Flora, sans Fauna.

These pictures have been sitting on my desktop for a couple months now. And when I say desktop, I mean it in the computer-world sense of the word, because I don't have a desk...just a desktop. The files are inside the computer?!

I do not pretend to be a photographer. But I do take photographs. Here are some, illustrating some of the glorious things that grow in these equatorial climes. Makes me want to dig up a book on botany and find the names of all these things, and I hope it has the same effect on you.

These were in the orchid house at the botanical garden in Quito. The orchid house was a wonderful, welcoming place full of bright colors and friendship. There were even signs that said, "DO NOT TAKE THE ORCHIDS. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. YOU ARE CURRENTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE." Charmed, I'm sure. (Word on the streets is that Ecuador is a hotspot for orchid thieves, particularly orchid thieves of Dutch origin. But you didn't hear that from me.)

I liked the way this fern-like tree - or tree-like fern - looked against the sky.

DO NOT TAKE THE ORCHIDS.

This...is a floripondio. It's also known as an Angel's Trumpet in English. It looks benign, and one sees these small trees pretty much everywhere in this part of the world, but they are actually toxic. From them is made a substance called scopolamine. I give you the link here so you can read about it yourself; my information on it is largely skewed towards the this-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares side of things. This is due in large part to the nine weeks of training in which we were told time and time...and time...again NEVER to take pamphlets from someone off the street; NEVER to help someone asking for directions if it meant touching a map; NEVER to let someone help clean you off if they accidentally spilled something on you; etc. etc. etc.; all because they may be trying to poison you with scopolamine, which can turn you into a mindless zombie who obeys every order someone gives them. What you do not smell is called ̶i̶o̶c̶a̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶d̶e̶r̶ scopolamine. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadlier poisons known to man. The end.

Here's a much happier subject: these bright red berries, which burst into bloom to become...

...these. It's like the botanical equivalent of opening a party cracker. Here's some more, just because I found them fascinating:

ORCHID THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED.

The hydrangeas were as big as my head. This is where a hydrangea was meant to live out its life and be all that it was destined to be!

Don't know what these are, except pretty.

More leviathan leafage. Mom volunteers to pose and demonstrate scale to body size. FernGully, anyone?

Meanwhile, Dad takes a nap. Hopefully this post hasn't put you to sleep as well. I promise the next one will be better. No really, I promise! It will have fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles!

...Okay, maybe not all of that stuff. If you want all that, you'll have to watch The Princess Bride. Me, I'm just workin' with what I got.