It's Nice to be Loved

[Xipe Totec]

A few days ago I read a lounge thread dissing people who send "catch up letters" in their Christmas cards. The argument went something like this:

If you're really close friends you don't need to catch up because you should know everything that's going on in their lives. If you don't, then you're not really close friends, so do they really care? Why bother?

This made me feel guilty because I'm one of those people who write a "catch up letter" every year and I get "catch up letters" from some (not all) of our friends. I began to wonder if it was arrogant presumption on my part to think that these people, who I knew once upon a time really gave I flying flip whether they heard from me or not. The problem we have is that our family has moved so often that we ended up leaving a lot of wonderful people everywhere. Some of our acquaintances have also moved around and we now have a list of friends that literally spans the globe. Some of them we have not physically seen for over 20 years but we still love them and (we think) they love us.

This year we sent our regular "catch up" letter with our family news, mentioning which of our friends made the trek to Boston to see us, saying how disappointed we were that Kerry & Edwards did not win, and we included a picture of the five of us standing at the Chickatawbut road look-out wearing our Kerry Edwards t-shirts, with the Boston skyline in the background.

We got cards and letters from many of the regulars, but we also got one reply that arrived today that stood out. Two friends of ours who we left behind in Houston six years ago did not send a Christmas card. Instead, they air-freighted a live orchid from Hawaii to wish us a happy new year (my wife is a gardener and keeps live orchids in the house).



All I can say is, I guess they liked the "catch up letter"!

[Texasgal]

1. WOW!

That is beautiful! I always seem to kill my orchids! :(

[Xipe Totec]

5. They're tough to keep, tougher to bloom.

You should come Boston for the Orchid Show in the spring, just to see them. My wife says if you ever get an orchid to bloom, don't move it! Don't change anything!


picture from the 2004 Boston Orchid Show

[smbolisnch]

2. That's gorgeous!

What a nice gesture that was....
And as for the catch up letter, I don't think it's arrogant. If someone "couldn't give a flying flip" they don't have to read it!! ;)

[koneko]

3. Lovely orchids!

And I love the Chickatawbut view!!! I work a couple of miles from there, and love heading there & Houghton's Pond on the rare occasion that I get to leave the office to eat!

Happy New Year! Enjoy the orchids. They really are beautiful!

[Xipe Totec]

10. I work in Norwood and Hike to the GBH Observatory

From time to time. I Love the Blue Hill!

[Vanje]

4. I like catch up letters....but

I LOVE orchids! Thats a swell blooming Cymbidium you've got there.

I grew orchids from 1980 till recently.
Sadly my greenhouse blew down in a wind storm last spring. My collection of about 200 new world species blew all round the cold arid sagebrush covered hills and the cruel saline lowlands of SW Idaho.

I cried.
It was over.
Done.

But. Good news! I'm beginning an Agave collection!!!!!!

[Xipe Totec]

9. Are you planing on making Pulque?

Or just tasting the fresh aguamiel? :9

[Vanje]

13. Nah.

I 'm just enjoying keeping Agaves as pets and serving them. Seeing to their needs, etc.

[Xipe Totec]

14. I'm sorry you lost your orchids

When I hike in the Blue Hills in the Spring I usually see lady slippers which are orchids that are native to New England and can survive in cold weather. Are there ant native orchids in your area?

[Vanje]

17. Wild orchids in SW Idaho

Its too arid for most, in my immediate area but theres one I've never seen, and am on the lookout for. It ought to grow around here.
Its Epipactis gigantis. Its big and beautiful and it grows associated with geothermal springs which are abundant in my area.
Locally, its a relict in these pockets of "tropical" microclimate from the days when Idaho was warmer.
I havnt seen one yet but I take frequent quests to steamy bogs in search. Gets me out of the house.

[yardwork]

6. Gorgeous orchids!

Let's start an orchid thread. We took some photos at the Atlanta botanical garden recently. I'll see if I can find them and I'll start an orchid thread.

[Xipe Totec]

8. Great! I'll loook for it n/t

[yardwork]

11. I lied. It turns out that the photos haven't been uploaded yet

and as a techno-peasant I can't figure out how to do it. I'll post them tomorrow - promise!

[Xipe Totec]

12. Here is an incentive for you

Just go to photobucket and register there. It's free.


Another one from the 2004 Boston Orchid Show

[yardwork]

15. That is the about the most beautiful color I've ever seen!!!!!!

Thank you!

[Cuban_Liberal]

7. What a gorgeous orchid!

Wow!

:D

[liberalhistorian]

16. Well, I'm one of those people

who actually like reading the letters included with Christmas cards. I have a lot of family and friends scattered throughout the country that I almost never see anymore, so I enjoy hearing about what they and their families have been up to and how they are. I especially like seeing any pictures they send. I don't like the "bragging" letters, however; fortunately, I don't get too many of them.