Blooming on the 4th of July

We had a lovely Independence Day. Our local cactus and tropicals nursery had a 30% off sale in the morning, so we beelined over there to get some good bargains for the garden. They have an especially nice selection of orchids...and once I started taking pictures of them it was hard to stop.

Every angle offered a different take on the orchid bloom. This is the same orchid as the first one pictured on this post.

Who would of thought a hairy flower could be so beguiling?

Giraffe skin pattern in fuchsia..on a flower...what a novel idea. Guess the orchid came first, at least according to the Book of Genesis. First there were plants, to feed the animals, and then came animals....very orderly ecology reported there.

Green flowers make me smile. Ask any small child if a flower can be green and see what they say.

Then show them this one and see what they say....

First I see freckles, then a smiling bonnet wearing doll tucked in the middle of this one.

I saw mermaid tails here...like a flip action book. The mermaid's tails are all that is left to see, surrounded by a splash of water.

Conversing orchids...or maybe dancing.

Look at that scary face with a big nose, floppy mustache, wicked tongue and squinty eyes.

From another view it looks like an angel on the wind!

Just shows what you can see with a little imagination, time, and camera angles.

Of course these pictures weren't the only ones I took.

Oh no...I took close to a hundred that morning. Not just orchids either...and not just at this one nursery. I've selected the best of the best to put into a web album of the day. Just click on the link, select "Slide show" option on the top, and enjoy!

And be sure to tell me what you saw, and which orchid was your favorite.

PS: Yes, all those flowers in the back of the car are now awaiting planting in our garden. Wanna come over and help dig?

No?

Shucks.

Wish you all could of been with us on the 4th. We sat on our front lawn and watched four firework displays exploding down in the valley below us. The moon rose over the mountain above us, and a friendly BAT flapped around us too. An Independence Day bat..that's different. Hmmm...this place is interesting!

And get this: Early on Sunday morning our neighbor was coming home from a night shift and saw a MOOSE standing in front of our house!

Wish she could of woke me up...I would of loved to have a picture of a moose standing in front of my house! Totally blogworthy, right?

Oh yeah.

Totally.