You may recall that on 4/30 I posted here about my orchid withdrawal
symptoms, and how I was trying to avoid the temptation of buying more
orchids immediately, but that I kept visiting orchid vendor's Web sites, and
that I needed more Paphs, ...

Well, I got an email from Rob Halgren, enquiring whether I had visited his
Little Frog Farm web site. And me, weak willed as I am, I gave in to the
temptation and went and looked. It's a nice site. Luckily for me none of the
Paphs on my wish list were in the online catalogue, so I thought I was safe.
Until Rob emailed me the following day, saying that he had discovered some
more extra paphs in his greenhouse, and would I have any interest in any of
those. And first on the list was Paph Magic Lantern, which was pretty much
on top of my wish list, too. So I had to give in, and I agreed to buy it.

But then Rob informs me that he's got a special going on, that anyone who
buys an orchid from him this month, also gets a bonus plant free. I had
missed that while browsing the site, but Rob being all helpful just had to
point it out! sigh Like I'm gonna say no to a free additional orchid.
Yeah, right.

Disregarding the rule that one does not examine the teeth of a free horse, I
shamelessly demanded whether that bonus plant could be a paph. Rob suggested
a nice Phrag. I asked whether a Phrag could do well in my conditions. Rob
reassured me. I kept pestering him with more questions. Writing lengthy
emails pretty much every day, and Rob kept answering every day, even though
I had already paid, so the sale was a given.

So today I got the shipment. And after having extracted the two plants that
I had expected, Paph Magic Lantern and Phrag Ecua-Bess, to my great surprise
I discovered a third orchid in the sea of peanuts, a paph wardii.

Rob, when confronted with this, claimed that he just wanted to make sure I
was satisfied in case I had my heart set on a bonus paph after all, and he
denies that he is evil, just misunderstood, grin. I still maintain that he
is evil ;-), taking advantage of poor me in my weak-willed state of mind,
unable to resist, and then increasing my orchid collection by 3 --charging
only for one-- and one of them's a Phrag! What if it does well? Then I might
not only be a Phal and Paph addict, but might become a Phrag addict too!

I knew that orchids were determined to take over the world, but now it turns
out that Rob is in cahoots with them. Oh, ok, maybe it's not that much of a
surprise given his sig. But his sig at least gives the hope that limited
credit might slightly delay the expansionist tendencies of orchids, until
one gets more credit. Whereas Rob's behavior toward me seems to suggest that
even if I had limited credit, I will still be inundated with orchids, three
at a time! Remember I last bought three orchids on April 16th before that.
If I continue to acquiring them at this rate, ... But there is no chance of
that, since my acquisition rate continues to increase. The trouble is that I
will have to buy more orchids, in bloom this time, once most of my Phals
wilt when the summer comes, and the main blooming time peaks.And my husband
is no help either, being very understanding and even encouraging of my
addiction -- one of the orchids that we bought in April was one that he
insisted upon.

Well, at least I can console myself in this most difficult time with three
very nice healthy orchids. It's tough to be me. grin

Joanna