A gift

A friend gave us a chunky amaryllis bulb for Christmas. They were a favourite of my mother's - perhaps seeming very exotic all those years ago. This one initially looked very unpromising but now it's just about to burst into flower.  I'm enjoying all the tiny details of the tightly-curled petals, more delicate now than they will look when the flowers open.
In the extra, a testament to the advantages of benign neglect in the garden. I bought this evergreen clematis from a 'reduced' supermarket shelf years ago, to fill a gap on a fence. It didn't flourish but year after year, I forgot to dig it up. This year we finally have flowers. It wasn't properly labelled originally, but I think it must be a type of cirrhosa.
So it's been a contemplative kind of day.
My only exertion of any kind has been to prepare for tonight's online Greek class.