Ginny Prior has a new take on the world, as a result of her experience at the UC Botanical Garden. As she reports in her Happy Wanderer column for the Contra Costa Times:
As a seasoned traveler, I’ve ended up in some strange foreign lands. Iceland in June, Lapland in January … South Dakota in the dead of winter. But this happened in my own backyard, so to speak.
There I was, standing face to face with a cobra. Alert and extended, it seemed poised to strike.
“It’s a magnificent specimen,” said my guide as he beckoned me closer. “Just look at the hood.”
Indeed, it wasn’t a snake, but the most curious of lilies — this relative of the corpse flower protruding from the lush, green environs of Asia. Or at least it looked like Asia.
Read more here.