Flowers and Children

What do flowers and children have in common? Well, beauty is one thing. And another thing is that flowers and children both hold your attention such that you're almost hypnotized.

During the Columbus holiday weekend, Bruce and I took mother to the orchid show at National Arboreteum. It was much better than last year, with more of a variety of orchids on display. And you could smell the fragrance in the showroom. Mother had made a vow not to buy any orchids (and now she's regretting it), but being a newcomer to growing orchids, I decided to buy a couple.

Here's the first one, which is Onc. Sharry Baby from Brennans Orchids:

And here's another view of the orchid:

This orchid has small flowers and a nice fragrance, very much like cinnamon. I was told that it blooms once a year. There's a fat pod that should hopefully produce flowers next year, and another pod that is growing. If I can keep it alive, I'll get to enjoy the flowers again next year.

And here's the other one, which is Cycnodes Wine Delight 'Jem':

It doesn't have any fragrance that I can detect, but it's pretty nonetheless. I plan to get more orchids in the future.

Yesterday Bruce and I went to Holy Cross Orthodox Church for the baptism of our friend's baby Olivia. She was very good during the ceremony, hardly ever cried when she was dipped three times into the baptismal font. Here she is in her mom's arm at the party:

She has lots of hair, and I think she is going to have long, curly hair like her mom.

To my surprise, my buddy Caroline Nina was there with her son Alex. He was happy to see me too, and we had lots of fun playing and chasing after the plastic cup. He's a smart boy - he is beginning to crawl and doesn't give up when the cup is out of reach, he just drags himself over to it. Here's Alex getting right into my camera:

Hmm . . . I wonder if I can play matchmaker when Alex and Lia are of age???

Meanwhile, I made good progress on the socks. I am now turning the heels, and soon I'll start to pick up the stitches for the gusset. When I'm further along, I will be taking a picture of these.