Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Naked Ladies

My mother announced one day that there were naked ladies out in the yard.  I'm sure my father had to restrain himself from running to the window.  There are naked ladies in my yard now.  They always arrive unannounced, and it's such a surprise to find them standing pink and proud.  I don't know the true name of this particular type of common amaryllis...I've always ever known them as the naked ladies.  The tall stem shoots up before the green leaves appear, and then the large, pink trumpet-shaped flowers open in clusters.  These bulbs were given to me years ago by a neighbor who was thinning hers, and I tucked them in hide-away places around the property.  Fortunately, the gophers and ground squirrels don't find them as appealing as I.

When I was a kid, you'd wake up one morning and just know it was the day to take your jump rope to school, or your set of jacks.  Sure enough, when you piled out of the bus, everyone had brought their jump rope, too.  It was jump rope season.  Yesterday I spent the day washing comforters, pillows, and afghans.  I talked to my neighbor and my friend in Seattle, and they both said they were thinking of doing the same thing.  It's fall, and time to start thinking about getting ready for winter.  Regardless of the official date on the calendar, fall began yesterday here.  There is a definite change in the feel of the air.  There will undoubtedly be more days of high heat, but it will be summer's last hurrah. 

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

'Tis Amaryllis Belladonna, and I know (about the Belladonna part - didn't realize the Amaryllis part) because when I moved in with my dad and we leveled everything, there was a tiny side garden that all of a sudden had exposed bulbs, and one day there were little shoots and all of a sudden, there were tall pink naked ladies. They looked like giant pink open agapanthus (lily of the nile) and it was a while before I could connect everything and finally "naked lady" popped into my head and I was finally able to put the pieces together. Mine bloomed a month or so ago tho and are now senior citizens who are in need of a good funeral home!

Ah jumprope - how DID we do it? Tried it now??? I LOVED Double Dutch - seems like it came on the scene (at least for us) in about 1955 and it was the supreme challenge. And jacks - ah jacks. I liked a golf ball IF you were on good cement. Now they have the super balls and they sure can bounce. Still have my big jacks but the color has long since left - and the skinny little tinny things were NEVER as good as the fat ones! Happy fall!!