Dilettante goes to Destin: we're here!

It's fall break week for our school district.  That means one thing:  girls gone south.  We headed out yesterday as soon as the dismissal bell rang.  Traffic was lighter than past years on I-65, and we made great time; under 8 hours including a stop in Birmingham for dinner and Montgomery for gas.

It struck me today this is the sixth year swimmer girl and I have made fall break into a girls' getaway:

• 2006, swimmer girl was 11 and we took Disney World by storm, just mother and daughter.
• 2007 found me just a few days after hernia surgery when a dear friend bundled me in her car before dawn and hauled us and our daughters to Fort Walton for the most incredible week of healing and relaxation I could have imagined.
• 2008 was a repeat to Fort Walton, but this time with a two-car caravan and more girls - fun, fun, fun was had by all!
• 2009 was a bit of a departure - swimmer girl and I headed west to visit my parents after my dad's shoulder surgery.  We also managed to explore every square inch of the venerable Country Club Plaza, Kansas City's claim to shopping fame as the oldest shopping center designed for access by automobile.
• 2010 was back to Florida, this time to Panama City Beach.  We arrived just as the bikers were leaving after a week-long ride-in.  Perfect timing.  Our group consisted of another mom and me, plus three teenage girls, a preteen girl and a boy.  (Yes, we will allow some boys, sometimes.)  Great trip and good memories!
• 2011 finds us in Destin, and our group is smaller:  just swimmer girl, one of her oldest and best friends, and me.

Next year will be her last year of high school and our seventh and final fall break, unless her college has a longer fall break than MTSU's.  We plan to do it up right with a different destination - we'll see how it all works out.

But for now, we're glad we are here safe and sound; the condo is lovely and the gulf and pure white beach is a quick jaunt through the complex and across Hwy. 98.  (We made the trek as soon as we threw our bags in the condo.  It was after midnight, but we just had to touch the beach and listen to the surf pound under its canopy of stars before turning in for the night.)

The weather forecast is sunny and warm all week, and we're anxious to get settled in and on the beach as soon as possible today.  My wish is for safe travels and a memorable time to everyone heading somewhere this fall break.  And good luck to Derek Dooley and the boys today - Go Big Orange!

Happy Saturday,

Spring (or planting!) fever

Every year for four years, a group of men and women from Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee mark their calendars for one Saturday in April, and agree to meet up at Rita Randolph's greenhouses in Jackson, Tennessee.  We do our best to clean out her inventory (don't worry - she's got plenty more where that came from...we think!), and we giggle and gossip and snatch plants left and right.  After we all tally up our bills (we usually don't compare notes on spending.  What happens at Rita's stays at Rita's), we head over to Casey Jones restaurant to continue the fellowship over a leisurely lunch before reluctantly parting ways.

You may be wondering, WHY?  We all have nurseries and garden centers much closer to our homes - we probably all drove past one or more on our way.  So why drive for hours to this one nursery?  Is it that special?  It's true that Rita has some of the most fabulous container ideas around.  But more than that, it's an excuse to visit and catch up with each other.  Some of the travelers make plans to stay overnight and visit several more nurseries before heading home.  (I've been known to haul unsuspecting passengers through extremely rural parts of Dickson on our way back from Jackson, in search of Marianna's tomato plants.)

You may also be wondering how we know each other.  High school or college? Nope.  Work? Nope.  Sports? Still nope. Church? And no again..  Give up?

What brought us together was a website called Dave's Garden.  Over the years, we've shared gardening tips and tricks, recipes, ideas, and recommendations.  We've also shared stories about our lives, weathered many storms, from Katrina to last year's Tennessee floods, and more tornadoes than we can count.  Always, there's someone in this group making sure everyone in an affected area is okay.  What started out as online acquaintances has deepened into abiding real-life friendships.  I rarely mention my day job here because I try to keep work and blog separate, but I've been privileged to be able to work for this website for several years, as well as be part of this vast but tight-knit community.  What a treat it is to work with and for such a great group.  And get to see some of them at least once a year, and ooh and ahh over gorgeous plants all ready to be tucked into containers to  welcome visitors to our homes and greet us on our decks and back porches.

This year's trip is tomorrow.  And it has an added benefit:  it gives me an opportunity to get away for a day before we start moving next week.  I have already vowed to not buy as many plants as usual, since we're going to be betwixt and between over the week. But those plants have a siren's call that is difficult to ignore.  So I will probably come home with plants a-plenty, as always.  The containers are ready and waiting at the new house.  An advanced thank-you to Rita for her graciousness in letting us use her site for our annual soiree.

Happy planting!

On the road again...

The trip to the University of Georgia game in Athens a few weeks ago meant rising early to get on the  road, but that pales in comparison to the time we are heading out today, in order to get to  the Williams-Brice stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, in time for the 12:21 kickoff.

Wish us luck, and cheer for our Vols - they could use all the well-wishes they can get this season.

Happy traveling!