Nice and warm and hot.

A pilgrimmage to the Garfield Park Conservatory here in the city has become an annual event -- in 2009 we even went twice! It's lovely there, and, as Jonah just said while watching me upload these photos, "It was nice and hot and warm at the Conservatory!" Perfect for a Chicago winter. My mom has happened to be in town on the weekends that the Conservatory has hosted "Sweet Saturdays," a chance to learn about foods (bananas!), products (waxes!) and sweets (chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!) given us by these lovely plants. I'm already looking forward to 2011...!







Manny can barely contain his excitement at the cocoa station. He knows that chocolate isn't far behind.



Bzzzzz.

We often call Manny "pig." It sounds insulting, I know, but he's white and pink, (used to be) round and has curly hair; it just works. Incidentally, he happens to be a little crazy, a wild child, yes, even feral. Our little feral pig. Here, our little feral pig pops out of the jungle, from whence he came.

Manny is also very studious. A studious, book-loving pig, when he's not torturing his elder brother or finding ways to maim himself.

I can't remember what kind of plant this was, though I do remember that this section grew off a tree. I love it when I encounter plants that the imagination almost certainly wouldn't conjure by itself. I'd like to make this one into a necklace.