Orchids and Masks - The Marie Selby Botanical Garden

As promised, more about my wonderful vacation. Today I want to share some pics I took at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, a city we visited twice. It was almost two hours away, so a bit of a ride, but the gardens were lovely...

First there were orchids...

And then there were the masks, hand carved and painted...

And finally there was this astoundingly beautiful tree...

India

In the phonetic alphabet, India represents the letter I. According to Wikipedia, India is 'officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by geographical area, and the second most populous. Four of the world's major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism - originated here.' The current population is 1.17 billion, the capital is New Delhi, and it supports over 15% of the world's population even though it only occupies 2.4% of the world's land area.

 This is India's flag:

Two of India's national symbols are the lotus flower...

and the banyan tree...

my favorite

and if you want to see some truly amazing photos of India, go here.