Veteran's Day Weekend Notables

This three-day weekend, I

> visited the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. The white, Victorian-style conservatory is a spectacular palace of wood and glass that houses five galleries: Potted Plants, Lowland Tropics, Highland Tropics, Aquatic Plants and Special Exhibits. The current exhibit, The Modern Art of Orchids, is on display through February of next year. Orchids of every size, shape and color, representing only a tiny fraction of the orchid species and hybrids existing in the world, were on exhibit. The display nurtured the idea of growing orchids in the garden. I know it would difficult, but I think it could be fun and possibly rewarding. They are magnificent flowers.

> wrote close to 6,900 words. I'm infinitely more productive and creative when I write away from the house. This isn't to say I write acceptably at home and amazingly on the road. Rather, I write terribly at home and tolerably on the road. This weekend, most of my progress happened at a Starbucks in Morgan Hill and It's A Grind in Gilroy.

> watched five seconds of the 49ers game. That's all I needed to see to know they would lose. For the third consecutive week, they failed to score a touchdown. So sad.

> finally ordered high-speed internet. I don't know why it took so long to make the switch. Even I could see the telegraph I was using was becoming obsolete. I guess it's just hard to toss what's tried and true for something new.

> succumbed to the Lemax Village Collection. Two miniature lighted buildings, four lighted lampposts, a set of mailboxes, a Christmas tree and a telephone booth now adorn the top of the piano, which is covered by white felt to simulate snow. I'm sure I can keep the collecting under control, but the "winter village" looks so empty and there are at least three other buildings, a few figurines and a tiny number of accessories I think would make great additions. Is this how model train addictions begin? Scary.

> read the first page of The Chronicles of Narnia. There are many pages left to go. Between all the other little tasks and projects that I want to do before the end of 2005, I want to at least finish the first two volumes. That will get me through The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.