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New Year, amaryllis flowers, freezing cold…

Now some more amaryllis flower pics. The first four pics I took on New Year’s Eve.

The second flower was opening.

And the snow we had, melted, the day before – can be seen through the window…

The scent of the amaryllis flowers is gentle, sophisticated, lovely…

The last pics of Christmas hyacinths, on New Year’s Day.

And yes, it snowed again, on New Year’s Day! It snowed a lot at one point. 🙂 And the snow is still there today.

The scent of my four hyacinths was at its prime – marvellous! I’m dreaming of a yellow hyacinth for the coming spring…

The second amaryllis flower… and the third and the fourth opening.

I heart…

A majestic plant!

The next two pics I took today.

Four flowers. And still one bigger bud and two smaller buds. I honestly thought that there would be three flowers. A fairly nice surprise. 🙂

Okay, we think about (and try out) the growing of amaryllis as a green houseplant, here in Owlnature, a bit later, after this flowering…

It’s freezing cold today. The temperature’s been between -15 degrees Celsius and -20 degrees Celsius – the last mentioned was at night and in the morning. But the sun was shining today as well! The sunlight even felt slightly warm on one’s face. 🙂

The funny black sister to her tiger brother: “I’m sorry I punched you in the face when I was hungry…” (“And, by the way, I’m not as fat as I look in this pic…”)

Yeah well, she’s not, I confirm, but oh… oh my, this really happened on New Year’s Day! – These two were lying side by side on the couch! 😀 Here in my blog you’ve always met these two separately – that’s just the way it is, they don’t normally sleep together anymore – when they were younger, they often did, but nowadays, no no, only, like, two or three times a year at most we see this. Okay, they started off 2017 like this. 🙂

And yes, that princess is in the habit of punching (not scratching) her brother in the face, with her claws, when she’s hungry or bored, or whatever… She just does it – out of the blue and randomly. But our cats do play or fight with each other,too. They have always lived together – really a sister and a brother. 🙂

-Leena

New Year, new flowers

My first ever amaryllis opened her first flower yesterday.

So lovely…

So pretty… A gorgeous plant – I wonder why I haven’t had this before! Yeah well, it’s good to try something new every now and then… 😉

And hopefully I get to take even more pics of this plant… this was just only like ‘into the New Year’ – with amaryllis flower pics, today. 🙂

And more hyacinths… I have actually four hyacinths now! Oh, the scent here now! Some of the tiny flowers haven’t even opened yet.

And our new Christmas or winter lights in the living room, they came about two weeks ago. Ice crystals. 🙂

So, all relaxed (but all prepared?)… and taking it easy – into the New Year like:

🙂

-Leena

Nice days

There was no snow at Christmas – it was raining! – Water! Christmas Eve really was the only day that’s been a rainy day lately, but… yeah, well, there’s nothing unusual about that – we are actually accustomed to exactly that kind of a situation in southern Finland and on the west coast… In the central parts of the country, and naturally, in Lapland, they usually have snow at Christmas, and this year was no exception. Okay, in northern Finland and in Lapland they always have snow at Christmas and in winter. 🙂 Yeah, but, the weather here didn’t affect the Christmas spirit! I must admit that I actually stayed inside the whole Christmas Eve… because it’s what’s inside that counts… 😉

Okay, this was today, this is actually already the second day that we have snow here now – it started to snow right after the Boxing Day – how convenient! (Yes, that’s happened before as well…) But okay, we’ve had some sunshine lately, before today, too. It’s warming nicely, a bit. And the days are getting longer all the time now!

Aaand now some flower power! – There’s no Christmas without it!

We, too, have a poinsettia – the traditional and well-loved Christmas flower or plant.

My favourite colour of poinsettias is red – the traditional and Christmassy red… cosy – the favourite colour of these flowers has always been red in my family. 🙂

And even more Christmas flowers…

…my first ever Amaryllis is opening her bud! Hopefully I get to take more pics of this plant…

—

“I don’t think I’m able to, and I don’t believe I’m, like, ready, to do it now, right now… But… if you just bear with me for a moment…” :

“…it will happen… soon… any minute now… wait for it, juuust wait for it…!”

“Okay, the ball’s in your court now. Noticed?”

🙂

-Leena

Snow light

It started to snow on Tuesday, rather late in the evening. We went for a drive – that’s what we often do when it really starts to snow. 🙂 And we’ve noticed many times that some wild animals become very active when it’s snowing. – We usually see at least hares and deers – yeah, one has to be careful driving out there! On Tuesday evening we saw a hare and a fox.

These pics I took yesterday and today.

