My orchids are back!

Some of you who may have been reading this blog for a while are aware that I have Ladies' Tresses Orchids that grow wild in my yard (just two or three of them, but STILL).

This is, as far as I can tell, sort of unusual. They were probably there before the lawn was put in. And as my house was built some time in the 1940s, on land that was deeded from the Native American tribes in the area in 1902, the orchids have probably been there for a very long time indeed.

They bloom most falls, as far as I can tell. They did not bloom last year and I was afraid something bad had happened to them. But as I pulled in last night, I saw a couple flowering stalks sticking up, catching the early-evening light. As I put my car in the garage, I wondered "are those my orchids" (note that I think of them as "my" orchids even though I am merely a caretaker of the land they are growing on) "or are they just some grass that's flowering now?" Closer inspection revealed that, indeed, they are "my" orchids.

They're not blooming yet, just in bud. When they open out, I'll snap a picture.

It delights me to have them in my yard. When I took posession of the house - two days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - I drove over there and there they were. It was a total surprise to me to find them - and the seller didn't know about their existence, either. (Apparently what it takes is for the lawn not to be mowed a particular week or two in August).

The orchids seemed like a good omen to me - a sign that the house was meant to be mine. It felt like the house and its yard was welcoming me.

(Again, I know, sort of superstitious, but that's how I am).