Nature Sketcher

The sky is clear, there is a farmer’s market to my right, and a Crystal Fair to my left. But those are not my goals that day. I was there for the 2012 Orchid Expo at Fort Mason, San Francisco.

As someone who like to get into the depth of things, naturally I didn’t attend. I volunteered as well. My position was suppose to be Security, but through a series of events, I ended up helping with volunteer check-in (I am not getting into the detail, but l will just say that getting from Bayview to Fort Mason apparently can take 2 hours and half instead of the 2 hours I planned, and google maps can make mistake about locations in park. So beware if you live around that area and remember to bring a map.)

I was pair with another older, regular volunteer. The people at the volunteer booth was friendly, and my volunteer partner had many stories to tell. Being so engaged in the orchid world, the volunteers and leaders has traveled and seen quite a bit, so I loved listening to them.

Eventually, mys shift ended – early in fact, since the next group of volunteer arrived early themselves. To my surprise, I got a meal ticket. I was really there because a) I am curious about orchids, b) I want to meet people with common interest, and d) my curiousity does not warrant me to spend $15 on a ticket, but does warrant me to give hours of volunteer. So, I have apparently not read the fine print and didn’t realize that I get free meal. Extra bonus!

So I took out my camera and went out the volunteer room. I have no idea what the expo will be like. I had been late and rushed inside the volunteer room, and thus have no idea what the place look like. A giant Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by orchids was a bit of pleasant color-shock:

People gathers around the front displays. They are quite stunning as flower, but even more so as companion in display. The theme this year, very obviously, is Golden Gate Park.

Eventually I caved and got myself an orchid. I wondered around, amused and slightly horrified by the prices (since I wanted to buy an orchids and my budget don’t agree with me. The flowers are still beautiful as always). Eventually, I discovered a small numbers of booths that sell baby orchid, and one of them shows the pictures and indicates whether the full-grown version would have fragrance. One of them was the Chocolate Drop Kodoma. Fragrant, deep red flower with waxy petals. The name was attractive, and while the fragrant wouldn’t be chocolate-scented, it still seems like such a good choice. It’s just $6!

It will take me at least 2 years to get it to blossom, but I am willing to wait. Makes it all the more exciting, wouldn’t it?

Oh, I finally post image up on my Flickr, so take a look. It is fortunate that I know how to use this tool now, because converting and putting all those photos up my blog post not only would take forever, but it will probably take quite a while to load for my readers. Alas, the displays are stunningly beautiful, and I can’t stop clicking!

In addition, I also went to the Crystal Fair. They can make some amazing object from crystal, to my surprise. I had to strongly refrain from being tempted to buy anything, with only one goal – a amethyst bed to put my tumbling stone on, from a seller that knows what where her stone are sourced (<—concerns about ethical and mining chemical byproduct problem)

I was quite successful in that mission. Patience is indeed a virtue, and now I shall happily go coo over my orchid… (Float in clouds of happiness)