Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Blue Hyacinths in January


We have blue hyacinths in January.

The wind moans in the sleeping fireplace; in a pool of their perfume, cold feet tucked under me, I am knitting a brown shawl.

15 comments:

Catalyst said...

Gorgeous picture and a wonderful first 30 words!

Anonymous said...

Yes, gorgeous. Are they blooming outside or in pots indoors? If the former, I'm truly envious.

meggie said...

How perfect! Photo, & words.

Jean said...

Oh, oh, this was obviously a very good idea - beautiful!

Unknown said...

The shift from hyacinth to cold feet and then to the knitting of a brown shawl is the sublime result of the 30-word frame. Such a sudden shift occurs in haiku, but only once. This is different. You will do well with it and I look forward to the daily pleasure a new one.

Lucy said...

Thanks for your prompt attention ( which I honestly wasn't seeking...).

The hyacinths are in pots; their colour and perfume (I always go for the blue ones) always seems to be full of almost unbelievable promise in these dull, cold days.

Joe, the shift thing is interesting isn't it? I don't think you can comfortably get more than three (- sections, that is, I guess that's two shifts ) into the frame; I tried, and even if you can accomplish in the 30 words, it just feels too crowded, too many small stunted ideas fighting for space... I'll have to bear this in mind.

jzr said...

Lucy, this is wonderful, both photo and words! Maybe this is something we all should try!!

vicki johnson said...

hmmm, beautiful
our house is filled with the fragrance of Chinese Sacred Lily and Golden rain narcissus...but i must confess:
i'm such a dunce!!
the word "their" in your haiku completely threw me...it took 3 readings before i realized you were referring back to the hyacinths...and not the cold feet!! In my defence, i just got out of bed after a late, late night...

Lucy said...

Zephyr, you're absolutely right, and having seen it, I couldn't abide such embarrassing foot odour!
So I have switched round the clauses, which I think removes the problem without incurring any loss.

vicki johnson said...

i'm glad my foggy eyes could help...

Lucy, i've got a question for you: Do you know if French farmers still grow the "original" paperwhite narcissi? Ken and i were discussing it on our show i was extolling the virtues of the wonderful fragrance of the heirloom paperwhites compared to the "stinky" new Israeli hybrids and he challenged me to see if i could find out if the originals are still farmed...and you are the only garden person i know in France...so, i thought i'd ask.

Fire Bird said...

it's working so far...

Lee said...

Lovely photo.

(When would you normally expect them?)

leslee said...

Oh, so beautiful I can almost smell it.

Thinking of knitting a shawl myself, given the return of cold weather and onset of the grippe type of cold, too.

Lucy said...

Zephyr - interesting that a foggy head may sometimes be more useful than a sharper one! Paperwhites: not much flower farming here, my neighbour gave me a bunch of what I assumed were original paperwhites a couple of years ago, like a little white daffodil, and deliciously fragrant, but if they were what you were looking for I don't know. I'll try to find out more.
TG - thaks, early days...
Lee - thanks. In the open you wouldn't see tham until perhaps April, they're quite late bulbs. These are forced to bloom after Christmas, I have done it myself, and my mum used to keep them in the cellar, but now I just buy them on the market where they sell large numbers before Christmas. I bought them as presents but ended up keeping them and gave the people fudge and flapjacks instead!
Leslee - thanks. The shawl is really easy. Cast on three on a big circular needle, chunky wool grows fastest, then increase one stitch yarn over at the start of each row until it's big enough along the long edge of the triangle. Big enough is about your arm span, which is about your height. I'll post about it later.

Anonymous said...

Delicious blue, and I like the cosiness of your thirty words.