Okay, I don't know how I did it, but I somehow managed to remove all the pictures from my blog. I am really rather upset about this because it served as kind of a pictoral journal. I know my postings were often months apart, but I still enjoyed looking back at the events and thoughts saved with these pictures. I did find my title picture and the "old" picture of me, and, also, attempted to replace the missing pictures from my most recent blogs. This was proving to be a very time consuming undertaking, and so I probably will just move forward instead of trying to replace all the lost pictures.  If anyone knows an easier way to do this, please let me know.

Orchid Show

Carl (Artistic Balance) took me to the New York Botanical Gardens Orchid Show. What a treat. I had no idea there are so many varieties and colors of orchids. An example of this is when a fellow attendee exclaimed, "Look at the big, beautiful pansies!" Closer observation revealed that they were actually Pansy Orchids. Thanks, Carl, for a wonderful day.

 

Of course Carl is the photographer, but I happily enjoyed just point and shot with my tiny Canon after my Fuji failed me.

 

It is very difficult to say which orchid was my favorite, but this one hit my eye.

Orchids Again

Flush with my new found success as an orchid grower, I find that the orchids look especially enticing this year showing an abundance of colors and sizes. I have succumbed to their allure and added another to my collection. Wish me luck.

Orchids

I have always found orchids to be fascinating and beautiful, and every year during the long drab months of winter they call to me. Since they are a bit expensive, I have indulged in their purchase sparingly. The first couple of years I managed to kill them a few months after they bloomed. I have limited display areas in my house and either they get too much sun or not enough sun, or too much water or not enough water. In 2010 I purchased one large and two small orchids. They bloomed nicely that year and I managed to keep them alive into 2011. When more than a year had passed I assumed they would not bloom again and put them out in a sheltered place on the deck late summer. I have a hard time discarding plants that are living although unattractive, and so I brought them in when the weather turned cold. To my surprise in November they started to produce flower stalks and started blooming in December and the large one is still blooming.

I am now an orchid grower.