for most of the winter the bedroom window has been closed all the time, partly because it was frozen shut and partly because it has been incredibly cold…
a few nights ago it was finally warm enough to open it and keep it open for the night…
and I also opened the screen door during the day for a little while to let some of that – not freezing – fresh air into the house;-)…
as you enter the Mediterranean biome there are dozens of amaryllis in various stages… some nearly done, while others are fully open… many with multiple petals…
absolutely gorgeous…
and then you step into the Babs Asper display area… twelve hundred orchids in one place;-)… heaven…
the Blooms in Winter display is so lovely, a perfect place to enjoy the beauty of orchids…
there are a number of arches to walk through and benches to sit on and enjoy the views…
first I spent time at the registration desk where they had to make me a new card as mine had stopped working… apparently the website has been misbehaving a bit, so hopefully the new card will solve that issue;-)…
then we went through the biomes… there were a number of baskets of orchids throughout the Tropical biome…
very humid, and it was obvious that there had been a serious trim and thinning of many of the plants…
the cacao trees had been cutback and all the pods have been removed…
the koi were very active… while we were there one of the zoo keepers came along and fed them… clearly the fish were waiting for them, lol…
the dwarf banana is just starting with a new set of banana fingers…
my housemate pointed out the difference between the dwarf and regular bananas… the dwarf has the banana fingers coming out of the flower, whereas the full-size banana has a flower at the end and the fingers below…
there are always subtle changes in the Tropical biome each time I visit;-)…
as I sat on the couch reading and occasionally looking out the front window, I spotted a large bird soaring high in the sky… at first I thought it was a pelican, but as I watched it more closely, I realized that it was a bald eagle…
got my camera out, but didn’t get a good shot, it was very fuzzy, lol…
I’ve been watching the solar lights in the garden over the last few days and have noticed that they are lighting up, having not been working for the last few months…
clearly the sun is getting much stronger, even though it has been cold…
so, tonight I was trying to get a shot of the solar light on the deck working and was stunned to see a coyote cross the pond and go behind the tarp which covers the outdoor furniture…
of course, I wasn’t fast enough to catch it in a photo…
I am a bit worried that it might be using the tarp as a den, so we will have to check into that in the morning 😬…
as I pulled out my newest mug in the morning – the chickadees – I looked up at the kitchen display and saw that it was showing a photo of the first time I took a photo of the mug;-)…
I particularly enjoy the fact that this mug shows two chickadees, one on each side so that I can see the bird, even as a leftie;-)…
it had been warm during the day and there were a ton of icicles over the tub, so I sat in the opposite corner from usual so nothing could fall onto my head, lol…
as I stepped outside I could hear the ice crystals falling so I grabbed my cap to protect my glasses…
it was a bit chilly for anything above the water as the ice crystals continued to fall…
I am still having trouble with the Ring light, which I have to turn off from the garage, no matter what I try on the app…
I was out for quite a while and when I came inside I realized how much snow had come down, lol…