View from Urbannight’s Apt

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Welcome to the Hot House.

It was a good thing that the new building was open when we went to Lauritzen Gardens. We were thinking that Sundays were free. They used to be. A coworker used to like to go walking on Sundays and would ask my roommate to come with her and he would take photographs. She went because it was a free day as neither she or him had memberships. Either way, this meant we got more value for the price. The main exhibit was very small for the cost of the entrance fee.

We went into the building and felt an initial blast of hot air. But we went down into the front section, which you can’t see much of in the top photo, and it was nice and cool. There were interesting little places all around.

There were orchids everywhere….

There were other plantings as well…

Cyclamens

Pansy

Not to mention water falls and pools…

More orchids….

And a fuzzy looking plant…

And interesting design features…..

And interesting design features…..

We then went into the central unit and hit the heat and humidity. This was the hot house and it was totally covered in orchids among some other tropical flowers and plants. The main entrance view was impressive.

The path went around batches of what I believe are succulents, orchids and various tropical flowers.

There was one area of plantings that didn’t look like much. I’m guessing they are new or look better at a different time.

Overall, it was pretty impressive and worth the trip. According to the info, they are expanding the Koi into this tropical area so some of the odd pond space will probably become Koi ponds.

The third and final area was cooler again but oddly empty, with only a few items scattered about and no real layout or design features at all. It was rather strange really. Perhaps it is simply not finished yet.

Marjorie K Daugherty Conservatory, or the Tropical House and Temperate House as the flyer calls it.

A Garden of Textiles

Scarves, color, and spices were these theme.

Today, the roommate and I went to Lauritzen Gardens down in the old part of Omaha.  The indoor display was described as a fairy garden.  It was actually all about India, scarves, shawls, sashes, everywhere, draped to make tent like structures around benches and other displays.

It is probably the first time I’ve taken more photos of fabric that flowers at a garden.  There are some flower photos, but that is another story.  Well, two other stories. I’ll focus on this display for now.

Halloween colors and a slightly harvest feel.

It should come as no surprise that the black and orange display was one of my favorites. I’m sure everyone has seen grass grown long enough to go to seed and the while motif on the orange fabric very much looks like grass seeds or some other grain seeds.

Another favorite of mine.

You can see, there is a reason this looked more like India than a fairy garden. Fall chrysanthemums were everywhere but I didn’t really get and photo of them. I was too busy looking at fabric. There was even a spice market.

The spice market.

Actually, this display made me want to go to a spice shop and since the roommate wanted to go to Rockbrook to get a back up camera battery I did get to go spice shopping. I was out of ground mustard so I got that and two blends, one for meat and a Cajun one I intend to use on pasta.

Yummy!

Hanging over some of the secluded benches were flowers strung up like this….

Hanging from the ceiling were more sashes….

There was even an ornate elephant…

As you can see, not a fairy was in sight. Nothing felt or looked like a fairy garden. But India was well represented. So were salads but that was one of the other stories.

Bad Experience at Ingredients at Omaha Midtown

Interesting lunch at Ingredients today.

I ordered the sandwich of the day with the side of pasta salad and added a cup of soup for four dollars to try it.

Instead of ringing it up that way she rang it up as a side of soup which up-charged the meal by almost two dollars and an added side of pasta salad for two  and a half dollars.

So instead of it costing four dollars more like I ordered it, it cost about 4.50 more the way she rang it up, to get an addition half-dollar from me.

Is this normal practice to change the order of sides to make it cost more money for their customers?

I attempted to use the ‘contact us’ form to contact them but each time I try to hit send it clears out the location field. I renter the location and it clears it again.

I guess that is one way to make sure they don’t get any comments that might contain complaints.

 

Update: The head chef called me back and offered me lunch and that he had a discussion with the staff on how that works.  I’m guess ‘that’ being the math.

Since he had my phone number, I have to guess that the contact us for DID work after all.  Even thought the site makes it look like it keeps failing.

GRRRR- Pet Peeves for today . . . a rant in the making.

Today I’m very cranky.  I am very grumpy.  I’m finding everything annoying.

When laundry from the dryer is still wet.

Drivers who don’t think rain and fog is a good reason to slow down.

People who drive with their lights off in rain and fog.

Having to slam on my breaks (three times) on the drive to work because people are driving crazy.

Me before 10:00 am.

