Hi all,

I am back from a two week vacation spent with family in Poland. Had a
marvelous time, among other things bought another Phal for my 92-year old
grandmother, whose first Phal is in spike for the second time this year.
Yes, I am an addict, and all or most of my family are getting into it now,
too (father and stepmother, mothers-in-law, sister-in-law, grandmother, my
mother, and her mother-in-law all either now have or have had orchid plants
already, so orchids make a nice topic of conversation when calling family
members -- how are you, and how are your orchids :-)

When we got back home, I discovered that a lot of exciting activity happened
while I was gone. Half of all my orchid plants (10 out of 20) are in spike,
bud, or flower, and that seems unusually good for me in the middle of
summer, especially since only a few of them are summer bloomers, and several
of them are in spike after only half a year or less. My birthday happened
while we were in Europe, and I have not gotten anything from my husband yet,
since I told him that what I want is more orchids once we get home grin.

For anyone other than me who could possibly care about the details, which
are truly fascinating tome, but I realize may be completely irrelevant to
anyone else:

-- A spike or root that had just started when I left, definitely turned out
to be a spike. And I am quite excited about this one, since I bought it as a
seedling from Al's and this will be its debut blooming -- I know what one of
its parents looked like, but other than that it will be a surprise.
-- Two of my Phals with old green spikes have had new growth on these
pre-existing spikes.
-- Three spikes that where medium sized when I left are now fairly long and
in bud.
-- Also my Paph Deception II is in bud again. This is my very first Paph,
which I got in bloom in January, and now that it has proven that Paphs can
and will reflower for me, so I guess I will have to buy more Paphs soon,
too.
-- My phal equestris has opened two blooms in the meantime, and it has
started two branches off its spike.
-- One of the Phals that seemed to be near the end of its blooming cycle
when I left has suddenly decided to develop the terminal bud into a flower
after all.
-- My cochleanthes amazonica spiked, budded, and bud-blasted in the
meantime, while being care for by a friend, in humid DC. I again wonder
whether this plant is worth all the trouble that it has been giving me,
sign.
-- Several new leaves on several of the plants.
-- Not an orchid, but the bay leaf tree in our kitchen, seems to have
thrived, despite not being watered and having less light with the grow lamps
off. It's definitely taller than us now, and getting entangled with the
blinds of the kitchen window.

A very happy and excited
Joanna