It was a Friday afternoon and I decided to take my two boys to the park for a walk. The park's about ten minutes away from my house, so the walk wasn't very long.
The sky was overcast and my older boy wasn't too keen on going to the park; "lame" was his verdict. I eventually coaxed him with promises of play time on his PSP....*sigh*. So we bundled up all the essentials for an afternoon at the park; ball, blanket, water, snacks, camera....and we mustn't forget....cell phone, PSP and ear phones.
The weather was beautiful. The overcast sky prevented the sun from burning us up, the grass was a lush green carpet and the trees were magnificent.
We walked around for a bit, looking out for birds and squirrels, of course my older son was bored and twiddled away on his game, but my younger son was suitably impressed with the dragonflies over the pond and the lovely water Hyacinths. We climbed our favourite tree, which is an old Samaan tree with a reclining trunk that provides a great photo spot. It was while relaxing on the root of the old tree and gazing up into the branches, I spotted something of interest....a smudge of dark pink on a large branch. I sat up and squinted to get a better look and sure enough, there it was....Rodriguezia Secunda....a little orchid that I learned about from an orchid society friend of mine.
It was just so strange seeing it on that tree, a tree I had seen for most of my life, but had no idea hosted the little treasure on it. Its a small specimen by orchid standards, no cattleya or phalenopsis, this one, but a beauty nonetheless. The narrow straps of leaves terminate in a small arching flower stalk with all the distinctive dark pink miniature blooms on one side of the spike.
We left the tree and went to another part of the park where the boys finally both got into the spirit of the afternoon and joined me in a game of toss...Yay!
Our little fun afternoon was completed with a half an hour of tyre swinging which left the boys giddy with delight. It was rewarding to hear my older boy complain when I said it was time to go home....*smirk*...PSP, phone, ear phones all lay abandoned next to me on the blanket.
Later that evening I sketched the Rodriguezia from memory...(I'm sure it's not an accurate rendition)...as a tribute to the day. I feel somewhat emotional for the close of my kids childhood days and vow to cherish these moments I have with them.....all too soon they'll be grown men and hanging out with their mom in the park on a Friday afternoon will be the furthest thing from their minds.
