A break from all that white stuff (and House of Cards)

I admit it.  I binged on "House of Cards" on Netflix.  It is embarrassing to admit that I finished the entire season in two days.  I'm over it now and I don't need to watch television for a long, long time.  The result was a desperate need to get back to nature.

It's hard being stuck at home on a holiday weekend mid-winter.  Others are either off on skiing vacations where everyone embraces the snow or they have donned flip flops and sunglasses and headed for the tropics where it's warm and colorful.  This time last year I was watching whales and soaking up sun in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In lieu of beaches, whales, skiing and sunning, Washington, DC offers plenty of free museums and places to go on the weekend.  In the midst of messy piles of greying, melting snow, next to the US Capitol, is an oasis known as the United States Botanic Garden.  Envisioned by George Washington as a place to demonstrate and promote the importance of plants, the museum was established by Congress in 1820.

 On a cold but partly sunny winter's day, it is a place of wonder.

The Orchid Symphony exhibit was the first thing I noticed when I walked into the garden.  Beethoven's Fur Elise (a piece all piano students learned when I was growing up) was playing and instruments made of orchids and other natural materials (like the harp strings made of Spanish moss below) were featured. 

 

Also very prominent were the fruit trees with oranges, grapefruit, lemons and kumquats.  Some had  blossoms with scents that reminded me of growing up in Central Florida.

Best of all was the color.  Everywhere we turned there were colors from petals and buds, berries and leaves.  It was so nice to see green after the brown, black and white of the city and suburban landscapes of the long winter.

 It is a great place to let your imagination take off.  Envision new Sesame Street puppets based on some of the sassy plants.  

The desert room filled with succulents was pleasantly warm and dry - a great improvement over the weather we have experienced in the past week.  Even in the desert the colors and shapes are so inspiring and great to look at.  

 

 Here you can find a new color scheme for your home or just enjoy a nice, warm walk.

One of the educational exhibits listed the plant ingredients for different food items - such as Cajun Gumbo pictured below- and offered opportunities to sniff the fragrances as well as see what the spice looked like before it was ground.  This is a great place for students young and old, with hands-on exhibits and plenty of room to roam.  Teachers and parents can find educational materials on the website.

 The orchids have to be my favorite.  They always remind me of ballerinas and other sorts of fairy people and ladies in old fashioned dresses with hoop skirts.

  

This visit was just what I needed to help face the snowy and cold days still remaining in our winter repertoire.  If you don't live near Washington, DC, but are tired of winter, seek out nature as a cure for the winter blues.

Some of the other Botanical Gardens in the United States include:

• New York Botanical Garden
• Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO
• Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA
• Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Columbus, OH
• Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ
• ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden  in Albuquerque, NM
• San Francisco Botanical Garden
• Atlanta Botanical Garden
• Chicago Botanic Garden
• Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, FL
• Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
• Memphis Botanic Garden
• Denver Botanic Gardens

Waiting for Things to Happen

paperwhites in front of stained glass window

January is a month of newness and there are a few things in my life I am ready to start now, or would like to begin very soon.  The problem is that nothing happens in my time.  I have come to understand that, and accept it with a good attitude.  Patience and waiting are recurring themes in my writing.

Today is the anniversary of my Dad's passing.  It hardly seems possible that ten years have gone by.  Initially it seemed that the hurt and sadness would never go away.  In time - not my time - it did.  That was replaced with a warm fondness and good memories and only a lingering hint of the terrible sense of loss. 

Orchid buds

Dad was not a very patient man.  He talked to me about it; how outcomes were not always under our control - that ultimately it was the Lord's call on everything.  But that doesn't mean he didn't spend a lot of time impatiently drumming his fingers waiting for his teenagers to be ready to go somewhere, for his wounds from surgeries to heal, or for his plants to bloom.  Sometimes he overwatered and overfed the plants and they would die or droop.  True to his impatience, he would buy new blooming ones.

Amaryllis flower coming soon

In his later years, Dad's body slowed down and he had to be more patient.  It's something that apparently happens with the aging process when you know for certain that you can't do everything and you will not live forever.  Rather than hearing him clapping his hands to get everyone else moving, or expressing disappointment over the pace of things, we noticed he was a little bit slower and sometimes not the first person out the door or ready to order a meal. 

orchid buds opening

I think Dad learned a lot of the patience he did have from the flowers he grew.  Over time he learned to wait on the blooms, anticipating the annual explosions of color in their Florida garden.  He still was inclined to replace perfectly good bloomless plants with blooming ones, and likely to give away orchids once the flowers wilted.

worth the wait

So this week, in his honor, the buds on my beautiful white orchid began to open for the third time in 18 months.  The first sign of these buds was in August, on a tiny stalk.  Slowly it got longer and another came forth with even more tiny buds.  Now there are three stalks with a dozen voluptuous buds, four already fully blooming.  Dad would be impressed that I coaxed it into blooming again. 

It is a tough day in a tough week when the holiday decorations are gone, sweet treats are again forbidden, the family time is behind us, the diet regimen is solidly back in place, and it is cold.   The orchid blooms are a beautiful reminder of the results of patience and of my Dad's love.  I may still drum my fingers like Dad, and exhibit impatience when things don't run on my schedule, but I do think that I have made progress.  It appears I have some more waiting to do and I look forward to the results.  Thanks for the lessons, Dad!

The Botanic Garden on a Cold Afternoon

On a cold and windy day, a visit to the US Botanic Garden can be a wonderful escape.  The Christmas displays have been removed and the tourists are gone; it was a serene place to spend an hour or so with a good friend.

There are always beautiful things in bloom and the changes in temperature and humidity, as you move through the desert and among the tropical displays, is really exhilarating and makes you pine a bit for spring - or a good trip to a warm place.   I was misted and dripped on and it did not improve my already windblown hairdo - and I did not mind one bit. 

The orchids are especially beautiful and colorful.  

The bromeliads were also varied and vibrant.  

The leaves were sometimes more beautiful than the blooms.

It was a lovely escape from the cold outdoors and reminded me that getting out is always worth the effort.  Washington offers many free opportunities for a mini-getaway on a cold Sunday, no resumes required.