For the love of tulips.



I love tulips.  They symbolize beauty to me.  Their waxy petals intrigue me.  I read a book once, called Earthly Joys, by one of my favorite historical fiction authors, Philippa Gregory.  I don't quite remember the story (I shall re-read it!), but I remember Gregory introduced the reader to the dangerous, almost black market industry of growing rare tulips in Europe in the setting of the story.  I wonder if this tulip is a part of that lineage of tulip growing.  Either way, I can't wait for Spring!

Did you know that tulips are one of the few flowers that grow after they're cut?  [Doesn't it make you like them more?  They're determined little ones, they are.]  That's why it's common to see them bowing over the edge of your vase the day after you create your arrangement.  And, to keep them from wilting, there's a rumor that by putting a penny in the vase, that they tulip will stand at attention for a longer period of time.  I'm not sure this works, but I still add a penny to my jar. 

The gorgeous tulip find (in the middle of winter) was on our table at a crepe restaurant called "Rooster" we visited on a girlfriend jaunt to St. Louis.  If you go there, go there.  Eat.  At Rooster.  Here's their link: http://roosterstl.com/.  I've shown you the perfect drink menu for my taste-- many, many, confusing and delicious options.  I ended up enjoying a Bellini.

I saw multiple tulips like this while in SL.  You can't see the scale, but the bud of this tulip is three times the size of tulips we see up in Chicago.  This place was AMAZING.  I am determined to find a place where I can find some here at home.  And, let me tell you, that tulip entranced me (and I love mason jars).  Additionally, the cheddar and bacon stuffed olives also seemed to have made an impression on me as well. My friend Katie and I are going to try to make our own.  More on that later.



Post-Blizzard Pause



The excitement of a snow day was, in the "olden days," a surprise.  Wake up, world covered in too much snow to get to work = wow!  And then the phone call: snow day!  In our meteorology and technology permeated country, we had an inkling for days that Wednesday might be our day.  And, it was!  At 1:00pm on Tuesday, our principal came on the PA telling us that we would not have school on Wednesday.  It's my first snow day as a teacher.  After working a job for five years that would not cancel for snow, except under apocalyptic conditions, I was as excited as my students to hear the news.  I had visions of HGTV-watching, salsa and chips-eating me in my PJ's. 

At first it was a li'l scary to experience a blizzard as a new home owner.  The storm in Chicagoland on Tuesday night was very loud; the wind was brutal.  In fact, the storm was probably considered a blizzard because of these winds and the drifts it created overnight.  We woke up to see drifts taller than me around our neighborhood.  The husby did all the shoveling.  I know, I know.  But I made pumpkin scones and warmed him some cider for his grand entrance after round two.  The pile of snow is higher than our mailbox!

The thing that is most beautiful about a mid-week, mid-winter, mid-marathon snow day (besides the striking view of a crisp blue sky against that glittery white winter blanket) , is the pause it requires of us.  It's not a Saturday, when things need to be done.  There's no getting up for church on this day off.  And, it's dangerous to drive... to walk, even (too dangerous, to my happiness, to drive to the gym to walk on a treadmill).  It's time to read.  It's time to rest, and reflect.  If I were truly young and had forgotten yet again that playing in the snow is actually not fun for people who hate the cold, I would have made an igloo.  (One of our students at school supposedly made an igloo and had a pizza delivered to it a few weeks ago.  Talk about a child-like spirit!)  But the pause was well-needed, whether we saw it coming or not.  When does Chicagoland pause, anyway?  We know how to handle rain, wind, snow, heat, freezing temps... when Atlanta panicked because they only had a couple snow plows, we rolled our eyes, and said, "They don't have the infrastructure.  ha.  Canceling work for three days.  P'sha!" (.. while we secretly, we envied their mandatory pause .. and later we admitted it was pretty bad... my friend who lives in Atlanta sent pictures of an abandoned cab and Jaguar who had slid in to each other after the ice storm.  It's gotta be pretty bad if you leave your Jaguar in the middle of the road.  wowzas ..) 

Well, yesterday we got our pause.  I think our crazy, never-stop, must fit in more, up late, awake early, DVRing, twittering city got its pause.

Maybe we need to schedule some more of these in (not for snow, but for pause).  I feel rested, rejuvenated, focused, well-fed, ready (well, almost ready, I still need to do some grading)... on my snow day I realized I want to write a book, for real.  A novel, I think.  Maybe it will start on a snow day.  Or a SECOND snow day.  If there's anything better than one snow day, it's two.  On day two of Operation: Rest, I got some of the laundry/bill-paying/teeth-whitening stuff done that I would have done on Saturday, propelling the potential creative-outlet of my Saturday into reality.  So, Saturday I will have no excuses.  A post double snow day weekend?  I will post on what I create, to hold myself accountable. 

My point: Make room for rest.  Biblically, it's what Sunday is for, but sometimes we need a mandatory post-blizzard snow-day to make the importance of pause clear.  Who knows what will come from you, not tired/stressed/rushed/tense/late.  We'll see what comes from rested me...