went with a friend to see Flora of the Philippines…
we couldn’t figure out the new markers on many of the plants in the Tropical Biome, but eventually realized they represented the flag of the Philippines and demonstrated how many of the plants in the biomes originated there…
besides seeing where so many plants came from, there were hundreds of orchids… heaven for me…
what a treat…
after our wander through the biomes, we had lunch at Gather…
four years ago in April, we arrived on Maui to celebrate my birthday…
I had always wanted to go to Hawaii, but never made it happen until then…
I have been enjoying the memories that have come up in my social media…
on our way into our first hotel, we spotted orchids in the lobby…
we went to the beach to watch the sun set, got our toes in the ocean, found a great spot to watch, settled in to wait, and then had this group of people walk right in front of us to get their pictures, lol…
I have the amethyst heart that I purchased on my bedside table and enjoy seeing it all the time…
one of my favourite memories is of our time at the orchid farm… a huge space bursting with the most beautiful plants, most of which were in full bloom…
it was delightful…
there were fish and sea turtles…
saw cacao trees with cacao pods on them, jacaranda trees in bloom (purple), and the most amazing banyan tree which took up an entire block…
it was an amazing time and we enjoyed every minute… it lived up to all of my expectations and then some… so lucky this happened before covid…
spent time in the living and dining rooms reorganizing the plants…
took the orchids out of the new fish tank, trimmed, and found other places for them to go…
gave up the winerack and now have a spot for the fuchsia from outside to come to…
found a pump that might work in the tank, which is going to be used to house pond plants…
I’ve tried to overwinter water hyacinth before without success, but am going to try once again… also hoping that the two floating baskets will make it as well;-)… some of the water lilies will go into the tanks with the fish, but may put one in this tank if there is room…
I’ve been working on a Christmas project and was able to finish the prep for it today… I love it when things work out;-)…
I also spent time in the “garden-erie”… it now houses the majority of the plants… I trimmed orchids and watered everything…
the new light is working well and comes on in the morning and goes off after dinner…
I am trying to find just the right name to describe the space for the garden… it is right between the living and dining rooms… conservatory seems just a bit presumptuous, lol…
I have spent the last month planning how I would mark this special event, so there were, and will be, a few surprises for others…
I’ve been hearing about birthday weeks, so to start that off, on Monday I ordered Chinese food… it was lovely as I haven’t had any for a long time and I had leftovers for the next two days, which was a wonderful treat…
a number of parcels and envelopes arrived in the mail, which had to be set aside until today… this morning there were sparklers and singing;-)…
had a lovely gift opening time with the kids and received some delightful presents… paintbrushes, paint, a cool pad to make art pictures with, and a gorgeous window bird feeder;-)… my daughter is encouraging me to find a hobby… maybe it will be bird watching and then painting pictures of them… not likely, lol…
looking forward to trying all of the goodies… will need to wait for warmer weather to attach the feeder to the front window…
made poached eggs on potato patties, with bacon and asparagus… and I had it on my confetti plate… ended breakfast with half of a delicious pistachio cupcake which a friend dropped off for me yesterday…. nice start to the day…
texts, posts and phone calls have made the day extra fun… watched a cooking competition marathon…
lunch was cold shrimp with cocktail sauce… as I peeled them I was remembering fun times on the lanai in Florida, many years ago, with a dear friend…
moved orchids and flowers to set up the den for my video call with my BS friends and we had a great time… there was singing, tea, snacks, toasts, and lots of laughter… what a wonderful group of women…
there were more phone calls as the snow began to fall again… decided to order beef bones instead of barbecuing, as it was cold and windy…
that worked very nicely, it was delicious, and there will be enough for tomorrow’s supper…
what a ride these seventy years have been… truly, I am blessed and look forward to a year focussed on gratitude and living in the moment;-)…
had a quiet day yesterday… spent time taking photos of ornaments on the tree and the orchids…
a friend dropped off the fixings for turkey dinner which I warmed up at supper time… it was a lovely treat and made for a relaxed and enjoyable meal… ended the day with hot lemonade in my new mug and gifted shortbread…
there are five in the dining room, all of which are more or less in a dormant state… I went to move two of them and discovered that they had put roots into each other’s pot… how cool is that… reminded me of the amazing banyan tree in Lahaina…
there are seven in the living room, three small ones and four large ones…
right now, this is the only one blooming;-)…
the other three full size ones in the living room have buds starting;-)…
herbiggirlpants 