It has been an early but thankfully wet spring in the northeast. Highlights so far have been a trip with Eleanor "Sam" Saulys and Eric Lamont to a remote and inaccessible swamp in northwestern CT (Sam is an awsome guide!) to see a sizable population of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens; a Torrey Botanical Club walk to a botanically-rich calcareous habitat in western NJ and a trip to an orchid-rich county park on Long Island with Dave Taft and Eric Lamont to see a white Cypripedium acaule that Dave had found, after a 20 year search on Long Island; his personal "Moby Dick" as he called it. The amazing thing is that these choice orchid sites are all within a 40-90 mile radius of my apartment in upper Manhattan!