Paperwhite bulbs

In January Ottawa is blest with snow, covering the flower beds
where the bulbs are planted deep snow fast asleep and it will
be several months before we see them bloom.
However on our kitchen table in a clear glass cube sit four
Narcissus bulbs, a Christmas gift from my sister.
Growing bulbs in winter in glass or on pots has long been a
popular pastime,we have several blue or green rippled
sculpted glass jars that date back to the early 1900s the
we found in antique shops that were meant for the sole
purpose of growing Hyacinths. The bowl at the top of the
glass supports the bulb while its roots grow in the water
below.
The glass cube in the kitchen achieves this by having a three
inch bed of glass marbles filled with water, the bulbs resting
just above. We have been adding water to the cube as the
atmosphere is very dry and were pleased to see that roots
were reaching down into the water several mornings later
noticed leaves sprouting.
This morning while we were having breakfast was delighted
to find a bud showing amongst the leaves. Can hardly wait to
sniff the perfume of these Paperwhites.
Remembering too, a winter when we were living north of 60
on Broughton Island, now called Qikiqtarjuaq [Broughton
Island was the home of FOX-5, a Distant Early Warning Line
and now a North Warning System site] often called "the
iceberg capital of the North". All of our water used to come
from icebergs that floated past through the Davis Strait
between Greenland and Baffin.
That particular winter was long and dark as the sun
disappears completely for three months of the year.
With that hope that exists among gardeners I had 'planted'
bulbs in glass and was beginning to give up on them when
leaves started to appear.
It was late February and the first day that the sun came
back for a few short minutes when one of the bulbs bloomed!

Some forty years later as we check these Paperwhites and
find that there are now four buds showing. Spring is on
its way even though on the radio comes the news that the
Rideau Canal is open for skaters.