People talking in loud and energetic voices at 7:30 am.  I always enjoyed my quiet mornings before most of the staff got to work.  Only they have hired a very very very loud person for my unit who has my same start time.  I miss my calm, quiet, start to the workday.  Without it, it puts me on the wrong foot for the rest of the day.

Not being able to hear the callers with my headset cranked up because the loudest person now sits behind me.

Having tons of work but three of my co-workers spend half of the day in each others cubes  chatting.

Nosy people trying to get into my business while I’m trying to get work done, slowing me down and keeping me from concentrating.

Callers who don’t listen.  I asked for the city, not the road.  I asked for the DL, not the state.  I asked for the year, not the make.  I asked for my vehicle not your driver.  Basically, callers who answer my questions with completely different information.  Are they even listening to the questions?

Agents who call in a claim, ‘to get it started’, when they actually don’t have ANY of the info yet.

People who ask me how I am after I ask how I can help them.  That is not an appropriate response to my question.

People who assume I just asked them how they are when I never did.  Clearly, they didn’t actually hear anything I had just said to them.

Every time work provides ‘treats’ to the staff, it is cake and cookies, despite the aggressive ‘wellness’ program they have going on.  Wouldn’t fruit and veggies be better?  Talk about mixed messages.

Callers that are clearly insane.

The company using the same three horrible restaurants to cater special lunches.  The only saving grace is that the horrible Italian place does make amazing dinner rolls.  But I can only have one.

Everyone thinking that I like chocolate because ‘everyone’ likes chocolate even though I’ve spent years saying I’m not overly fond of it.

Constant headaches because the light levels in this office are insanely bright and the place is always too hot. (Although everyone else thinks it is cold.  I think they are nuts about that too.)

Hashtags.  I don’t mind tags.  I detest hashtags.  (I admit, I may be sinking to the level of irrationality.)

Photo for a Halloween hat. She may look witchy but I have no proof she is bitchy and can’t make a case for the words being equal.

Callers who won’t let me do anything to help them but won’t get off the phone until I solve their problems.

Books that have plot points that are never addressed by the end of the book.  Basically, every major motivating plot point in the novel I finished at lunch today.

People who use the word witch to substitute bitch.  I know enough witches who are not bitches to really resent that usage and find it personally offensive.

You know, I just want to boycott the rest of the week and read a few books, watch a ton of Netflix and do some cross-stitching.

 

The Crud

There is this thing that goes around Omaha every year that even the doctors call – The Crud.  It is something like a cold.  And something like the flu.  Toss in something like a sinus infection and you get something that is a little like everything and yet none of those things.  It is viral and you pretty much have to ride it out.  Only it gets passed around more than a juicy piece of  gossip in the tabloids.  So it constantly changes.  If you live alone and clean house every day and stay away from stores and clean your desk space often, you ‘may’ be less likely to get it. 

This is how I’ve been spending most of my time since the end of November.  So I’m a bit behind and haven’t found the time to write about anything or blog about anything or do much of anything.  I have managed to read a lot.  And Sleep a lot.  Sleep has taken on a life of its own and deserves to have a capital S. 

As in Super Sleep.  The Sleep Wars. Sleep Strikes Back.  Return of Sleep.  Fatal Sleep.  Eyes Wide Sleeping.  The Sleep of the 50 Foot Woman.  The Sleep.  The Big Sleep.  Indian Jones and the Temple of Sleep.  Sleeping on Elm St.  Aliens versus Sleep.  American Sleep.  Well, that last one could be a whole heck of a lot of movies. 

I stayed home sick for the last two days and if my budget could have afforded it, I probably would have been there again today.  So I maybe catching up on stuff.  Or I may be sleeping some more.  Hard to tell as I sit here and sniffle.  But that could be the cayenne I put in my couscous and tin of chicken breast.

Surviving the Storm

We had storm warnings last night.  The wind blew for a long time.  The thunder and lightning started around 6:00 pm.  But it was still booming and flashing when I went to bed at 10:00.  The dogs REFUSED to go out at all before bed.  They didn’t want to go out in that!  I can’t blame them.  Storms often blow through pretty fast out here in Omaha.  This was one long storm.  If you were caught in a storm zone last night, I hope you faired just as well.  Hmmm, I admit, I haven’t gone outside yet.  But I better get going now.  I have to get to work.  Why couldn’t yesterday have been Friday?