12 June 2011 - Cauls, cromulent and crapulent

I have a flower that I have always called a Persian Frittilaria.  Today I discovered it isn't a Frit at all, it's an allium. Allium bulgaricum, to be exact. Sometimes called a Sicilian Honey Lily. It is a sweet smeller, all right.

Funny, I didn't notice it had all the proper characteristics of the allium. Seems like a no-brainer now. But, I bought Persian Fritillaria bulbs, apparently that wasn't what I was sent, and I didn't think to question it.

What I think is interesting about this plant, in addition to the good looking flower, is that the bud is wrapped in a sheath, much like a caul. As it gets closer to opening the caul turns translucent, and you can see the individual buds inside.



As it begins to open, the caul is slit from top to bottom and the buds are packed in like sardines. One by one each bud breaks free and  bounces out to its proper place. Finally all the buds are free and the caul hangs on by a thread for a couple more days, then falls off.


In other news, I was humbled at work this past week. Grr. I hate being wrong!  Someone had used the word unpossible. Being in a snarky mood I sent an email saying "Unpossible? Really?"  The reply I received was "What? It's a perfectly cromulent word."

Cromulent?  What the heck, I'd never run into that word before. Look it up-- it's a good one. On the way to cromulent I discovered another interesting word: crapulent. And it has nothing to do with what you think it does. Just about the time I think I'm darned good with grammar, word usage, punctuation et al, something usually smacks me upside the head, shaking the complacency right out of me.  But hey, had I not been snarky, I would have missed out on two great words.

Hughie had her kittens yesterday. With all the available hidey holes in the yard and garage, she chose to ignore them all and had them under the dog house. For day-old kittens they sure can squall loudly, and do so every time Hughie leaves the nest. It will be interesting to see what and how many she has.

I have mentioned earlier what a fabulous rose display is happening in my yard right now. This weekend, Blaze, a climbing rose by my bedroom window burst into bloom. It is making a lovely arch. Reminds me of Burnett's Secret Garden.

This was another hard working weekend. Taped all the window sashing in the living room. Jack started to paint those while I taped the windows and door in the dining room. We took a break to mow the lawn and do some weeding. Painted some more. Then took another break for a trip to the Little Yellow Stand. Came home with a flat of mixed color petunias, two flats of impatiens for the berm and a few fill-ins for the perennial bed.

I washed the mini-blinds for the dining room. Took them outside, laid them out on the line and took the hose with the nozzle to them. Sprayed them with Simple Green, hit them with a scrub brush, turned them over, repeated and hosed them off. Then I hung them from pot hangers in the maple tree to dry. Worked great! 

Today, Sunday, I got up and before I finished my first cup of coffee I was out planting all the petunias. You can't just plant. It turns into weeding, digging grass up, working the soil. Two hours later I had not only planted all the petunias, but weeded the perennial bed, watered everything in and even filled a yard waste bag with my weed piles.

I find I am channeling mother when I weed. Pull it up, pitch it behind me. Makes quite a mess. Jack wants to know why I can't pull them out and make a tidy, easy to pick up pile. Dunno. I always wondered about it when mother did it, but it never occurred to me to ask. And now I'm doing it. Mostly it just gets them out of the way.

After cleaning the yard, went back in hoping to finish the living and dining room today. Jack started in on a second coat on the window sashes. I pulled everything out of the windows around the front door, washed all the shelves, went outside washed that side as well. Taped up the ten window lights around the front door and painted all the woodwork and shelves.

Took the largest set of living room blinds outside to wash. Little Fluff was most interested and walked across them to see what it was all about. The blinds have a path of dents across them now. Great. Clean, but dented.

Jack screwed the mini-blind brackets back in the windows while I cleaned out the built in shelves to get them ready for painting. All that is left to do is the built-ins plus another coat around the front door. I pulled all the tape off the windows and other woodwork where we were through and I must admit, it looks nice. Not my colors, but it is clean and airy looking.