Cami, a neighbor up the street, and one of the few people I actually converse with on my walks — I also talk to her husband — saw me across the street a few days ago and wanted to run out front and yell DID YOU SEE THE NAKED LADIES? But she realized that might not be something she should yell in front of the neighbors. So she emailed me instead. As it turned out, I had seen them. They were growing in a garden patch about half a block from her house, mixed in with pumpkins and other things. Amaryllis belladonna, the naked-lady-lily, among other names, her favorite flower.

The pink flowers above are the same bunch she was going to yell about. I tiptoed into the garden today to take this picture, something I was afraid to do initially. I was afraid the lady who maintains that garden would be offended if I trudged around in it. So I tiptoed in, took the picture, looked around, and then tiptoed out.

But there are hundreds of them growing in an empty lot across from the library only two blocks up the hill. Those I was free to walk around in without bothering anyone at all. If we could see what’s going on beneath the surface of the dirt, if we could see below the changing layer of weeds, we might see numberless twisted bulbs waiting for their moment in the sun. While the pattern this time of year is dying and drying out, suddenly there are lilies. Just when you think the year is done and there is nothing left to see, life begins again.