you’ll be thrilled to know my juggling is just as ugly as ever.

I know next to nothing about juggling except what I’ve learned in the last month or so. The Zeekio balls weigh 110 grams (almost 4 oz) each and they’re 62 mm (2.4 inches) in diameter. They have substance to them.

They’re very different from my first set, which came in a box along with a manual for how to learn juggling. I bought that kit on a whim at Barnes and Nobles in mid-October. The balls started leaking their innards in November and they were small. I made do with decorator balls that I think are made of latex, filled with some kind of liquid which leaked. They stuck to my hands and to each other. One of them has shrunk in size. They’re not real juggling balls.

But the Zeekio balls are real and an early Christmas gift from Sena. They make a satisfying thud when they hit the floor or my head. That’s how I know they’re high quality.

Earth Shaking Announcements!

I have announcements that you don’t want to miss! We got our Sasquatch cribbage board and it is gorgeous. We hope to have a YouTube video of us playing a game in a day or two.

The Amaryllis Star of Holland continues to open, almost before our eyes. It’ll probably be in full bloom before Christmas.

I have been working so hard on my juggling practice, trying to get so I can do a behind the back throw—I got a bruise on my right wrist without even realizing it. I must have got smacked by the ball. More on the agony and the steady but slow progress coming soon!