Dragon's Orchid Garden

Last summer, I bought some yarn. Some really beautiful yarn. Not very much of it...just two balls. It was expensive at $13.00 for 60 meters. This always happens when I go to my LYS, Fiber Art, Inc . There's a forcefield that draws me first into the Noro room, then into the sock yarn room, then I begin wandering all of the other little rooms becoming more and more indecisive because there are just so many "shiny things", and I end up with an armload of yarns with no definate plans for their use. But they look really nice stacked into my antique cedar armoire and I WILL use them. They're insurance. The yarns and the patterns I've collected (my 3 inch binder is almost full, plus 2 dozen knitting books and this just since I restarted knitting in May 2009 with my sister's shawl as the first project) are and affirmation of life. I intend to use all of them someday, and I'll have to live forever in order to do so. The yarn I selected that day last summer was No...

A recent thread on Ravelry posed the question “What is your ultimate knitting pattern…something you’d like to knit before you die”. I’ve had my eye on one pattern since my cousin, Eric , turned me onto it. It’s a sweater from a Japanese pattern book, Couture Knit 13, Neat, Beautiful Knits . I mentioned it in the thread and was subsequently contacted by a new Ravelry friend who said a Japanese bookstore in New York near where she lived had the book and she could get it for me. I happily responded with my address and requested that she let me know how much total for the book and shipping, offering to send a check or pay her with Paypal. The next week, I received the beautiful book with a sweet note telling me not to worry about payment, that this was a gift. It’s one of the nicest things anyone, let alone someone I’ve never met in person, has ever done for me. I wrestled with the idea of sending her a check anyway, but instead baked a batch of cookies and sent them with the recipe and ...

For the last few days, we’ve been back to our normal balmy temperature and humidity after a full week of below freezing temps at night. It’s time to do what we can to clean up the yard. It was with trepidation that we removed the heat lamp and the tent made of sheets and blankets from around the orchid table. To our surprise, all 80 or so orchids looked healthy and green. Several even bloomed! We took the remaining orchids out of the garage and the house to get some sun and some much-needed rain. Yard casualties include our Traveler’s Palm, which was just getting big. It was spongy and brown almost down to the base. I’m hoping that the roots are okay (it was wrapped). Plumeria and desert roses also suffer from spongy rot and will have to be cut way back. We’re doing that now, as the rot tends to spread and kill the whole plant. If you cut it now (and protect it from further cold), it may stop the spread. Cardboard palm (coontie), hibiscus, rubber plants and ixora are all brown leav...

To my dear brother, Though we're far apart, you're never far from my thoughts. I wish you the happiest of birthdays. I love you and I'm sorry I didn't quite finish the knitted birthday gift, instead sending used tshirts (though quite nice vintage ones from WMNF ). After all, it's so freakin soon after Christmas and I just finished knitting all that stuff.  The family motto should be "Is ero tardus, tamen is ero illic". My rock star brother, Paul, with Whiskey Bitch at the Surly Wench Pub:

@#$% it’s cold. Feh! At least I’m not in International Falls, Minnesota, though I’m sure it’s a perfectly nice place to live. We’re not used to temps in the 30’s. It was 31 when I left for work this morning. Tampa is the 10th hottest city in the US , but for days, it’s been cold here and the forecast is for more of the same for another week. It will be in the 40’s for a high on Saturday with a low in the 20’s and maybe it will snow for the first time since 1977. Wayne has been miserable. He puts on long johns when the temperature drops below 60. He’s taking care of the orchids and other tropical plants, though. He built a tent in the backyard with a heat-lamp in it for them. We have too many to bring them all into the house. The yard (and everyone else’s in the neighborhood), looks like it’s full of ghosts wearing multicolored sheets, as we’ve covered the plumeria, hibiscus, birds of paradise and bromeliads. It occurred to me today that there are good things that come out of seemi...