Sweet Fragrance

Sweet Fragrance the day I got it in the mail; only two flowers.

For Valentine's Day this year, Brendan pleasantly surprised me with two orchids from Norman's Orchids. They are absolutely beautiful and I can't believe they made it in one piece all the way from Montclair, CA! Both of them are Phalaenopsis orchids, well technically one is Doritaenopsis a cross between Doritis and Phalenopsis, but it is very similar to the Phal. genus. So they are just "hobbyist" orchids, but I love them! I must admit though...owning orchids really does become a hobby. In the beginning of March I discovered the Smoky Mountain Orchid Society; just in time really because they had an orchid show at a mall in Knoxville. Of course I had to go! And from that little trip, my orchid collection doubled...I gave in and bought two more Phal. orchids. Only thousands more to collect!

This past week on my "Sweet Fragrance" orchid, another flower opened. There are now six blooms on this orchid and I decided to capture the blooming process. It takes almost two full days for one flower to fully open, but after it blooms the flowers can last 2-3 months. This orchid is the only one of mine that has a fragrance, hence the name, and it still has two buds left to open. I hope you enjoy its beauty as much as I do!

The Pileated Woodpecker

In other news, I'm still working on my February Sweater, sadly I don't think I'll have it finished by tomorrow. I'm almost done knitting on the body part though! Then the sleeves should be easy (crossing fingers). We have been doing some work outside around the house, like cleaning the backyard some and mowing the grass. Brendan made a birdhouse today out of a pallet and we had a little visitor this morning, a Pileated Woodpecker! Cannot believe tomorrow is April! Yikes! Oh, and Happy Easter!!

Sweet Fragrance today; six flowers and counting!

First starting to open during the day...

A little more open at night...

Finally! Fully open!