Against the odds.

 I've just read an article on the care of orchids.  Apart from the wide variety of plants available and the different care instructions for particular varieties there's so much information that it would make your head hurt!
You're not supposed to wet the leaves ... well ... for the last seven years this plant has had its leaves soaked from time to time.
At night the room shouldn't fall below 55 degrees Fahrenheit ... it has had to suffer much, much lower temperatures than that.
The only thing that I've been doing right is not to allow them to sit in water!

 This was given to me as a tiny plant, with just one flower spike, when I moved from Bangor and has flowered every year since.  Now there are four flowering stalks and it has overfilled the pot.  Indeed, there's not much of the year when it doesn't flower.
These flowers have almost pure white petals with a little splash of colour in the heart.

 Normally it sits on a neglected windowsill with a number of other plants - all equally happy in their neglect, all flowering profusely.  If the heating is on they're blasted with hot air rising from the radiators.  If it snows the icy breath from the windows creeps upon them.  The window is north facing so there's very little direct sunlight.  In fact, their biggest enemy is probably the dog who has been known to knock them over.

 Survival is perhaps in spite of me rather than because of me!
However they are a constant source of pleasure and I never become tired of their waxy purity.  There is so much around us all the time to lift our spirits and cause us to wonder at creation's beauty.
I don't really know anything about orchids ... there's information available if I ever want to find out what are the varieties that I have ... but for now I'm content simply to admire.

These pictures were taken in natural daylight in the back garden at lunch time.  Eliot was sniffing his way around and I managed to catch him as he wandered under the table where I was taking the photographs.

Lord, how thy wonders are displayed
where'er I turn my eye;
if I survey the ground I tread,
or gaze upon the sky.


There's not a plant or flower below
but makes thy glories known;
and clouds arise, and tempests blow,
by order from thy throne.  


His hand is my perpetual guard;
he keeps me with his eye:
why should I then forget the Lord,
who is for every nigh?

Church Hymnal number 28 verses 4, 5 and 7.

"I sing the almighty power of God... " by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)