okra: All Green

While I was watering my orchid this weekend, I very gleefully noticed a thin green shoot emerging from it's base. This means it is growing a bloom stalk! I have been reading my gardening encyclopedia, a gift from Keith's brother, regarding orchid care. It seems to have paid off! It's a very interesting book. It makes me want to try all kinds of complex projects.

Amaryllis number three bloomed again. Luckily, the bloom stalk didn't break this time (or perhaps the cats were not in the mood for destruction?). Instead of the muted pastel of the first set, the later buds emerged with deeply pigmented petals. The blooms finally faded last week after a nice two week run. The bulb also sprouted some leaves, which means that it might be able to get enough nutrients to bloom again next year!

Amaryllis part II: with leaves. There is a very interesting article on You Grow Girl about Amaryllis.

Ahh, another weird day at work. It's a strange and stressful place these days. But just before I rip up the only copy of my SOP, laugh maniacally, and escape by jumping out the window (for dramatic effect; the door is actually closer), some one sends me a friendly email or gives me a call and then I remember why I like working there. Yesterday, I got a call from one of my phone transfer buddies (I know a lot of employees simply via transfer calls) just to tell me she was sorry so many of my emails were lost when our email server went down. A student wrote me an email thanking me for being so helpful over the phone. I have great coworkers within our office that offer me tea when I look stressed and email me jokes. So despite a particularly frustrating day, I'm still willing to go back tomorrow. (Mostly, haha!)

P.S. I added a new gardening Flickr photo set. There are more crocus and amaryllis pictures posted.