Another Day to be Excited About
No matter how excited I am to get started with the day, I have to write a news blog first. So what to do now? I usually start by going to Fluwel, especially when it’s break time. It had already started when I arrived, and when I walked through the door I was thrown into a passionate conversation about nail polish between Pauliina and Lian. Yes, same Lian as the one from Land van Fluwel, who makes sure everyone can enjoy a nice lunch at the park. But now, Land van Fluwel is closed for the winter months, and Lian has migrated to our office, where she keeps track of the website orders… and of ways to remove nail polish. According to the conversation they are having, it seems that glitter nail polish is especially hard to get off of your nails. When they were little, Pien and her sisters Pleun en Roos could also make entire paintings on their nails. Nail polish is not really my thing, though I do think most flower bulb people could use it to hide the sand that is perpetually stuck underneath our nails.
I don’t know what exactly the nail polish solution was, but Pauliina and Lian seemed satisfied with the conclusion their conversation had reached. For the people who don’t know, Pauliina is relatively new at Fluwel, she does our IT. I have no idea how any of it works, but I always see her looking at two screens at once while typing faster than I have ever done in my life. We would probably collapse without her. This news blog is also her doing: she is the one who has been formatting the text I send her, and then she makes sure it arrives in your mailbox at the right moment.
What else? I was excited to get on with my day, but then I realised I had to write the blog first. Sometimes, when I want to go outside, writing isn’t my first choice, and today I wanted to plant some more Amaryllises when Pauliina announced that she would need the blog a little bit earlier this week, as she will not be at the office this Friday. I think her absence has to do with the same thing that required the knowledge about glitter nail polish. We might hear about it next week.
Whenever I think I don’t feel like writing my news blog, I always notice that once I start, I am actually enjoying it. I enjoy most of the things I do, now that I think about it. I wanted to not plant so many Amaryllises this year, but once I started receiving new varieties from growers, my greenhouse was full of them before I could stop myself. I also want to plant every single Amaryllis we sell for myself, just like the trial garden we do for our spring flower bulbs. I want to make sure every variety is what we think it is, because you can’t tell form the outside of the bulb, and when people e-mail us later with a question about a specific variety, I would like to be able to answer them from my own experience.
And before you think that because you can’t tell from the bulb which variety it is, that must mean that they get mixed up all the time: in our experience, that is very rare. Growers are very well-organised. If you buy bulbs and they turn out to be something else entirely, and the supplier tells you that the grower made a mistake… you are allowed to be slightly distrustful of them in the future. This really almost never happens: Every year, I plant our entire assortment of Amaryllises, and every year, they are all what we want them to be. If something goes wrong with yours, never hesitate to send us a photograph. We want to know about it and help you get it right.
Today, I also have to write a Sinterklaas poem: a Dutch tradition thing where on December 5, people do something like a secret-Santa with their family and/or friends. The poem is an essential part of it, usually people make that a bit of a roast, and the recipient has to read it aloud to the group. And I have to write something about Amaryllis Porto, for our web site. Let’s do that here:
The color of warmth and wine, of love and gaiety, of feel-good and coziness—Amaryllis Porto has it all, and Amaryllis Porto gives it all. She's my favorite Amaryllis to give away, don't forget to have a glass, I always say with a smile when present her as a gift. Looking for something to say thanks to a good friend for their friendship... Porto.
If you are looking for something to give to a friend… Porto is a great choice.
Now that I can cross this off my to do list, I wonder if I might be a little bit dramatic sometimes when I am writing these product descriptions. But no, I think writing what feels right about these flowers is the most important thing. I could tell you she is red, but I think you already knew that. I would rather encourage you to look at your Amaryllises with a glass of wine, maybe then I’m actually telling you something new :)
Nu weer lekker potjes planten.
Met vriendelijke groeten en tot volgende week
Carlos van der Veek
