Pink is the new purple...

We've all been fooled!

I knew I had no chance.  The third Amaryllis has reared it's (not so) ugly head.  And not only does it have a bud, but as you can see, it has flowered.

Not to be beaten in the flower power race, my Aunt sent this picture today.

But!  Look again.  The flower is pink!!  Woo ha ha ha ha.... (Evil laugh!!)  It was supposed to be a lovely dark blue/purple colour.

So, have we been beaten??   I think not.  We can still pull victory from the ashes...  Or in this case, from the potting compost.  If either myself or Deirdre can produce a purple/blue flower, then I will declare one of us the winner!

I just remembered, we also bought Tulip bulbs...  God knows what they will produce!!

Game on!

So, I told you during our trip to Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, that we went to visit the flower market.  And I also told you that we bought some bulbs?  Right?

Well, here are our attempts to grow the beautiful blue/purple Amaryllis bulbs that we purchased:

Deirdre's:

Mine:

Look!  Even tho Deirdre lives 160 Km's away from me, and there was no collaboration, we both put them in the same colour pots!  Although Deirdre did go out and choose a pot for hers, while I just rooted in the shed and found one that would 'do'.  And in another unbelievable co-incidence, we even planted them within a week of each other.  Deirdre read all the instructions, while I found mine in a bag on top of the washing machine, just before I went to Spain, and thought I better do something with it before I left, or it would die while I was away!  She very kindly sent me the attached picture of hers yesterday, to show me it's progress.  (Not that she was bragging or anything...  Hmm....)

And look again!!  Deirdre's is bigger than mine and already has a flower bud.  Jeez, where did I go wrong?

Not that it's a competition or anything (of course it is, we are Brennan's after all!) but I have some serious catching up to do here.  

I'm going to have to read up about Amaryllis bulb/flower care and sort this out.  I can't have big sis beating me in the flower race.  I will have to resort to cheating (or Miracle grow!!) to fix this.  Watch this space.

Oh wait!!   I just remembered, my Mother also bought one, to give to my Aunt Mary, the most green fingered Brennan that I know.

I've no chance...

What a day!

Apparently it's Apostrophe Day!

Two days ago it was Left Handers Day.

One day last week, (and being a dog lover I don't remember exactly which day it was), there was a day called National Cat Day.

I really must pay more attention.  Today we are supposed to celebrate one of our "most useful, yet sadly misused, punctuation marks".

Exactly how do you celebrate a punctuation mark?

I suppose hugging a cat on National Cat Day would be a good way to celebrate that.  Although Rusty might not be too pleased.  And hugging a left hander would be easy in my family, as there are several of them.

But I'm at a loss as to what to do with an apostrophe!

On further investigation, I even found a Apostrophe Protection Society, who dedicate their lives to the correct use of apostrophes.  The results of a survey they conducted showed that the apostrophe was the punctuation mark that caused the most frustration for people in the UK.  Seriously?  How can such a little squiggle cause so much frustration?  Anyway, in light of that, they have even devised a 13 question quiz to see if you know your shit from you're shit.  (Sorry couldn't resist that one!!)  I didn't take the quiz.

But here's somebody who should:



Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) even dedicated a whole column to the Apostrophe and it's misuse.  I got confused reading it.

Anyway, instead of being frustrated by people's (Hmmm.... is that apostrophe in the right place???) lack of understanding and misuse of the great Apostrophe, I'm going to celebrate it's use with coffee and chocolate.  Or maybe I'll make that chocolates (without the apostrophe)...

Genie-us!

What sad news...  Robin Williams gone.

I felt like he was part of our lives when Kevin was growing up.

He was introduced to Kevin as the Genie in Aladdin, which he watched over and over till the video tape eventually wore out.  Then there was Hook and Jumanji and Mrs Doubtfire and Flubber and so on. I don't need to name them. Then when Kevin was a bit older I found a copy of Popeye, which was a bit dark, but nevertheless he loved Robins wacky portrayal of the character.

There's nothing I can add to all the tributes being paid to him today, but I saw someone say this on Twitter last night and thought it made sense.  He was "Someone who brought so much happiness and obviously struggled with his own"

I know what it's like to live with somebody who suffers from depression and my thoughts are with his family now.

RIP Robin.  "We ain't never had a friend like you..."

Thanks!

Don't you just love it when your friends say 'thank you' with flowers?

I didn't do much, it took me 5 minutes, and it really was no trouble at all...

And my reward?  This lovely bunch:

Thanks!  (And they are really brightening up this rainy Sunday afternoon...)