another picture-heavy post this evening. this past friday, since my little sister was on spring break, we decided we need an outing. we were going to go to the zoo, but since the weather seemed to have other ideas (i.e., 30 degrees and falling) we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory. basically? it rocked, and hard core. a sampling follows:
we started out in the Himalayan room, which turns out to be my ideal temperature. the thermostat said it was 47 degrees. yay! then we moved on to the desert, which was 78 degrees. it was quite a shock. i loved those little finger cacti though. they were perfect! and, miracles of miracles, my hands didn’t shake while i was taking all these photos! i know. i about died when i got home and saw them all. between my sister, my brother, and i, we took 92 pictures, and all but 3 of them turned out beautifully!
after the desert room was the butterfly room. i swear it was like a hundred and five in that room. and the humidity level must have been about 75%. i was standing perfectly still, and panting. of course, we did get some awesome upclose shots of butterflies. that’s where the shot of that awesome red and yellow thing came from. if you look close, you can see butterflies that have landed on it. it’s like a glass tree for butterflies. that room was completely awesome. we’re going to have to go back, too, because we missed the 3:00 butterfly release. they let all the butterflies that have hatched overnight out into the room at three o’ clock every afternoon.
after the butterflies came the bonsai patio. they’ve got a bamboo grove hidden back in one corner. it is righteous! they also had a koi pond. it was a little cold for that to be terribly active, but it was cool. i love zen gardens. i should make a book about it… oh hey! i did just get some brown stone-looking things from georgical!
anyhow, then there was an entire room of orchids, there was the 350-year-old bonsai tree (that’s right, three hundred and fifty years old. that thing is older than america) and the awesome palm room, with what are quite possibly the largest palm leaves i could ever hope to see.
can you tell i liked the place? (^^;)
we bought a membership, so we’re definitely going back, probably my mom and i at least. they’ve got a series of bonsai classes, where they teach you how to do it, and they give you a tree and a set of tools. mom and i are both like, le SIGH. it’s on wednesday, which conflicts with choir practice, and it’s for three weeks, so it’s probably a little much to skip three whole rehersals. (T_T)
the other thing i’ve been doing lately is … well, frankly, waking up early, but it will eventually net me some extra money. i’ve qualified for an asthma study, but i’ve gotta spend like five hours at the doctor’s office, starting at 9 am. plus, for $100 extra, i signed up for a sub-group that involves 13 hour stretches at that same office. it’s a good thing they’ve got wifi, coz otherwise, my head would explode. Meredeth! i hear you say. Thirteen hours? Are you mad!? my answer: well, yes. i do need the money, but in fact even if i didn’t, i’d probably still have signed up. i like science, and i kind of like being a guinea pig, and actually, i like the doctor’s office. i even like hospitals. if i ever actually meet YOU-kun, this will be a big subject of contention, because he dislikes, hates, cannot stand, would rather die than go to a, hospitals. :P the nurse who’s conducting the study is swedish. i was asking if my going out of town was going to be a problem, and she was wondering where i was going, and when i told her, she was like, Hey! I’m Swedish! i was like, really? sweet! to which she replied, Yeah! I’m fluent and everything! so we’re definitely going to get along. plus they have string cheese there. i heart string cheese.
speaking of sverige, we’ve got our dates. i leave june the 6th and return june the 22nd. i am UBER psyched. grandma was like, Where would you like to go? and i was like, EVERYWHERE!
mm? a little too inclusive? (^_^)
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