Orchids Orchids Orchids

As part of the Winter Carnival here in Saint Paul, the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory holds an orchid show. And that's how I like to participate in the Winter Carnival: walking around a warm building, looking at flowers, reminding myself that days with a high of -7 degrees Fahrenheit and 20 mph winds won't last forever (it just feels that way).

Swans

We drove to an area about an hour northwest of our home today to see and hear hundreds of swans who have collected on the shore of part of the Mississippi River for the winter. It was certainly a different experience first hearing all of the swans honking (they were quite loud), then seeing all of them gathered together.

A small portion of the flock

The eating area, where local residents put out bins of corn for the birds

Mating dance

Turf war 1

Turf war 2

Coming in for a landing 1

Coming in for a landing 2

Coming in for a landing 3

Not the most graceful at touchdown

Painting

I'm sick with the flu, so I'm trying to keep Evie entertained with as little effort as possible. While painting may not be every parent's first choice in this situation, Evie is really good in keeping the mess confined to her table, especially when she gets to paint while watching Winnie the Pooh. It's one of her favorite activities, so it kept her entertained for a while. It's also an activity she can easily do on her own. And after she finished painting, I just put her in the tub, turned the shower on, and let her play in the water while the paint washed away. Two fun activities for Evie, little energy required by me.

Cold Temperatures and an Empty Conservatory

The polar vortex descended on us, and it got really, really cold.

When temperatures reach "colder than the surface of Mars," Minnesotans finally start discussing how cold it is outside... and wearing coats.

It got cold enough that schools across all of Minnesota closed on Monday. And many remained closed on Tuesday, as well.

On Monday, I got a little bored with staring at my frosted windows and decided that I was crazy enough to brave the coldest day of the winter so far (with a high of -12 degrees F). The Como Zoo and Conservatory was open, so, I bundled Evie up as warm as I could, thanked my car for starting, and headed in the direction of Como.

I think there were maybe six other cars in the parking lot when I arrived. Probably half of those cars belonged to employees. It was awesome. We pretty much had the Como Conservatory to ourselves.

For anyone who has ever tried to take pictures in the conservatory, you know two things are true. (1) If you're taking a picture of a flower, as long as you don't set up a tripod, you can take 1,000 pictures of that flower if you want to. (2) If you point your camera in the direction of your kid and shoot one frame, a staff person will immediately be behind you reminding you that there is a photo policy about taking pictures of people and only candid photos are allowed. (I completely understand why the photo policy exists, even if it is annoying.)

But I learned a secret on Monday: When it's so cold that pretty much no one shows up at the zoo, you can break the photo policy rules. There's no one around to catch you doing it. I totally took advantage, and I ended up snapping more pictures of Evie than anything else. Evie made sure to make some nice faces for me as I took her picture.

I did manage to use my macro lens for macro photography, a little bit.

Then it was back to pictures of Evie.

By the way, you know it's cold when you see Evie wearing her hat and coat indoors. Usually, she's hardly through the door before she's ripping all of her outer layers off. On this day, even with the warm, humid climate inside the conservatory, she was content to stay bundled.