TGIF

This morning before work, I looked out on the terrace and noticed that the amaryllis has shot up a flower stalk. I was stunned. While the plant has thrived here, it has never bloomed since the one time when I bought it around Christmas a few years ago. Amaryllis doesn't normally bloom in this climate. (I believe I read that you would have the stick the bulb in the refrigerator for a month in the Fall to induce blooming.) But the weather's been so crazy here lately, with these cold snaps, that the plant got fooled. (Also maybe my lax attention to it, i.e., probably not watering enough [as you can see], scared it into blooming.) In any case, I watered it when I got home from work.

It'll be fun to watch it bloom (if it blooms, that is). They bloom quickly and I hope to be taking pictures of it. Tomorrow I'll fertilize it a little.

Tomorrow morning Bootsy goes to the vet at 10:30. That will give me peace of mind and I hope make Bootsy's life better.

After work I napped, went to gym, then to Starbucks with Harper's Magazine. Was reading about the crazy Wittgenstein family. My first partner, whom I'd met at college while he was studying for his Ph.D. in humanities, was really big on Wittgenstein and taught me quite a bit about him. ("What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.")

Tonight when I got back from Starbucks, I opened the door and Lucky ran out, as he always does these days (although he's deathly afraid of strangers and runs back inside if he sees or hears them). This time the coast was clear, and he ran way down the hall past the elevators. I was minding him, however. I was afraid an elevator might open and he'd freak out and run inside it. But he ended up at the (closed) door to the mirror image of this apartment, meowing fretfully to get inside. When I went to rescue him, his fur was all puffed up--he was so rattled. (Once I'd inadvertently locked him out of the apartment for a few minutes, not knowing he was out.)

This weekend is the dread switchover to Daylight Savings Time. (I'll post a news segment that I saw tonight.) Changing the time like this is harmful to one's health.