Last weekend there was an orchid show at the Cox Arboretum, so John and I walked over to check it out.

The orchids in the show/exhibit were spectacular.

Beautiful orchid

Speckled orchids

Very alien looking, green orchids”

Pink orchids

Those are some of my favorite photos, and the rest are here on my flickr site.

I like flowers in general, and have started to like orchids in particular since getting into the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout.

In addition to the orchids that were part of the show and exhibition, some of the orchid breeders/growers also had orchids for sale.

And I was tempted.  I was really temped to ask around to find an orchid that would be easy for a novice to take care of, and get one to bring home.  I like flowers.  And I would like to be able to have flowers around the house.

I ended up not getting an orchid.  I know how it probably would have ended if I had gotten one – it would have ended with a shredded plant and multicolored flower vomit on the carpet, courtesy of one or both of the cats.

I don’t know what it is about the cats, but they have eaten or otherwise mangled every single plant and flower that have ever been brought into the house… with a few exceptions.  Those exceptions being the potted clementine in the kitchen (cats don’t like citrus, plus the clementine has some formidable thorns) and a couple of succulents (I guess that the cats don’t like chewy leaves) in the library.

It is probably just as well.  It the cats didn’t kill an orchid, I probably would have.  I am not the best about taking care of plants that need more the benign neglect in order to survive.

We still have some of the snow left on the ground from last week’s mini-storm, though the temperatures have been slowly creeping up since then to the low 30′s.

However, according to weather.com, we are supposed to have snow this afternoon, this evening and all day tomorrow.  Oh, please let that be true.  I so badly want this to be a true white Christmas.  I am tired of having Christmases in Dayton where it is gloomy and raining, or, worse, sunny and in the 50′s.  I miss the snow- and ice-locked Christmases when I was a kid in Cleveland.

snow covered stump

decorative grasses, with snow

duck tracks in the half-frozen pond

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

Since the weather abruptly changed from chilly and rainy to hot, sunny, and humid, John and I took a walk in the cox Arboretum to see what we could see.

Cabbage Rose

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.  I think that it is some kind of cabbage rose, but I admit that I am not 100% sure.

After the arboretum, we had daiquiris and played backgammon on the deck.  It was that kind of a day.

Why do we have to go to work tomorrow?