patience
for months now, I've been watching a trio of puttyroot leaves at turkey run park. each time I visited, I would notice slight changes in the twigs and greenery around the leaves, but the three remained about the same -- dark green, long and ridged. today when I looked for the leaves, I couldn't find them. at first, I thought I was looking in the wrong spot. then I realized that seeing no leaves means the flowers should be visible. that's how it works with the puttyroot. I looked a bit higher and voila -- a beautiful wild orchid tinged with deep purple. what a rush! one of the watched trio was blooming beautifully in the late afternoon light, and just down the trail there were two more plants blooming. wow.

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this is jeopardy
so the clue crew from jeopardy was in town for tryouts. LEM and I took the 10-question fill-in-the-blank pretest with about 1,000 other people. some people went there at 4 a.m. to stand in line. we went to the cherry blossom parade first, then arrived about 130 p.m. I knew 5 of the 10 questions, guessed on the rest. LEM had a different test and knew 8 of her 10. we figure you have to get 10 to get a call back, but it was fun anyway. we thought alex trebek might be there because he was in town to be the grand marshal of the parade. I saw two people there who I know from the newspaper and one guy from a scrabble meetup. small world.

coming up
bioblitz at jug bay
virginia beach
fishing season

wildflowers
my most prolific day of wildflowering (before venturing to the farm for mother's day) was 37 varieties found at one location. I still surprise myself with the names of long forgotten ones popping in my head when I see them for the first time of the season.

amazing race
really enjoyed my first season watching. so ready to sign up. wasn't surprised with the winners. almost found myself cheering for the cheerleaders by the end, despite their ugly american tendencies.

rain, rain
april AND may showers apparently bring a jungle lawn.

usbg open house
the production facility did not disappoint.

wild goose chase
the second annual ride on the eastern shore was a success. not too much rain. great goodie bags. they still wrapped up the finish line festivities too early, but there's always hope for next year.
thanks terry!

mother's day
headed to the farm to check on the ferns and spend some quality time with mom. had a great (but too short) birthday party for big d -- the safe was a hit. think we could get the hand of the monopoly deal card game, too. the weekend wasn't a total washout. mom and I found showy orchis on a wet ride toward oak point.

embassy open house
visited many embassies -- uzbekistan, haiti, indonesia, colombia, bahamas, trinidad/tobago, zambia (not zombie-ah). surprised there wasn't more swine flu precaution. only saw a sign on the australian embassy, no masks.

1090
that's how many photos I posted to flickr in april. that's a record for me, the one who couldn't finish a roll of film.

bluebells
ventured far and wide to see the virginia bluebells in bloom. enjoyed bull run, but riverbend park had the best show.