New Low Temps

44.8° low last night.  Yikes!!!  Hope it didn't damage any of the new growths.  Very bad timing of leaving the indoor zygos outside yesterday for some air.  Hope it didn't shock them too much.

Time to bring them all inside.  Ahhh, winter's coming.

Completed Volunteer Training

Woohoo!  Did a couple days over the weekend, and now I can be a regular volunteer at the museum without supervision.  I'd still want a semi-mentor, though, I'd feel a bit nervous by myself right off the bat.  I'm so happy I finally did it, and it seems like such a good fit.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Neofinetia falcata

I'm so proud of myself!! It's open! Pretty, fragrant. Everything looks healthy, 3 new growths.

Here's the "first spiking" post.

From Everything Orchids!

Book - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Very cliché, both in "shocking" plot twists and characters. It really reads like two books, and when you're thinking it's finished, there's a whole other mini-story at the end. What saves it is that despite its faults, it manages to be very entertaining, and I still really enjoyed it. The "girl" of the title is a very interesting character, and I wanted to know more of her. I think many of the wild rave reviews is because she really hits a cord with anyone who's fantasized about revenge or vigilantism - such a societal misfit, but still brilliant, very strong and ingeniously capable of dealing with injustice, especially against women. The journalist, on the other hand, gahhh.

The whole book is a recognizable mash-up of other mystery writers' plots, and to the author's credit, he does acknowledge the wholesale lifting of said plots by mentioning the mystery writers, including Val McDermid. You can figure out the story immediately if you've read A Place of Execution, and Robinson's Aftermath (not mentioned).

Cute Catster Article "When The Ears Speak, Listen!"

This Cat's Meow Blog Ears Article is really cute! By Karen Nichols, had to put up her cartoon, it was hilarious. Although the comments are right, missing the airplane ears pose. In our household, that pose usually means "WTF?!"

Book - Firewall

Again, we have a couple of seemingly unrelated deaths which Wallander's instinct is telling him are somehow linked. He's still battling ill health, plus now he has to deal with job concerns too. But it's still stimulating, doesn't feel tired or repetitive. As usual, it's also an engaging portrait of all the team, their strengths and flaws, both professional and personal, as they battle the latest case.

The only complaint I have is that once again, like the White Lioness, Mankell tries to shoehorn an unbelievable global conspiracy into a provincial town where it couldn't possibly happen. Ever. Seriously. But this is fiction, and I'm more than willing to accept it as is.

Book - One Step Behind

Oh wow. This is the glummest tone I've gotten from this series so far. The juxtaposition of the certain, bright, happily anticipated Midsummer with the dark, uncertain clouds of societal and authority breakdown is very unsettling and provocative. There was more character development of the team in this one, which I really enjoyed.

A bunch of unrelated people start turning up killed. But Wallander's instinct tells him they're linked, and in between fighting his ill health and professional tragedy, uncovers a very meticulous killer.

More Pics of De Young Museum, SF

From our visit last Saturday.  Extra $20 each for the special Tutankhamun exhibit, but it was really worth it.  Amazing.  Showed up early enough in the day that there was a tolerable crowd.  As we were leaving, longer lines were forming.  What's nice is that they have some crowd control, they let a predetermined amount of people in and out at a time.  The objects in the gold room were stunning.  This exhibit surpasses the Nefertiti exhibit several years back.  We bought the catalogue, which contained a CD of the guided audio tour.

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

Darwinara Charm 'Blue Star'

OMG OMG OMG these are absolutely stunning.  They're so fragrant.  I'm so in love.  I've been staring at them all day.  There was only one left after I'd bought my 2 at $25 each, now I wish I'd bought that too.

From Everything Orchids!

From Everything Orchids!

Bought from the Orchids & Gardens booth.

From Everything Orchids!

Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Bluebird'

It is soooo pretty, and the most wonderful fragrance!  Got two, $15 each, just in case I kill one.

From Everything Orchids!

From Everything Orchids!

From Everything Orchids!

Here they are getting bought at the Golden Gate Orchids booth (Tom Perlite in the pic, he's so nice).  I think there was only 1 or 2 left.

From Everything Orchids!

Oncidium Twinkle 'CT Yellow'

Very fragrant.  This is the cutest little guy!  And I mean little.  It's in a 3" pot, only 10" tall from pot base!  Departure from the monster Sharry Babies.

From Everything Orchids!

From Everything Orchids!

Here they were getting bought at the Gold Country Orchids booth.  My other buy next to it is a $7 Lc Tokyo Magic x C Little Dipper.  Also tiny, and already blooming size in a 2" pot!  The display was very fragrant.

From Everything Orchids!

More Pics from 2009 Orchids In The Park, San Francisco

Last Saturday's show. Was there bright and early at 10am opening to make sure I didn't miss anything.  Very glad I did, as several times I got almost the last of the ones I bought!  Chatted with several really nice people, don't remember their names.  One was a really lovely couple who were AOS judges, and pointed me to the Darwinaras, which I am VERY grateful for!

From Everything Orchids!

From Everything Orchids!

Andy's Orchids. Andy was manning the booth. Felt bad, didn't find anything I wanted to buy from him, even though I searched really hard. It was the most crowded booth in the whole place, though, so that's great.

From Everything Orchids!

Seed Engei booth.  Nicest saleslady.  Had more stuff that was affordable this time, so I was able to pick up another sederia, $15, and couple of neofinetias for $20, all out of bloom.

