Stay at Home Vacations - Como Conservatory

From my earliest memories, Como Conservatory has been there for a quick, tropical escape when I've needed it, at the point of winter when you just *need* to go breathe warm air. It's been a few years though, since I have gone. New covid precautions make it harder — rather than just ducking in when it seems the dreariest, you have to plan in advance, and get a timed ticket (still free/by donation though), and of course social distance (or try to) once you are there — some people are more successful at that than others... 

Beatrix and I headed over today.


In theory you are supposed to follow a one-way path through the zoo as well, but zoos kind of bum me out, so we skipped that part and just bypassed to the two parts of the conservatory — the Tropical Adventures part and the main building.

It felt lovely and familiar (and steamy and exotic) as soon as we walked in.

Sloth mode (for Ximena).



I think there is a waterfall loop of Minnesota. Maybe we should go on that soon. I miss Nordic waterfalls (so does Beatrix).


The sunken garden room reminds me of all the bulbs I want to plant at both houses. I never can seem to mass them right. Como has an advantage in the things that normally don't bloom at the same time can be featured together, though. Still, maybe at least some pansies this year?


There's a lot of peacefulness in just looking at plants. We thought they might notice, though, if we dug up the cacao tree and brought it home.

Maybe we should try bonsai this year?


What I am trying for right now is a little bit of peace among it all. That was at least successful for today.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brutus

Image
In 2019, we were on our way back from spring break when Cheryl, who Beatrix had interned with at GiffyDog, reached out to us about fostering a pomeranian (since she knew Beatrix loved the breed). The day we got back, the person who had been fostering him brought him over. Brutus sauntered in, grabbed a rawhide as long as he was that Coya had been chewing, and settled in next to me in the chair. Patrick says "I knew at that point he was never leaving." And he didn't. He got the name "Brutus Brewpup" when, as we initially had him and thought we should expose him to people who might want to adopt him, we took him out to a taproom and found he LOVED it. Pretty soon, taking him to taprooms turned into a regular pastime. But he liked other things too. He loved Christmas: And Halloween: And springtime: And snow, especially the first snowfall: And really winter in general: He loved to go up to the cabin (and I'm so glad we got to go up this last weekend): And to sun...
Read more

Choosing Happy

Image
This post is brought to you by a few thoughts from yesterday: First and foremost, Patrick's new book that he wrote for Beatrix for her sixteenth birthday. Available for a hot second before we leave for spring break tomorrow. The response of someone he knows on the internet, who wrote yesterday that he had decided years ago that he would never be happy (and reading his posts, he seems to be right.). It was one of the saddest things I've encountered in a long time. A friend's social media post, in which she discusses another person's comment of " I really think a sizable proportion of the population has become addicted to being angry" with the sage response of " I think a lot of them are doing it because it's more enjoyable to be angry than to be depressed." A nd we finally finished watching this season's Fargo last night. I won't give any spoilers, but it's extremely on theme with this post. So this is the deal. There's a lot on ...
Read more

New Year's Eve 2023

Image
I did not want to be laying in bed, wearing a fleece onesie and still shivering, while my husband and daughter headed out to the several wonderful NYE parties we have planned. I have a beautiful new dress that I got in Duluth for tonight, and was looking forward to the collection of friends we would be seeing. Our friend Whitney in particular is throwing the last party at her B and B, and it's breaking my heart not to go. But I feel logey and coughy, and more to the point, I have a low fever, and I don't want to mess around with possibly getting anyone sick. I'm still holding out hope that I'll miraculously feel better and the fever was a mistaken reading, but I doubt that. And I feel lucky to have 3 sets of people who want me in their lives tonight and who I don't want to get sick. As our yoga teacher Viv says, it's not like a page turns and everything is magic. You get some things that are good, and some that are not, and life is living in the middle. -- In 20...
Read more