In our front garden we have an ooline stump on which are growing several clumps of orchids (Cymbidium canaliculatum) indigenous to this area. Over the past week, 15 or so flower spikes have emerged from the reed-like foliage. How amazing that a plant can produce such beauty without the nutrients normally found in soil. These orchids rely only on a mass of roots within the trunk of a tree; living or dead.
With news of earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, I'm reminded of the time Doug and I experienced earthquakes while staying in a two-storey stone farmhouse in the hills just out of Assisi, in Italy. It was terrifying to wake in the middle of the night with a quake so severe that it felt like you were having a heart attack and an electric shock both at the same time. With the power off we stumbled outside with bits of plaster and stone falling out of the ceiling.
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