Yesterday’s light…

By the frozen lake Pyhäjärvi yesterday, the sun was already almost gone for the day. The days are at their shortest now. Here where I’m living, the sun rose today at 9:41 AM and it sets at 15:12 PM – the length of the day is 5 hours 31 minutes.

The rest of the pics I took today.

Lilac bush in December, on our front yard, Christmas or winter lights around her.

They say that this snow might still be on the ground on Christmas – I surely hope so, but let’s see what happens… Not heaps of snow, but enough for the spirit. 🙂

Our backyard peony in December. 🙂

-Leena

Frost & fire

It’s been chilly lately. Frost but no snow. Every once in a while the sun’s been shining through some broken patches of the cloud cover during the daytime, and the moon’s been so bright at nighttime. It’s been rather beautiful and magical, it all. 🙂

The first seven pics I took today.

Decorated in style, naturally…

My land. 🙂

A frosty clover flower.

My land, my power trees… my dreams… It’s good to have your own power trees! Everyone can have those; they are free! – You don’t have to like own the trees… but they are yours – on a much deeper level! 🙂

The last two pics I took on Sunday, late in the evening. I actually think that I have better pics of these things on my Instagram (owlnatureleena) – you win some, you lose some, when you try to take many pics of living fire with your phone and your camera, both… 🙂

A garden campfire… with some stars and the moonlight…

And I was heating my glögi, nicely warm to drink out in the cold.

-Leena

Hyacinths – favourite flowers this time of the year & have some glögi

Hyacinths are traditional, popular and well-loved Christmas plants or flowers in Finland. And they have been my favourites ever since my childhood.

It’s the scent! The lovely and nostalgic scent of the Christmastime! The hyacinth in these pics is my first hyacinth for this year. The adorable scent started to appear on Tuesday. 🙂

Naturally the look of hyacinths is charming and lovable, too…

…many tiny flowers, and some colour yellow as well! 🙂

The flowers speak for themselves…

And it’s the time for glögi! :

Glögi is a traditional, hot and spiced drink. It’s mainly a Christmas (and pre-Christmas) drink in Finland. It can be translated as mulled wine. However, not all the glögi drinks are like wine – alcoholic drinks – some are, but, actually, we drink a lot of juice glögi in Finland, so… glögi is… glögi in Finland. As a non-alcoholic drink it’s some fruit or berry juice, hot and spiced. This one that I’m having is grape, blackcurrant and blueberry juice, spiced with cinnamon, bitter orange peel, cloves, cardamom and ginger – all the traditional Christmas or winter spices. Glögi can be bought ready-made – that’s probably why the juice glögi is so popular. 🙂

I think there will be still more glögi and hyacinths in my blog and on my Instagram over the next few weeks… 🙂

-Leena

Calathea or Prayer Plant or…

This plant has many names – which one is the most correct, or common… Calathea, I guess, and this is said to be a Prayer Plant in English, too, as this plant closes or raises its leaves for the night-time and opens or lowers them again in daylight. In the Finnish language we actually understand this to be the act of sleeping – this plant is called nukkumaija in Finnish, meaning like Maija (a Finnish female name), who goes to sleep. 🙂

These tropical friends, Calatheas, originate from South America. They are very strong plants.

As houseplants…? Well, it depends… 🙂 Calatheas like water, but they don’t like drowning. They like some light, but they don’t like full sunlight. Calatheas like a bit of warmth, too, and humidity – they like some misting with a spray of water. (Which I did for the first time before taking these pics. :)) Jungle plants – not too much light, but humidity.

So deep, it’s like black… I saved this plant from a supermarket the other day. For half the normal price. I knew what this plant is called and what it is. I had a different-looking Calathea before, but it got too dry because of my life situation at that time. (I was away from home for too long.)

However, in the supermarket, I was a bit worried about the colour of the leaves of this plant. – They were so purple, so black, also the top sides, and almost all of the leaves (and it has many leaves) – is the plant already at its end…? – Some of its bigger leaves were not in so good shape anymore (-half the price). First I thought I should leave this plant there, but I had already chosen her (or she had already chosen me! 🙂 ), so I just couldn’t leave it behind. And I even tried to google a bit while in the supermarket, but couldn’t find any answer. But yes, at home I had a bit more time and peace to investigate, and I found out that Calatheas come in so many colours, this very deep one as well. And this plant also has many tiny leaves (under the bigger leaves, can be seen in the first pic) – a fairly big flower pot might be necessary.

Now I should buy fresh potting soil for my Calathea and for some of our other houseplants as well – we have many houseplants (and more coming… ;D ) And by the way, I’m planning on taking pics of all of our other houseplants, too, in future.

Some green and pink, too! 🙂

And hopefully some more pics of my Calathea in future as well.

-Leena