in case anyone's in the area, a turn through the Orchid Express exhibit
at the smithsonian natural history musuem is worth the time; mostly big
showy plants, a preponderance of paphs (for my taste), very few
minatures, only one bulbo (behind glass and i didn't notice any
pleruos, but it's nice eye candy nonetheless. (i'm still not quite sure
why the model trains are there, particularly the one that keeps blowing
for a grade crossing when there aren't any grade crossings in the setup,
but i digress....)


enter through the hall of mammals and hook a right and go thru the sikh
exhibit; you'll be going in the back of the exhibit, but the place is
being renovated and going in the front is a pain.

--j_a