The Beautiful Orchid Urinals

I made a brief and stealthy trip to the 56th Annual Pacific Orchid Exposition yesterday; brief because I'm recovering from a cold and stealthy, well, I just felt like saying that.

There were so many incredible plants, many of them so strange as to seem otherworldly. There was an orchid called Dracula Exasperata! There were many orchids bearing signs that said "FRAGRANT!" and "SMELL ME!", because most orchids aren't fragrant, unlike, say, roses, which don't really need signs inviting you to smell them; everyone knows they're fragrant. Let me just tell you-- Did you read that novel The Lovely Bones, in which heaven smells different for every one, and smells like each dead person's favorite smell when they were alive?-- I've often thought about what my heaven would smell like-- cinnamon buns? Chocolate bread pudding baking? Now I KNOW-- heaven smells like fragrant orchids. Seriously. There was never a softer, greener, more delicate fragrance in all the world.

And now we shall segue coarsely to the orchid urinals by artist Clark Sorensen.
This strange mix of art and bodily function had many show-goers gaping in surprise and delight. Some people disapproved, but I saw more than one perfectly nice older lady giggling, and it was mostly women who approached the sculptures pelvis forward as if they were going to pee in them.

The fifth photo is one of the SMELL ME orchids. The next is the plant I took home. You would have to have an iron will not to buy a plant at the Orchid Expo! Phalaenopsis are pretty common but I've never had one with spots that look just like ink before!

Last photo is my favorite orchid of the show, presented by White Oak Orchids in a display called "A Spidery Wild Side".