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Magic Orchid

I bought an orchid at a grocery store a couple of years ago, for $9.99! I of course was heartbroken when the blooms fell off and it turned brown, but I was assured numerous times it would come back. And sure enough it did!

But it hasn’t just come back, it came back with gusto! Our office’s flower of choice for client meetings are orchids, so I see a lot of them. But I’ve never seen one with two separate blooming stems. Trust me when I say I do not have green thumbs, but I must be doing something right :)

This is the stem for life #2 – 6/14/13

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The buds are popping out – 7/10/13

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The first couple of blooms open – 7/30/13

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Almost fully in bloom! 8/9/13

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As I said, the office tends to have a lot of orchids lying around. Some of my co-workers don’t have the patience, or a window, to care for their orchid, so I volunteered to tend to them until they bloomed. I’ve amassed quite a garden. I think a couple of them have passed the point of no return, but I continue to keep my eye on them. 4/2/14 – also take note of the progress on the hotel in the background.

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New stem growing on life #3, while there is still a bloom left on #2! – 4/2/14

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There seems to be new activity on the old bloom too!

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Buds popping out while the August 2013 bloom is still going strong! – 4/29/14

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Dueling blooms! 5/2/14

Old August

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New May

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Bloom #2!  5/6/14

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My wonderful orchid has a new home, at my home. When I’m not around, it sits up on the mantel, but when I can keep an eye on it (CATS!), it sits in between two windows in my living room – 5/14/14

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The old bloom is finally starting to wilt and die, but the new blooms are still going strong.

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Blooms #3 & #4

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Blooms #5 & #6, only one more to go! – 5/25/14

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Bloom #7 – finally the last bud has opened! It is 6/19/14 (the bud opened a while ago, just now getting around to taking a picture and posting it). Can’t wait to see how long the flowers will last!

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Unknown's avatar

Snowy days

   We’ve had two snow storms in two weeks (update 2/13/14 – a third storm has hit!). I hope this is not a sign for the rest of the winter. I like snow, it’s pretty, but I don’t necessarily want to live in it. I’m a so-cal girl, through and through, and had only seen snow up in the mountains, after driving for hours to get there. I didn’t even own a COAT until I moved away to college in Northern Arizona (yes, it does snow in Arizona).

But, now, here I am, living in a state where it snows just about every winter. And never on the weekends. Always during the week. And usually not enough to close our office. Sure, schools will close for a week for 2 inches (yes, I swear on my life, 2 INCHES!), but adults aren’t as important as the kids are. It snows just enough to keep the side-streets slippery, yet juuuuuuust barely passable for work.

Ok, ok, I’ll stop complaining. I can’t deny that it is really pretty when you can actually stop and enjoy it :) Here are some of my favorite snaps throughout the years.

March 2, 2009

The year the cherry blossoms came out really early, and were evilly tricked by mother nature.

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My first ever snowman!

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December 26, 2010

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February 19, 2012

I like taking pictures as it’s snowing, I like to watch the flakes coming down. It looks particularly glittery and sparkly at night too.

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January 18, 2013

Was playing with the selective color trait on my new camera.

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January 25, 2013

Footsteps in the snow.

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My neighbors like to rev up their 4-wheelers and take the kids for a spin.

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March 23, 2013

These were taken at my parent’s house as the snow started to fall. I must have gotten home safely as I actually didn’t remember being at their house in the snow before I started reviewing my snow pictures for this post!

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March 24, 2013

I appreciate the snow more when it sticks to things other than the street. This was a particularly good snow day.

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Stark contrast!

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January 29, 2014

Not a ton of Kodak moments, but the snow was extremely fluffy! It reminded me of the fake snow you buy to sprinkle on your Christmas tree or snowy village collection.

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Lots of little critters left their prints in the snow.

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Ironic?

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Road leading out of my neighborhood.

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Quaint little farm houses.

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Puppy dogs checking things out.

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January 30, 2014

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*Updated 2/13/14*

We had yet ANOTHER snow storm come through! While this snow is very wet and already melting, we’re expecting another round, and additional inches, of snow later this afternoon. So…OFFICIAL SNOW DAY!

I finally had a chance to walk around the neighborhood and take pictures, but it still isn’t “pretty” snow.

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No one was out playing in the snow, not even the kids!

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Kitty cat who didn’t want to venture out either.

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But the birds don’t mind the snow! A house a couple of streets away has a ton of feeders in the front yard.

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Hopefully, they just forgot to take this down in October…I really hope that’s the case…

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Miscellaneous observations around the ‘hood.

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I wonder what tomorrow will look like…

Unknown's avatar

Fall Leaves – Over the Years

As the last of the autumn leaves make their swirling way to the ground and winter’s icy breath begins to chill the bone, thought I would post some of my favorite pictures of fall colors over the years.

2007

This poster was actually 18 pictures stitched together to give the effect of a panorama, before the panorama function was built into digital cameras.

Fall Leaves poster-2007

2010

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2011

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2012

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2013

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Unknown's avatar

A cemetery…and a Birthday…on 11/12/13?

My Dad’s only birthday wish (aside from a nice dinner out), was to drive around Hollywood Cemetery. A little morbid, perhaps, but it was a lot of fun and full of photo opportunities (and it was 11/12/13!).

We started in an older section. Some of the markers were so old the engravings had been worn down.

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Had to post some birds.

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Memorial to the Confederate Women of Virginia

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It snowed! In early November! In Richmond! On 11/12/13! It was just a little flurry and only lasted for 10 or 15 minutes, but it was still the earliest snow I’ve seen since I’ve lived here. You can kind of see a streak of white on my Dad’s brown jacket.

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You can see tiny little flakes on the left side.

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This is the (coffin? tomb? shrine? grave?) resting place of President James Monroe

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Dad reading the markers for Jefferson Davis.

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There are probably hundreds of celtic crosses dotting the cemetery and could inspire one to do an entire post of them. I was not on the hunt for them specifically, but did snap a couple.

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Japanese writing is so beautiful.

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Loved this pop of red!

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After the cemetery, we drove around Church Hill a bit and ended up driving through Chimborazo Park. In it, we discovered a miniature replica of the Statue of Liberty! With a bird perched on it, of course.

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We had a ton of fun driving around, snapping pictures and reading some very interesting headstones and grave markers. The below was the first one we really took notice of and I think was our favorite. Not much else to add to that. Other than Happy Birthday Dad, and maaannnny moooooooore!

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