What's Happening to my Orchid?

A few months ago, my niece, Tiffany, texted me with this photo and asked, "Aunt Terri! What is happening to my orchid?" She has been pampering this little plant for years and this was the very first bloom that she had gotten out of it!

What surprised me was when she told me she had been following all the directions she had read about orchids, and had kept this little fellow in a perforated cup...I had not ever read up on orchids and was unaware that they like to have air around them like that!

Admittedly, the fact that they need lots of air around their roots does not surprise me, as, in their natural habitat in Latin America, they grow on the sides of deep "barrancos", or up high in the tallest trees, along with mosses and air plants.

Eventually, her orchid offered up a few beautiful white, waxy flowers.

I have had a couple of orchids in the past. They usually last about 6 years, before thy just seem to give up. I suppose that Montana is not particularly their favorite habitat!

I did, however, find this wonderful perforated pot at an estate sale last year, and transplanted my orchid into it. (I did not know they made pots like this!) My orchid seemed to like it!

Miniature Jars of fruit Jam and Jelly

For a couple of years, now, I have had to get monthly Vitamin B-12 shots here at home. The serum comes in cute little glass bottles that I have not been able to toss--they have to have some good use!!

Last winter, while searching for random miniature vintage paper goods on ebay, I found a site that sells these adorable little stickers that look like long-ago jar and can labels. I ordered a sheet of them and set about turning tiny medicine vials into cute little miniature jars of fruit jam and jelly. I think that once I set them on a cupboard shelf in my dollhouse, they will fit the part.

Mashed Potato Patties

Coming from, what by today's standards, is a very large family, we seldom had leftovers from the dinner table. However, once in awhile we would have leftover mashed potatoes. Whenever that happened, Mama would make us mashed potato patties for breakfast.

She would mix the cold mashed potatoes with egg, to form a workable "dough". Then, she would melt a good bit of butter in a pan and break bread into pieces, dropping the pieces into the melting butter. She would then drop the mashed potato mixture by the spoonful onto the toasting bread crumbs. The pieces of bread that were not under the patties, she would move onto the top, so there would be toasty parts on both sides. Very Yummy!