Gardener's Perspective

Last night we heard a speaker talk about her garden.   We had our dates and speakers confused and did not actually go expecting to hear this speaker.  But what a delight she was.

Once in a great while, a presenter comes along who is so enthusiastic, so dynamic, so passionate about his/her subject matter,  that one cannot help but be pulled in, whether or not you might have thought you were interested.

Hers was what I would call a more mystical approach to gardening.  She stressed the difference between imposing one's will on the garden, and listening to what the garden had to teach you.  Her garden is not trained or ordered or predictable, but has a way of doing its own thing,  and she values that.  Her garden speaks to her and she learns about herself and others through it.  While she cannot grow spinach successfully, no matter what she tries, other vegetables might grow profusely, enthusiastically, unbidden.

Among other things, she has inspired a community garden, where individuals plant their own gardens in raised plots.   The raised boxes are about three feet high, and require less bending and are more easily tended.
That was necessary because lead was found in the soil at the chosen location.  Eventually, they identified on an old map that there was once a land mine factory in that exact spot.

What a fitting way for swords to be beaten into plow shares there!

Day Trip

This summer we are taking a number of Day Trips to see some interesting places in New York, or Pennsylvania.  Today we enjoyed a good trip to Le Roy, New York.   We had lunch in a lovely restaurant in a railroad depot converted to a restaurant, which served very delicious food.

 After that, we visited the Le Roy House, an historic home filled with many wonderful artifacts and incredible paintings of the people who had lived there. A number of them were at least five feet tall.

We went to Le Roy primarily to visit the Jello museum. Jello was invented/discovered in Le Roy, New York, thus the museum located in that obscure location.  It was certainly a fascinating story of Americana.   Jello is deeply ingrained in our culture.  Visitors vote on their favorite flavor.  The guide said most people's favorite is a red color (strawberry, cherry, raspberry).  We both voted for orange.  Certain states have certain favorites.   There was jello trivia, recipes, photographs, a CD on a loop with advertisements, and lots of pictures of spokesman Bill Cosby.  Question:  What U.S. President typically has black cherry jello on Thanksgiving?  Answer:  Bill Clinton

We also visited the museum in the basement, where Gerry discovered that Le Roy is also a place which used to manufacture plows.  He is a plow historian and was delighted to make that find.

It was a very lovely small town. For a few years in the 1800's,  there was a women's seminary,  the first one in the United States.   I do wonder why there would be a need,  since it would be another hundred years before the ordination of women.

Lovely day trip.  We have some others planned.

Girls Night Out

Saturday night I took most of my girls out for a girls' night out.  Youngest daughter, who does not live in the area, was not among us, but she has already seen this play, Anything Goes, more than once.  I thought this would be a different kind of family gathering.  Usually, we celebrate events with a dinner  (which typically I cook).  This we the closest date I could come up with that worked for everyone, anywhere near my birthday.  This was my birthday party.

The theater is in a town about an hour away.  We came in two cars, from two different directions, and met there.  Brenda and I were worried that the other three might not make it in time.  They were expected by 7:30, but it was 7:50 before they arrived, having not paid attention to the directions.   But we got into our seats before the eight o'clock curtain time.

There were five of us together, three daughters and one granddaughter. Most of the rest of them have not seen very much musical theater, so I thought this would be a treat.  The setting of this play is the 1930's,  so it was kind of old-fashioned, a classic, and maybe even a bit corny.  But it was funny, and there was lots of energetic singing and dancing, which I especially enjoy, and even a couple of tap dance numbers.  I do hope they enjoyed it. I'm sure they did.

Anything Goes is also playing on Broadway right now, and youngest daughter recently saw it there.  She lives near the city, and somehow manages to enjoy the city life with its endless possibilities.  I don't understand exactly how that happened, since she grew up in a very isolated, very small town.   Now she is definitely urban.

The rest of us are all very much country girls!

Rochester Trip

On Tuesday, I made a trip to Rochester with two goals in mind.  The first was to get-together with a long lost friend, Bonnie, with whom I hung out during my seminary years, and afterwards, though we lost contact somewhere along the way.  Bonnie contacted me, knowing that I would probably be attending the conference in Rochester. She lives in the area.  We arranged to meet, have lunch and attend the clergy gathering together.   Had Bonnie not been my guide  (I followed her into the city), I'm not sure I would ever have found the place.  The convention center was in the middle of down town, and poorly marked.   I would honestly have been lost.

Clergy Session is the beginning of a five day marathon known as Annual Conference.  After attending just the afternoon event,  I was reminded again how much I dislike sitting all day at such a conference.  Plus,  everything has changed since I last attended Clergy Session.  There has been a merger of four smaller conferences into one larger one.  Now, most of the faces are unfamiliar, where once everyone greeted each other with warm hugs. Add to that my retired status, and what emerges is quite a disconnected feeling.

Once again, had it not been for Bonnie, I would have been rather lost. What the future may hold regarding these gatherings remains to be seen.