I have always used the term “object lesson” without quite knowing what it was.  I felt, though, that I was having one, so I looked it up. “A striking practical example of some principle or ideal.”  Uh-oh.  Striking means that, for me, it has to hit you over the head– or open up in your face, like flowers.

I planted bulbs this year.  In our time zone, they should go into the ground in October or November.   Instead, they moldered and half sprouted in our garage.  My husband, the gardener, gave me gentle reminders, about a dozen of them as the months wound by, to plant the bulbs.  Finally, with difficulty,  in mid-January during a warm spell in our California winter, I threw them in, knowing that the genetic clock had ticked on by for most of them, and that they mostly wouldn’t sprout. I blamed myself for my neglect and selfishness in not planting them; I was convinced I had failed.  I visualized them sadly rotting underground.  Procrastination would claim another victory in my haphazard battle to gain ground, to make beauty.

Just planting them was so invigorating  I decided to scatter and sow ancient seed packets I had lying around, California poppies and cherry tomatoes, in the same bed as the old bulbs.  I planted some decade-old nasturtium seeds too. One bulb package contained Parrot Tulips.  I didn’t even know what they were, but planted them in a pot near my door.

You might have guessed the story before I did.  Most of the bulbs sprouted.  The daffodils were that amazing dancing yellow, and the parrot tulips were wonders .  The seeds are all coming up right in the ground, not even transplanted as seedlings.

I deal with painting projects sometimes much like the bulbs.  I procrastinate, shelve them in dark places, and deny that they need attention.  But even late, “bad” attempts at planting can bear unbearably beautiful blooms.  I don’t deserve them. But they sometimes happen anyway.

Object lesson:  Do it anyway, late, half-assed, or whatever.  A basic lesson in creativity.

The last two pictures show the parrot tulips in decline, beautiful even in decay.  They reminded me of the lush still lives of the Dutch masters, where a bit of rot was cultivated for its opulence, and for its object lesson.  Carpe diem.  Do the work.