It's January and I am back

I am back on the blog now and will try to be consistent with my postings. Thank you for being patient with me. I discovered that several people were relying on my blog to keep up with the happenings in our house. I will tell some saved up stories in later postings. Today I will describe a surprise that I had in December.

When my mom died several years ago, we inherited most of her houseplants. One of those was a mother-in-law's tongue (sanseveria) with leaves about three-and-a-half feet tall. Since it was trying to break out of the pot it was in, we decided to repot it. I took a couple of the smaller leaves and planted them in a 6-inch container which I placed in a south window.

Lo and behold, one day the small planting had a spike coming up with tiny buds on it! I had never seen a mother-in-law's tongue bloom before. (Evidently it does so routinely in tropical settings, but not usually on December.) Here's what the buds looked like.

The flowers turned out to look a bit like honeysuckle and there were large, clear, viscuous drops of sap which formed underneath the blossoms. I was tempted to taste it, but after reading that this plant is poisonous to animals, I am glad that I refrained. Have you ever had one of these plants bloom for you? Maybe it was once in a lifetime.

I hope that your Christmas season was warm with meaning. I will have photos of our grandson's first Christmas for later postings. How are those New Year's resolutions coming along?