Orchids, Orchids, Orchids

Last weekend I drove up to Santa Barbara to visit a friend and go to the Santa
Barbara Orchid Show.  The theme of this years show was the '60's and they
called it Orchidellic.  The theme was cute but to be honest I was just there to see
some beautiful blooms.  And beautiful they were!!!  The varieties we mostly know
are Phalaenopsis, Cymbidium and Cattleys(the corsage orchid), but they had many,
many other varieties as well.  Anyway, I am going to let the beautiful blooms speak
for themselves...

I promise you these are not pansy, they are definitely orchid....

Maybe at a later date I will show you some of the "theme" displays which  were cute

but as I said, I was there just to see some beautiful blooms.

I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful first full week of spring!

I am linking to lovely Rose Vignettes.

Lovely Orchids And Giveaway

I recently visited the Los Angeles Arboretum to see a display of  Cymbidium Orchids
and attend a demonstration on the care of these beautiful flowers.

It was a very overcast and chilly day and I thought seeing beautiful flowers would be
perfect for a day like this.

You might remember that I was at the Arboretum last August and showed you the
house where the television show Fantasy Island was filmed and later the first
Meet The Fockers film was also shot. When they finished production on the “Fockers”
film they painted the house back to the original Fantasy Island colors. You can visit
that post and read about it HERE.

When I arrived I was greeted by an old friend...

After greeting the peacock(who wouldn’t leave me alone)I went inside to the Orchid
display. It wasn’t a huge fancy show but the orchids were gorgeous!

After the care and planting demonstration, I went back outside where my feathered

friend was waiting and ready to show its beautiful peacock feathers...

Because it is too early in the season for much garden color and it was chilly outside,
I didn’t wander around as much as usual.  However, there were other feathered friends
who insisted on saying hello....

Geese....

And a family of Ducks...



Visiting the Arboretum is always a delight and I look forward to later in the spring and
summer visiting the waterfalls again and other flower displays.



Now about the giveaway,
I love having both of these books in my collection and I thought you might like having
them in your collection, as well.   They are,  Mary Emmerling’s Beach Cottages...
At Home By The Sea.  A beautiful book.

And, Seaside Style by Seaks and Taschen, another lovely book. If you would also like
to have these books in your collection please leave a comment and let me know you are
a follower. I will announce the winner on Sunday, April 10th.

Have a great week and I hope you are starting to see some beautiful spring flowers in
your area.



Oh, What A Beautiful Morning...I Can Even See Catalina Island!

We have been having lots of rain in Southern California this past week but today was
beautiful.  In an effort to ease my eager spring fever I decided I would take a few
pictures while on my walk this morning. 
Our beautiful white flowering pear trees lost all their blossoms in the heavy wind and
rain of the last few days but the flowering plum trees are still quite lovely.

The Magnolia trees are beginning to bloom...

Some of the spring flowers are also beginning to blossoms too. Like this Calla Lily and
Bird of Paradise.  You can still see the raindrops...

After the walk I met a friend for breakfast. He is leaving to go to France for a few
weeks so we decided to meet in Santa Monica because it was a glorious crystal clear
morning.  I looked toward the mountains and was surprised how snow covered they are.
They are about 2 hours away. That’s one of the wonderful things about California, you
have the Pacific Ocean on one side of you and the snow covered peaks on the other.

Here are some of the snow covered peaks...remember they are about 2 hours away...

Look, you can even see the famous Hollywood Sign below the mountains...

But I was headed to a restaurant near the Pacific Ocean. The sky and water was so
blue today...

Even though it was very early (he had to catch an early flight) people were already at
play and enjoying this beautiful clear crisp weather...

And sailing...

It was so clear you could see Catalina Island which is 26 miles across the sea! There’s
a bit of morning haze but the island can still be seen...

Those of you who used to watch the show Baywatch will recognize this beach.
This is where they filmed that show...

Looking toward Malibu...

Well, getting back to my spring fever...I have put some flowering branches in a vase and
I was hoping they would be flowering by now. But they are just beginning to bud.
Oh well, I love the branches and once the flowers bloom they will look extra beautiful...

Kathysue of Good Life of Design recently wrote a wonderful post about decorating with
branches. Her post also included some beautiful images you can view here.

Also helping with my spring fever is this lovely orchid that friends gave me when my kitty
died. It is a soft yellow that definitely speaks spring...

I also added a couple of vases of roses because they were on sale at Trader Joe’s for
only $3.99 a dozen. Who could resist!

And yes, my dried hydrangeas also remind me spring will bring fresh flowers...

What are you doing to help with your spring fever?  Do you ever decorate with flowering
branches?   I would love to hear your spring fever tips!