Virginia Orchid Society Annual Orchid Show – 2018

January 26, 2018 by anyonecantakeapicture

Strange’s Florist hosted the 12th annual Virginia Orchid Society Orchid Show. I went last year (after going to Longwood), thinking it was just going to be a few orchids. I didn’t take my camera (I know, gasp!!), and I was completely wrong about show! There were so many orchids! And so many species I had never seen before, or even knew could exist!

So when I saw it on the calendar again this year, I made sure to take my camera! It did seem a little smaller this year, but it still had so many pretty orchids!!

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I found this one at the show and it was so different than the others, I just had to add it to my office windowsill :)

And this is the whole collection!

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You can see a post of my first orchid here.

I love orchids!!

Tacky Lights 2017

January 24, 2018 by anyonecantakeapicture

Another year (and a month late!) with more tacky lights! It occurred to me driving around this year that I have never given credit to the houses. There are also houses that I have really enjoyed in years past, but I didn’t write down the address and therefore don’t know where to go back the next year! I am rectifying that this year. Most of the houses in this post I’ve been to, and posted about before.

2334 Thousand Oaks

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9608 Asbury Court – 2017 “Great Christmas Light Fight” winners

Yes, the lights go ALL the way up to the top of those trees, and they are 70 feet tall!

A whole flamingo section!

I’m very partial to geese too. And the vultures for some odd reason!

I’ve never seen the squirrels and the mailbox, the santa building the snowman, or the polar bears climbing the trees. I thought they were really cute!

9215 Venetian Way

But don’t go down Venetian Way, they don’t decorate the front. Take Maybeury instead so you can see the lights reflecting off of the lake.

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And someday I’ll be on the tacky light tour!

New York City – Holiday Edition

December 18, 2017 by anyonecantakeapicture

Other than making connections in New York, I had never actually been into New York City (and I don’t count the time we stayed overnight during a long layover because a travel agent had no clue how to do her job).

I thought Mom had always wanted to go to NYC to see the Christmas windows. She thought I had been dropping hints for a long time. We both thought this little jaunt was for the other, but regardless we had a good time. Despite the FRIGIDLY COLD TEMPERATURES! But I guess it wouldn’t be December in NYC without the cold.

We arrived a little early to the hotel, so we walked around as much as we could stand (which wasn’t long).

View of Central Park from our room

The Plaza

Walking to Rockefeller Plaza

Rockefeller Center!

Top of the Rock!

It snowed overnight, which was BEAUTIFUL!

But it slightly dampened and tampered with the open-air double-decker downtown bus tour planned for that morning. But I made the best of it, shivering all the way!

These were probably cool shots, minus the ice on the partial enclosure.

Times Square

NY Public Library

One of the Christmas Marts. We went to the one in Columbus Circle and I don’t know if they are all the same, but the one we went to was more of a flea market.

Brief glimpses of the Brooklyn Bridge

I’m not 100% sure what all of these buildings are, but I’m pretty sure the justice statue is from the NY City Hall building.

After zooming in, I could see this was the US Customs building.

Charging Bull in Wall Street. The tour guide said it was “anatomically correct” and if you take a picture from the bull’s back, it is said to bring good luck. I’ll take his word for it. Not sure there is any superstition to putting one’s purse on the horns, but they ruined a good on the move shot!

We had to disembark at Battery Park for some inexplicable reason. The new bus would not arrive for 15-20 minutes, so we walked down to get a shot of the Statue of Liberty.

Was also able to see the Freedom Tower unimpeded by other buildings and ice on the windows. Hard to believe that was the site of so much devastation.

Our new guide pointed out a rich guy had to move to NYC, but didn’t want to leave his cape cod, so he moved it piece by piece and reassembled it on top of a building.

Our new tour guide was strangely obsessed with pointing out every hospital and medical center on our route, rather than the popular touristy sites, so not sure if any of these buildings are actually something, or just cool.

This is just something cool though.

Empire and Chrysler (respectively)

Not sure, but the connected walkway is cool.

I think this is Brooklyn.

Rockefeller Plaza (from the ground)

Saks Fifth Avenue (finally some windows!)

More Christmas-y stuff!

After the tour, (and after I regained feeling in my lower extremities) I walked around on the hunt for decorations!

Bergdorf Goodman

A cool building that was concave (did I say that right?)

Tiffany & Co.

I don’t know why I find this juxtaposition ironic.

Ferragamo and Cartier

Several more…

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, just smack dab in the middle of all the sparkles.

And half a block away is St. Thomas Church.

Back to the sparkles!

A walk through Central Park ended my adventure.

The next day was even colder and kept us inside while we waited to go to the airport. But I experienced de-icing for the first time!

All in all it was a very merry adventure!!

Getting to know Virginia – The Light of Truth Universal Shrine (aka LOTUS)

November 12, 2017 by anyonecantakeapicture

I googled “things to do in Virginia” and the LOTUS popped up. It is literally out in the middle of nowhere, through lots of winding rural roads, between Charlottesville and Lynchburg. But once you get there, it is a sight to see! Make sure you have GPS otherwise you’ll get turned around (as I did when the car GPS tried to take me a different way than the phone GPS suggested).

The LOTUS is a temple dedicated to all faiths. Sri Swami Satchidananda opened the shrine in 1986 to honor the Spirit that unifies all the world religions, while celebrating their diversity. He believed that every village should have a temple, and so he built this temple. He says that his religion, “Undoism” is the basic foundation of all religions and faiths. He says “What we practice is found in every faith, every religion. That means we want to be good and do good…We want our lives to be easeful and peaceful so that we can be useful. That is our religion…There is no need to give up your own [religion]. In fact, you should not…but at the same time, love the other fellow’s also.”

In a world so full of hate, this is a sentiment I can stand behind.

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