For Orchid enthusiasts out there, this may not be impressive. Apparently these are very easy to grow, so I take no particular credit for having gotten them to bloom, but hey are darn pretty and I'm happy to see that they are happy, so I figured I may as well share. Also interesting: there are some ants that have been hanging out on the closed buds for the last few days. At first I worried that they might attack/eat/maim the blossom, but it seems that they aren't doing anything of the sort. They might be stealing nectar, which is fine with me, I suppose. Another theory is that perhaps they are "milking" aphids for a sugary substance that aphids produce. The thing is, I don't see any aphids, and aphids usually don't hang out on flowers, but rather on the sepals or stems of plants. So I'm at a loss. If you know more than I do about ants and orchids, please do enlighten us.

As a side note: if you like gardening, Costa Rica is your kind of place. A little bit of work, a little bit of attention, and POW! stuff grows gangbusters. It is even easier as you work your way up in elevation a little bit as the dry season is less dry, the wet is less wet, and the temperatures are more constantly in the high 70s. IF you are lucky (I consider us lucky) you might even have a little iguana decide to take up residence in your compost pile. I imagine that if (s)he is capable of complex thoughts, (s)he thinks of it more like "If you are lucky, you'll have a human come dump snacks on your sun-mound every day or two". Either way, so far we both seem to be enjoying the relationship.

Of course, there is no surf up in them thar hills, which has been a deal-killer for me, so far.
Speaking of surf, the minimal rain the last two days has allowed the bays to clean out some and I had a great session this morning. Only four of us in the water, nice sets of just slightly overhead.

A little sunshine in the swimming pool makes any day a little bit better.

Labels: garden, photo, surf, weather