Penning Photography Daily

One thing my dad and I had in common, is our love for a good mystery novel. I started off pooh-poohing my parent’s love of mysteries and plunged into what remains a love of good science-fiction. Gradually, that vein, especially the good stuff, waned for me, and I picked up one of his or mom’s books. I found delight of another sort in the carefully crafted tales of murder and mayhem.

One of my favorites mystery series, which I enjoy re-reading every decade or so, is the Rex Stout books featuring the larger-than-life Nero Wolfe and his able assistant Archie Goodwin. Out of my devouring the Nero Wolfe mysteries came my fascination for that loveliest of flowers, the orchid. Nero Wolfe had an extensive greenhouse on the roof of his New York townhouse. He stuck to a rigid schedule of spending four hour each and every day tending his orchid collection with the help of his greenhouse caretaker, Horstmann. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Wolfe

My love of the many shades of purple drew me to this cluster of orchid flowers, hanging in the Washington Park Botanical Garden. I could stand and soak up the beauty in these flowers by the hour. Delicate yet strong in color, looking like acrobats how they dangle from ever lengthening shoots. Fascinating and full of life.

So I present them to you, as a harbinger of the coming Spring, when the mystery of Winter is solved in the green growth that bursts into new life. An endless cycle of wonder and delight.