Do I wake or sleep?

This afternoon I went down to the Post Office in the concourse, and passed through the New York International Orchid Show--it's usually at the Winter Garden but last year and this is at 30 Rock because the WG is too close to Ground Zero. It's a little crowded in the lobby and the concourse but very worth it because the displays are absolutely lovely. Just...breathtaking. It's hard to believe there are so many variations on the same flower--so many colors and blossom shapes---so many beautiful arrangements. I wanted to stop and stare at these lovely things, just lose myself in the gorgeousness. There's a song--"The world is so full of a number of things/I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Doggerel, cliched, but true--so much beauty. So much gorgeousness, it makes me dizzy. The last time I saw the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin in DC, I did get dizzy. I looked up into that expanse of pinkish white blossomblossomblossomblossomblossom and...stepped outside myself.

I felt this way a bit when I visit Shakespearean gardens with their delightful varieties of this spice, which cures stomachache and that herb which makes good soup. There's fennel for you, and columbine; there's rue for you...we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays...Such incredible variety. So much of it beautiful or functional.

The world is a beautiful place, sometimes.