As this never-ending
winter continues, Stretch suggested yesterday that we should seek out some
flowers again before the next scheduled snowstorm was due to arrive in the
mid-afternoon. The annual Orchid Show at
the NY Botanical Garden opened this weekend, so I innocently packed him in his
carrier and headed off.
Now you’d think
after going through a press conference at the Monter Center where Stretch was
the center of attention, being upstaged by him in an article in our local newspaper,
seeing his image displayed in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and having him
appear at the Oyster Festival with Yolanda Vega from the NY Lottery, nothing would
surprise me anymore when it comes to this bear. Well, you'd be wrong.
It turns out the
reason the little guy was so anxious to get to the Orchid Show was that he was
scheduled to be interviewed by a news crew from NY1 who were anxiously waiting
to hear his review of the show. As usual, I will just fade into the background
and let him tell you about it (although I will admit he did invite me to say a
few words for the broadcast).
So here I am at the
NY Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Show, meeting up with my new friends from
NY1—Tara Lynn Wagner and Matt Ealy. They were most gracious and made me feel
right at home in front of the camera.
Some highlights of my review:
This is the perfect
place to spend a winter day, surrounded by colorful tropical plants.
You’d need a big
patio to hang that giant orchid sculpture!
My assistant tells me that back in the last century when she
was in high school, every girl wanted to get one of these orchids from her prom
date.
These Moth Orchids
really do look like fluttering moths, don’t they?
Now here’s one of
those things I don’t understand about humans. They call these orchids “Epiphytic”
which means they grow clinging to other plants, especially trees. So why not
just call them “Tree Huggers” so everyone would know what you’re talking about.
Even though the sign
said these flowers “serenade” you, I didn’t hear any singing. But maybe that’s
because the sign says they serenade the king and I’ve been dubbed an Emperor by
my friends.
Well, there were a
lot more beautiful orchids at the show, but I didn’t want to take an entire
news show with my report, and my assistant was still pouting a bit about my
stealing the limelight again. So I thanked my wonderful new friends Tara and
Matt and headed off to the gift shop where I found the perfect present to cheer
up my assistant.
She was so thrilled she could only blurt out some incoherent
babble when I presented it to her.
