A short little walk...last of the flowers before the freeze...

I was on my way home today and realized, with the freezing weather, that the brave flower blooming near my building would be gone soon. You can see from these photos that the bad weather has already "touched" some of these flowers.

An ornamental grass - there was just a breeze so I could get a photo that wasn't a blur.

The sun was out just a bit - to make the grass glimmer.

What the heck? This wild and crazy seed thingy was too weird to skip.

New camera does this all by itself...after many tries...gotta read that manual.

Twins! [Some pinky/red sage]

Yellow lantana. This is one of my mother's favorites.

It is already frost-nipped, but still hanging in there.

Seed pods from a red yucca...another of my mother's favorites.

Some days I stop by the butterfly garden the Biology folks created (and you have seen bits of here), but today I was loaded down with stuff and so I only stopped to grab a few photos as I walked down this sidewalk.

I am looking forward to more time in MY garden...but for now I will enjoy the last of the blooms at work. I will not be walking this sidewalk next year. But I do see myself heading to the butterfly garden!

This was not today, but I wanted you to remember what that butterfly garden is like. Some days I just stand in it and let the butterflies flutter all around me...magic.

This final photo is of the orchid on my desk. Yes, I have an orchid. And it is blooming. This was a gift from a student earlier in the semester.  It was covered in blooms and beautiful. Then it all went in the toilet as the blooms dried out and the buds all fell off. [Yes, I was following the directions - three ice cubes once a week.] I decided that I had too much to do to fret over this orchid and I have ignored it ever since. Don't ask me when I put three ice cubes in the pot.

And early last week I saw a bud...and here is the bloom with two buds in the background. With the heater on in the building (maybe I should say "off and on") I don't know if my luck will persist, but I am celebrating this bloom.

Look at this thing! [Now I can always say that I was able to get an orchid to bloom!]