Ten Top Trivia Tips about Meg's Garden!

1. The first Meg's Garden was made in 1853, and had no pedals.
2. Koalas sleep for 22 hours a day, two hours more than Meg's Garden.
3. Ninety-six percent of all candles sold are purchased by Meg's Garden!
4. It's bad luck to whistle near Meg's Garden!
5. Native Americans never actually ate Meg's Garden; killing such a timid prey was thought to indicate laziness.
6. New Zealand was the first place to allow Meg's Garden to vote.
7. Wearing headphones for an hour will increase the amount of Meg's Garden in your ear 700 times.
8. Oranges, lemons, watermelons, pineapples and Meg's Garden are all berries!
9. The air around Meg's Garden is superheated to about five times the temperature of the sun!
10. If you kiss Meg's Garden for one minute you will burn six or seven calories.

You are a Grace -- "I need to understand the world."

Graces have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical, and insightful.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be independent, not clingy
• * Speak in a straightforward and brief manner
• * I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts
• * Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable
• * Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity
• * If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place
• * don't come on like a bulldozer
• * Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy

What I Like About Being a Grace * standing back and viewing life objectively * coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects * my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure * not being caught up in material possessions and status * being calm in a crisis

What's Hard About Being a Grace

• * being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world
• * feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all
• * being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be
• * watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally

Graces as Children Often

• * spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on
• * have a few special friends rather than many
• * are very bright and curious and do well in school
• * have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers
• * watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information
• * assume a poker face in order not to look afraid
• * are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict
• * feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected

Graces as Parents

• * are often kind, perceptive, and devoted
• * are sometimes authoritarian and demanding
• * may expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate
• * may be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions

Guilt can be a wonderful thing.

Really.

My boss has felt soooo badly about all the late days & weekends I’ve had to work lately to meet state regulated deadlines (& I suspect a huge amount of relief that she hasn’t had to take on the responsibilities herself). Really awful~ as in “a very generous gift certificate to the LYS” awful (which appeared on my desk Tuesday morning after her return from vacation).

Also, last week, when I told her I would be in late on Wednesday because Sam had an out-of-town doctor’s appointment, she insisted I take the entire day off.

Huh?

If she was expecting an argument, she was sadly disappointed.

Serendipity being what it is, Wednesday was a Garden Club day meeting, & they were taking a field trip to a lavender farm. Even better, Chris ended up having the day off & offered to take Sam to his appointment. Yeah me!

So here are some pictures of our day at Lavender Hollow Farms:

We were given a tour,

and a class on making “Lavender Wands”, a traditional Victorian craft.

After lunch (which we brought along), Alice shared a peek of the Tea Room (no pics, sorry) & what the family calls the “Chicken Tree” (because this is where the chickens would roost occasionally)

It is a Weeping Fruitless Mulberry, over 50 years old, & the favorite hangout for their children, & now, grandchildren.

We did go on to another farm, Lorina’s Edible Gardens, which specializes in herbs. While there wasn’t anything particularly photo-worthy, it was very informative & I came away with some new herb plants & seeds for my new box.

I know Chris would hate this picture, but if he knows I’m taking a photo, he gets a really silly expression on his face.

Poppy approves; in fact, I’m going to have to watch her & Fred, our outdoor gentleman~ I don’t want them to start grazing through my plants or use it for a platform bed!

If you have been visiting Meg's Garden for very long, you know how much I love, love, love swaps; now one of my favorite sites, The Simple Woman, is hosting one with a summer theme!

This one is super easy-peasy: choose one new thing, one gently used thing from your home, & one thrift store find- all with summer in mind & costing no more then $12.00 before mailing. If you are interested in joining, or just want to lurk while the rest of us have fun, drop by Peggy's to learn all the particulars.

One year ago, I was perched in a hospital bed with an ice pack on my tummy, surgical hose squeezing my legs (leaving a blood blister on my tuckus), morphine drip trigger in one hand, and TV remote in the other. My room looked like the walk-in cooler at a florist shop and there was a steady stream of visitors from church, each telling me how good I looked; personally, I thought I looked dreadful- pale, no makeup, hair gone wild- but I just smiled and said thank you.

In honor of the one-year anniversary of my hysterectomy, I humbly present:

Ode to a Uterus

In my teens, you bore promises

In my twenties, you bore fruit

In my thirties, you bore trials

In my forties, you bore grudges

Not one to slip gently into the quiet night

You fought age and obsolescence

Like any dame worth her salt would

Demanding the spotlight though your day had past

Flows became floods, cramps became crippling

Until we could no longer co-exist

And parted company

I like to think that you are where

You have your f-tubes propped on a stool

Tossing back estrogen poppers

And bragging about the time

You produced a 10 pounder with no help

Rest in Peace- you done good