By Anita Garner
Christmas Amaryllis, 2012
Years ago, after the holiday decorations were put away, I planted this Christmas gift and here’s what I posted that day.
“This Amaryllis took up a spot on my harvest table over by the kitchen window where it appears to be content. This seems significant somehow.”
Today I planted my new Amaryllis.
Christmas Amaryllis 2020
New bulb. Same old dearly beloved redwood table. In the first picture, the table was in the kitchen. The red pot this year is on the same table, which is now my office desk. Everything old and familiar seems friendlier and comforting these days.
The table was made by a carpenter in Bolinas, CA who collected old, fallen redwood and aged it. If you knew a friend of a friend of his in Marin County, sometimes he could be persuaded to turn the redwood into something you requested. First you indicated what you’d like. He would decide if it was something he wanted to make. Then you waited while he traveled, chasing waves up and down the coast, until he returned to wherever he parked his van. After a while, a price quote came through the grapevine. Then you waited again until he felt the wood was right and until he was in a woodworking mood.
Months later, a friend of a friend delivered a rustic and slightly smoothed, beautiful hunk of history. New winter bulbs thrive in proximity to this old growth.
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