Meet two orchid ladies

Far and away in a land Down Under two pretty ladies live in a garden of orchids. One wakes the orchids in the morning, the other puts them to sleep at night. This permits yours truly to spend happy hours writing at the computer and illustrating exotica on the desktop. The ladies save my bacon because if it was left entirely to me, the poor orchids would not fair that well. I am inclined to leave people and plants to their own devices when the writing bug really hits. Once in the orchid house the reverse applies. It's easy to lose an hour, a week - a lifetime! in the company of seductive orchis - among the oldest flowering plants on earth. It's difficult to describe why someone would leave the big smoke after 40 years and go careering back into the tropics just to see his orchids growing in more natural surroundings. The Mac does have a lot to do with it. You are never out of the cycle when the old Apple is ticking away. And nature supplies a never-ending array of subjects for the art files and photo galleries. Winter does takes its toll. But spring starts the pulses racing and by mid summer (Christmas/New Year in our neck of the woods) the Vandas are up and running as you can see in the shot above. Old bridge timbers stand upright on the edge of a creek gully fronting what remains of a rain forest we are encouraging back to life. I know, I know. Vandas are not indigenous to the area. But don't tell the orchids and no one will be a penny the wiser. Meantime, please enjoy what's on site. ps. The orchid umbrella in the pic came from the AOS (American Orchid Society) gift catalogue. We encourage you to join. Their magazine ORCHIDS is a gold mine of storyline and splendid photography. MaX