A Girlfriend Day Away

(Thank you for all the kind comments and emails about my friends and me and our wedding hats.  My hat was WAY too casual for my shiny mother-of-the-bride dress, so I ditched it right after the photos.)

Yesterday's girlfriend afternoon with Kat was exactly what the Dr. would have ordered ... if I had asked his opinion, you understand.  We had a long, chatty lunch at Panera, then we hit the road to see what things La Plata, Maryland, had to offer us.

Kat's post today is all about our first stop, Waldorf Pottery.  I find it fascinating to see the different types of things she and I photograph while we are together.  We compliment each other pretty well ... she takes artsy photos of stuff, and hones in on the decorative side of things, while I tend to take photos as notes for inspiration for future projects.

Hosta 'Sagae' is one that I MUST add to my collection.

The flowers on 'Endless Summer' hydrangea were beautiful.  I probably need one of these, too.

The day was hot and steamy, and I took every opportunity I could to stay in the shade.  This shade structure was wonderful!  I can see something like this back by my barn .... can you hear the wheels turning?

Detail photo to show the framing of the 'roof'.

Kat, dear, you could build a simple lattice grid like this to attach to your house to hold your New Dawn rose.

Hostas!!  Have I told you how much I LOVE hostas?

Notice the little green table in the photo above?  Something like this would be absolutely perfect to hold flats of roses ... must take a photo so I can remember how it's built ...

As we headed inside, I spotted this fantastic little pot of succulents. 

Inside was a wonderland of gift and garden items (and air conditioning!).  I was particularly attracted to this table ... another inspiration photo, coming up.

Look at all the fabulous container arrangements!

Kat told everyone that I would show you what I bought, so here goes.

I love pigs, and years ago I had a collection of pig items.  The collection got completely out of hand.  Years ago I stopped buying pigs, or accepting them as gifts, and most of my pigs are now stored or given away.  This little piggy, with his beady little eyes and huge personality, spoke me and I had to have him.

My other buy was a set of greyhound bookends.  I have a HUGE collection of greyhound items (including Emma and Daniel, my two REAL greyhounds ... ha ha), and I am always on the look out for interesting greyhound things to add to my collection.  These will be perfect in our library!

I totally forgot to take a photo of these styled in the store, so I have to make do with a photo taken on my kitchen counter.

We stopped at a few other stores (I can't remember the names of any of them).  One was a decor and jewelry store with a wonderfully chatty, friendly owner.  There was an arrangement of subway-style signs on one wall, and one of them in particular was hillarious.  It said,

MONEY CAN'T BUY

HAPPINESS, BUT IT CAN

BUY MARSHMALLOWS,

WHICH ARE KINDA

THE SAME THING.

Knowing what a history freak I am, our last stop was Port Tobacco, a historic formerly-bustling commercial town, which contains the reconstructed Charles County courthouse,

some beautifully maintained 18th Century houses,

Stagg Hall, built ca. 1740 for merchant John Parnham.

and this outbuilding and pile of bricks that had my imagination whirling.

I will finish with this random photo I took at a traffic light.  If anyone wants a really cool old Volkswagon, it's for sale.

Many of you have said here, or in comments at Kat's blog, that you would love to spend a day with a fellow blogger or two ... what's stopping you?  Pretty much the only thing that gets in my way if I want to contact someone is no-comment@blogger.com.  Whenever I see that, I know I probably can't get to know that person better, no matter how nice they seem. 

If you haven't enabled email responses on your profile, will you please consider doing it? 

Pretty please.

There Are No Words

Yesterday evening, Kat from Low Tide High Style published a blog post about her visit here last Friday.  Kat is a wonderful photographer and a very gifted writer, and I was beset by so many emotions as I saw her images and read her words.  (all of the photos in this post are Kat's.)

I knew from watching Kat on Friday that I would love her images.  I was totally unprepared, however, for the genuine magic that she captured with her camera.

I was also unprepared for the the glowing words she used to praise me personally and to describe the gardens that I have created here.  I am a very humble person, and most of the time I am uncomfortable with compliments and recognition.

I cannot accurately describe the depth of my reaction to what Kat wrote.

I smiled,

I nodded my head,

I laughed,

and I tried not to cry.

I'm still a little bit weepy about it, sitting here playing with her images and trying to put my feelings into writing.  How can I adequately thank her for making me feel so admired and appreciated?

I sent Kat an email after I read her post, thanking her for making me feel so special.  Because of her, I will now look at my gardens ... my creations ... in a very different way.  I design these gardens to please MYSELF and to beautify my environment ... I had no idea that they would have such an emotional effect on others.

or that hearing about these emotions would have such an effect on ME.

I will state this here ... now ... and quite publicly:

Thank you, dear Kat, for your friendship, your support,

and for being who you are.

My life is a better place because I have you in it.

While Kat was here, she and I talked about giving a rose, and other rosy things, to a lucky reader of her blog.  Please use THIS LINK to go to her blog to read the whole post she wrote and see the rest of her amazing photos.  Follow the instructions at the end of the post, and you may be the lucky winner.

I already feel like a winner!