Beautiful Flowers

One of my dad's many hobbies in retirement is growing orchids. For those of you that are orchid challenged, they thrive in warm, humid climate - which accurately describes the climate here in Ohio, right? When I went to Singapore last year, they were all over the place, which makes sense given that in the "cold" part of the year, it was about 90 and humid! Anyway, my dad has the basement all rigged up - has a really nice hand build platform that raises the plants closer to the light in an attempt to keep them warm...but his basement does not seem to hold a candle to the happy room in my house! The sun hits that room in the afternoon when it is at its warmest. I close the door to keep the heat in and they just take off, as evidenced by above!

These above are some of the recent ones I have been babysitting...the picture really does not do them justice. The ones on the top right are called "Dancing Ladies", as when they bloom, their flowers look like dancing ladies. The one on the left is one of my favorites...I got it when my parents went on their last trip and never gave it back. The first time I saw it, I told to dad to watch out, that I was going to swipe it...and it still managed to get to my house! Hopefully it won't be leaving for awhile...