orchid blooms

I think we have like eight phalaenopsis orchids and a couple of others. Of those, one is a mini "wild variety" and has been blooming regularly and copiously since we bought it. But all the others have been dormant since they dropped their flowers (except one which died - at least I think just one).

But about a month ago Ella Fitzgerald (L) started making new buds, and shortly after that Georges Seurat (R) did too! These are the first non-wild orchid blooms we've seen in a year.



That said, I definitely would recommend the wild mini phal over the hybrids. The different colors are just irresistible sometimes, but the vigor and jollity of the wild phal with its profusion of little white blooms is also remarkable. And it makes so many more flowers! Our mini wild phal, Neve Campbell, isn't blooming at the moment; but it's got a bunch of buds that will be open soon. And like I said, it's been blooming regularly all along, unlike the others. (But pics of it can be seen in this post when we bought it and group shots comparing it to other orchids in this one, where it's next to Ella.)

just medieval knights being bros

The Knight of the Leopard then disarmed himself of his heavy panoply, his Saracen companion kindly assisting him to undo his buckler and clasps, until he remained in the close dress of chamois leather, which knights and men-at-arms used to wear under their harness. The Saracen, if he had admired the strength of his adversary when sheathed in steel, was now no less struck with the accuracy of proportion displayed in his nervous and well-compacted figure. The knight, on the other hand, as, in exchange of courtesy, he assisted the Saracen to disrobe himself of his upper garments, that he might sleep with more convenience, was, on his side, at a loss to conceive how such slender proportions and slimness of figure could be reconciled with the vigour he had displayed in personal contest.

—Walter Scott, The Talisman