During our most recent visit to family in Milwaukee, they pointed out to us
a funny newspaper article about Ernest Bettencourt and his orchid business
(see link below).

His hobby bloomed; business has not
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=485043

This is my favorite part of the article:

snip
Bettencourt smiles cheerfully.

"Sometimes we break even," he says. "And when we don't, I just pay the
bill."

"We," by the way, is just Bettencourt. Bettencourt and a few stray cats, who
when it comes to manual labor, are unreliable, at best.

/snip


In December 2004 I had posted an account of my visit to the greenhouse of
Ernest Bettencourt in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area -- see
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...307d6582e10277
The ideas of repotting once a month and yanking out healthy leaves to get
rid of aerial roots still make me shudder, but overall I really enjoyed the
visit and Mr. Bettencourts certainly was a very friendly, knowledgeable and
interesting vendor. However, Al's Orchid Greenhouse is a more comfortable
place for my tastes (I am really glad that his aliens and wenches and not
nearly stray cats cause enough havoc, so that he could not possibly succeed
in meticulous organization).

Best,
Joanna