While buying groceries two weeks ago, I picked up two blue hyacinths for $3.99 each – a nice splurge, I thought, one for home, one for my desk at work.<\/p>\n
I had forgotten that hyacinths have an overwhelmingly powerful scent, and worried that I’d have complaints from patrons at work, especially after I came into the children’s room one morning and the whole room reeked of hyacinth.<\/p>\n
But the hyacinth has been a HUGE hit.\u00c2\u00a0 Patrons come into the room, lift their noses up a bit and sniff, and then wistful, wonderfully happy smiles burst across their faces as they say, “Oh, that flower smells so GOOD!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like spring is here!”\u00c2\u00a0 And to a one, each patron comes over to the hyacinth, lifts its heavy flower stalk, and breathes in deep.\u00c2\u00a0 Children get lifted up by their parents to smell the flower.\u00c2\u00a0 And everyone is happy.<\/p>\n
Well, ok, not everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Lisa and Mary admit to hating the smell of hyacinth, and stay on the far side of the children’s room desk when they need to talk to me about something.\u00c2\u00a0 And the first night that our home hyacinth was in flower, Jim greeted me with, “Is this flower new or something?\u00c2\u00a0 It STINKS!”\u00c2\u00a0 So, with Mary and Lisa in mind, the next bunch of forced bulbs that are working to flower on my desk are some yellow narcissus – the ones that look like daffodils, and, to the best of my memory, don’t smell like much.\u00c2\u00a0 And at home, for Jim’s sake, we’ll be sticking to gerber daisies.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
But meanwhile, it’s been great fun bringing smiles to so many faces in the library.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While buying groceries two weeks ago, I picked up two blue hyacinths for $3.99 each – a nice splurge, I thought, one for home, one for my desk at work. I had forgotten that hyacinths have an overwhelmingly powerful scent, and worried that I’d have complaints from patrons at work, especially after I came into … Continue reading Hyacinth<\/span>