On Saturday morning our email account got hacked.  Val alerted me to this fact.  By the time I became aware of the problem some twenty to thirty spam emails had been sent out under our name.  They were sent to all of our friends and family members.  I don’t know if it was just a coincidence or not, but when I logged off of our email account the spamming emails stopped.

Another coincidence or possibly a clue, was that just two days earlier, I had set up a Facebook account.  As part of the setup process I allowed the sharing of my Yahoo/AT&T email contacts list.  In retrospect I think that this was a mistake.  Interestingly and possibly another clue, my Facebook account’s password had been changed.  I’ve changed all my passwords, but I don’t know if that will stop it or not.  Anyway the damage has been done.  I can only hope that whoever or whatever hacked our email account has moved on. 

Picture above our a pair of Eurasian Tree Sparrows or ETS that were at our bird feeders on Saturday morning.  As it name implies the ETS is indigenous to eastern Europe and parts of Asia.  In North America, it is quite rare.  The only sizable  population is established around Saint Louis and neighbouring parts of Illinois.

Pictured above and in today’s header are different parts of Dale Chihuly’s Blue Chandelier sculpture.  It is a two-story tall piece that hangs in the entrance way of the Ridgeway Center at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  I have always tried to photograph the whole piece, but without much success.  I think that doing closeup photos of the sculpture works a lot better. 

The orchid show is ongoing now at the Garden and will continue long enough for Jane to see it too.  I visited it on Saturday afternoon and took lots of pictures.  So you all can expect to see lots of orchid pictures, beautifying this blog, in the coming week.

I biked in the Park on Saturday afternoon.  The weather was sunny and near sixty degrees, so the Park was mobbed.  I decided to bail from the Park and go over to the Gardens and view the orchid show.  On the way back home, again in the Park, I was assailed.  I was riding along and an occupant of a  passing car through something at me.  It hit me in the elbow.  It didn’t hurt, I think that it was a plastic wrapped food item.  I think the laughter from the passing car stung the most.  Anyway, I got sixteen miles.