Orchid fever

On the first day of the orchid class I have been taking at CCSF this summer, the instructor asked everybody for the number of orchids they currently own, to judge who may already be an "addict" and who had yet to get hooked. The answers ranged from "none" to "about 50", and he wasn't kidding about the addictive potential—after two weeks of class my orchid collection has grown from one to six; I stopped by the SF public library to browse and borrow from their selection of books on orchids; and I found a new subject for watercolor practice. Oh well, I guess there are stranger obsessions. (Then again: one of the books I borrowed from the library, Eric Hansen's "Orchid Fever", an immensely entertaining tale of his 7 year-long investigation of the world of orchids and the highly politicized international orchid trade, had me completely baffled more than once at the peculiar traits of certain orchid species and the individuals involved with them).

Luckily, most of my new orchids weren't actually purchased (with one exception) but came home with me from school: on several days we got to take a plant home from the many that we divided and repotted in class. Like they say—the first fix is free... I guess we will see if I learned anything good by how long these babies will make it.