Green . . . with Envy

It's never a dull moment in San Francisco especially on the weekends. The San Francisco Orchid Society hosted their 57th Annual Orchid Exposition this past Sunday at Fort Mason in the Marina. We headed down with a couple of friends and started walking through a warehouse of beautiful orchids from vendors throughout the US.

I have new appreciation for orchids and didn't realize how many different species there were. I learned this weekend that Dendrobium Orchids are listed as one of twenty top ecofriendly house plants. I also learned that energy from the sun is stored as organic acids during the day, then used to fix carbon at night, releasing oxygen in the process. They do this so they don’t have to exchange gasses during the heat of the day and lose excess water. Through this natural process, these orchids use carbon dioxide, release oxygen at night rather than during the day as most plants do.

Anyway, just wanted to share a few of my favorites from the exposition. I ended up buying my first Orchid plant! They seem really easy to take care of. You have to just water them once a week. Fertilize them at least once a month. As long as you find a spot in your home that isn't in direct sunlight but gets good ventilation you should be fine. Let's hope I don't kill mine!






Some of these Orchids have such crazy beautiful patterns! They almost remind me of Nudibranchs! I miss diving!!


My friend, Julia, and me . . . AND our new Orchid plants! BTW, Julia and I are running the Santa Cruz Half in April. More on that later.

Sunrise

One of the sweetest spots to watch sunrise just across the Golden Gate bridge at Marin Headlands.

Elbow Space and the MUNI 30

One of the things I love about living in San Francisco city is that you can get just about anywhere by MUNI bus, Bart, bike, or on foot. I love not having a car or driving! I love that SF promotes an active lifestyle. Anyway, my day always starts with a bus ride to work into the city from the Marina.

Lately I have been experimenting with taking different bus routes to work. It's mainly because I dread going through Chinatown on Stockton Street. There are about 4 stops and at every stop MASSIVE amounts of people get on the bus. The whole bus is jammed packed! People are sitting and standing crushed up against each other. There's really no elbow space. What's annoying is that some people won't even move to let you off the bus for fear of losing their place where they are standing. I usually try and sit near the exit so I can squeeze by. Now, I'm not complaining because each day is an adventure in SF. It's just taking me awhile to get use to the crowds of people.

A couple of websites I have found extremely handy are the www.nextbus.com website and www.transit.511.org website. The next bus website on my phone tells me when the next bus is coming to my stop so I don't have to stand around and wait for it. Whoever created that website is in my mind, a genuis! I usually run out the door when I know the bus is coming within minutes. The transit.511 website can tell you how to get to anywhere in the city by route of bus, bart, or walking. So far I'm loving it here!

So I'm back from the blogging graveyard. Expect to hear more about my life in the Bay=P