From Everything Orchids!

Movie - Oldboy, Korean, 2003

Saw this a couple weeks ago.  OMFG.  Stunning.  Grotesque.  Amazing.  Insanely, savagely funny.  Horrific.  When I have some time I'll try to compose a more thoughtful review.  It left quite an impression.

Weird Weather

Rained last night.  The TV guy had said nice and sunny all week.  Online at 11pm while it was raining, weather report still said clear and sunny.

Mobile - De Young

Mobile - Orchids in the Park

Dtps Little Purple Jewel

From Orchidholic.

From Everything Orchids!

Dtps Taihort Beauty x Phal Taisuco Daisy

Another McLellan buy, slightly fragrant.

From Everything Orchids!

Dtps Kenneth Schubert 'Tokai Blue' x Phal violacea

Nothing 'blue' about it, but gorgeous anyway.  Fragrant. 

From Everything Orchids!

Right Now - Asian Art Museum

Nice collection, with several full coats of armor on display. Bought the catalogue, and chatted with the front desk about volunteering. Finally!

Sausalito Art Festival

More pics from the Festival last Sunday.  We didn't realize it was on that weekend, and stumbled by it, so what the heck!  Looked around for some parking, but gave up and parked in the $5 lot, then hopped in the free shuttle.

Standing in line, 10 minute queue for credit cards, since we barely had enough cash, maybe for a snack.  $20 each person, steep, but *shrug*.

From Daily Meanderings

Lots of interesting things here, but didn't feel like buying anything.

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

Back of the main stage, view from the pier:

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

A triple crab cake snack we split, it was yummy!  Coleslaw was fresh, crunchy, and light, great for me since it was so hot I didn't have much appetite.

From Daily Meanderings

Sausalito on Sunday

Some pics of the downtown area, the main drag.  Lots of chi-chic stores, and tourist knickknacks.  Lots of people.

View from the main street. There's a nice view of the City looking out onto the water.

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

From Daily Meanderings

Had breakfast here:

From Daily Meanderings

And picked up some kitty toys from a boutique down the street:

From Daily Meanderings

They mostly have dog stuff, but all the toys we managed to pick up were really great hits with the kitties!

From Daily Meanderings

Right Now - Sausalito Art Festival

Right Now - Sausalito!

Hanging out, bit windy, but sunny. Alternating between my book, people watching, and boats coming in and out.  Beautiful.

Goes Into The Bizarro Column!

From Misc

From Misc

So, we're watching TV last night around 10pm, when we heard someone blasting away at their car horn outside our house. First time ever in over 8 years. We investigate, and our neighbors' kid's car has stopped 100 yards away. A very slow moving deer is walking off. I think that it's been hit, or something, and start walking towards it.

But wait.....it's the strangest looking deer I've ever seen, I think. Oh, wait. It's not a deer at all, it's ..... yes, it is!! Kid is out of his car, asking, "Is this your horse?" That's right. A horse. Wandering down our street. Now, there's a lot of wildlife here, but this is weird. The horse starts walking towards me, while the kid's calling his parents as well. We're trying to figure out what to do, and just accompany the horse as he's walking down the street and stops at our neighbors' just as they're getting off the phone with their kid. "No joke", I say, "It's definitely a horse."

The cops are called, the cops make calls, we wait with the horse, and since I don't want him wandering down into the canyon where no-one could get him, the neighbor gets some rope. We feed him apples, he chews on the grass, he nips us a little, he likes petting, he's so sweet. This was someone's pet.

At first we thought the horse escaped, until the neighbors said they'd seen him earlier on the back of someone's pickup, and had just been joking that they were going to dump him. Then we all knew.

So we all share a bottle of wine, keep the horse company, until almost midnight, when the cops were called again, only to find out that they weren't coming out till the next day when animal control opened. We all left the horse tethered to the front of their house. I checked up on him at 4am, and met a skunk on the way. He got picked up by 11am.

Poor horse. I wonder if they'll be able to place him, or if he'll be put down. Dumping off a pet like garbage. Fucking people.

Neofinetia Falcata Spiking

Woohoo! The second neo threw up a spike a few days ago. This is the Fiori one, outside with the catts. I am so proud. I *hope* this means that it's happy, and not thinking it's going to die any minute now, LOL.

From Everything Orchids!

Dend 3 spike:

From Everything Orchids!

Both Oncidium Twinkle and ornithorynchum each popped out another spike for a total of 3 developing on each.

9/28/09: Woohoo! Flowers opened up, here's the pic!

Napa Valley Visit Last Friday

More pics, although I forgot to take any pics of Silver Oak, which was the nicest of the ones on this round. They credited our tasting against the price of the bottle we bought, AND gave us 2 glasses.

PlumpJack - pretty place, but the wines, mehhh.

From Wine Country

From Wine Country

From Wine Country

From Wine Country

Regusci Winery - the wines were just ok (better than PlumpJack), but our server was freaking hilarous. We'd definitely recommend him unless you're offended by a bit of salty language, then go talk to someone else:

From Wine Country

From Wine Country

From Wine Country

Domaine Carneros - there may be better sparkling wine elsewhere, but this place is ALWAYS a winner for us. Especially since it's on the way out anyway. We sip some champagne at day's end, enjoy some cheese (forgot a pic!) and look out over the balcony. I stocked up on their newest 2002 late disgorged and some La Rêve.

From Wine Country