Three Ladies: Lady's Slipper Orchids in the Wilds

It was Mother's Day, and we decided to visit my mom and dad in the afternoon. It was raining heavily when we got up, and downpours were expected throughout the day. My Mazda was already sitting outside, and wet; and it has the stickiest tires on it of any of our three cars. So, though we don't usually take it on long drives anymore, that's the one we took for our visit.

I had bought a plant for my mom last week, a hanging planter with several colors of fuchsia in it: you know, Dancing Girls. :-) So we put the plant in the backseat and set off for our visit. Fortunately, it was only drizzling by the time we left, which was progress.

On the way, my husband and I stopped at the local Creme Stop and had fish sandwiches, onion rings, and a sundae. It wasn't very crowded at all and boy was the food good! I had brought along a container for any stray onion rings, but alas, they were the first things to disappear.

And then we went and visited with my parents (you may see their photo in the extras) and several other family members we hadn't seen in a while, maybe not even since last year. We found my parents in good spirits, and we all sat around the living room and told stories, and all had some really good belly laughs.

I probably shouldn't tell this part, as it'll probably make my mother cringe, and then she'll ask me to take this part out. But my dad accidentally ended up with some new bright neon colored undies by mistake, and my mom said she told him they looked very sexy on him! Ahem . . . ! (Park any preconceptions you may have about "old people" outside the door, please!)

Before we left, I wandered around the yard and took some pictures of the flowers that are blooming this time of year. There are azaleas in a shocking shade of pink, bleeding heart (Dicentra family), lily-of-the-valley, and lilacs in several shades, their scent unbelievable. You just can't beat the sights and smells of May's flowers. I thought to myself as I inhaled deeply: Heaven must be made of these.

But possibly most special of all, out by the spring where we used to play (and race styrofoam "boats") as children, there is a stand of lady's slipper orchids (Cypripedium), and on this day, I found them in full bloom. I was most impressed by this trio of lovely pink ladies, so here you have them as my blip for the day.

The soundtrack song: the Commodores, with Three Times a Lady.