March is fleeing and so are we. Gosh, where did the month go?
Vintage Days was fun, albeit quite cold, and Tom was outstanding as Dr. Small. There was a good turnout in spite of the weather. The next weekend we attended a wonderful orchid show and then went to Key West for the weekend. Yes, Key West is crowded and touristy and had many college students on spring break, but we counter programmed so we seldom saw the students. Our hotel was right in the midst of everything and we wandered everywhere and visited the house where Hemingway lived for 8 years and did most of his best work. They still have 6-toed cats there, descended from his son Jack's cat. Great seafood and a spectacular sunset.
Work continues apace, Tom is doing some useful "chemistry" on the lichen and Keek and I continued preparing samples for the herbarium. Between us we will have done 800 samples. The team leaders are very happy with the output for the season from everyone, and, although we all have told them we will not be coming back next year, they have extended an open invitation to change our mind.
Back to orchids for a minute. In the early part of the 20th century orchid collectors plundered the Everglades for orchids (and tree snails). Very few of either still exist, but we had heard of a huge wild cow horn orchid in a remote part of the park, which is not known to tourists. We talked our leaders into an excursion to see it and it was amazing- bushel basket sized, and surviving on whatever Mother Nature provides. We also saw a few other orchids which were not in bloom - dollar orchids, and butterfly orchids. Another that was in bud, not flower is the mule ear orchid which is slowly succumbing to a particular fly which lays its eggs in the stem, and when the larva hatch, eat the inside of the stem.
Through a mutual friend, the curator of the Everglades gave us a tour of the collection (not usual to see all this) and it was fascinating the things they had. In addition to all the plant and animal specimens, there are cultural artifacts like Seminole clothing, Everglades souvenirs through the years, games and puzzles, oral histories, etc. Two of my favorite things were a cane carved by Dr. Samuel Mudd while a prisoner at Fort Jefferson off the Florida coast for being part of the conspiracy to kill Lincoln and the wallet of Guy Bradley who was an early park ranger hired by the Audubon Society in the 30's. Bradley was killed by hunters who wanted feathers from the birds and wanted him gone. We had heard a lot about him so it was neat they have it.
This will be my last post from here. It has been a fun three months, but we feel like we have "sucked all the juice out of this orange", so to speak, and are already beginning to think where we will spend next winter. Meanwhile, we are looking forward to getting home.
Regards,
Anne
