TULIPS


There is an earthy, moist smell in the air; tulips are up and aglow in the sun after an infinitely long, cold, Canadian winter. It is the first day that makes you feel as if the promise of summer heat and sun has arrived. Think of that humble and rather homely tulip bulb, waiting out all those endless cold months, deep in the earth, until it can break out of the frozen ground and reach up for the warmth of the sun. Admire its brave face as it opens itself to reveal glorious colour and beauty in its blooms. Watch the tulip and absorb the tenacity and hope of that lowly bulb, let it seep into your spirit as you breathe in the delicious spring scents.

I inherited antique tulips in my garden. They dive deep into the earth and I have dug down, over twenty four inches, trying to raise up those bulbs to transfer them to new places. However, as many times as I have dug thinking I have raised them all, inevitably come the next spring some will still be where they were planted years ago. I had made the fused tulips during the warmer days of summer but set them aside. I do not usually work with this combination of colours: pink, yellow and blue. I was very happy as I cut those tulips and how I search for the first tulip leaves amongst the melting snow. After I made them I seemed at a loss for what to do with them, until a bleak long winter day in February, the weather provided the inspiration I needed. While the blizzards raged outside the window, inside I had my own tulip garden of glass.