John,

This reminds me of an essay by biologist Stephen Gould, in which he
remembers that when he was a boy, dinosaurs were not in fashion as a boy's
hobby yet. He was one of the early ones to be fascinated by dynos. In school
they called him 'fossil face'.

So, considering that dynos are now the thing for a boy to be interested in,
and also since the popularity of orchids is still growing, I hope that in a
future generation boys and girls will no longer consider this a weird hobby.

Joanna

"John Mallery" wrote in message
...
One
of the difficult things for him is that none of his peers understand or
want
to understand his passion. He is in middle school now and is taking alot
of
heat for his interests. I have told him to "hang in there" because when he
gets a little older, girls will find it interesting - and that is a good
thing.