Feeling a bit flush with our first group garden tour after 18 months, I spent Monday finalizing details of the Texas trip, with surveys, picture editing and meeting with the travel agent. The overall rating of our Texas Garden tour came in at a resounding 9.5!
I have learned from long experience with travel and events, you will never please everyone, every time, but this one came pretty close. Our lowest rating was a 7, but the number of 9 and 10’s overcame it. Everyone loved the Fort Worth Botanical Garden and Dallas Arboretum, and were wowed by the hospitality and generosity of the Cypress Bay Master Gardeners and their county agent in Mount Pleasant. Obviously Arkansans are not as enamored with Texas barbeque as they are Arkansas barbeque, but Joe T. Garcia got rave reviews. People were quite impressed with all that we did and the sites that we saw. I got lots of ideas for future trips as well. Speaking of future trips, I have connected with a new travel agent and am working on Maine for next September. A couple of others hopefully will follow as well. Stay tuned!
That evening our online book club met.
On Tuesday I had a great lunch with a friend outside at the Clinton library. I was surprised to learn the library has not yet reopened to the public. The gift store is open when the restaurant is. Sitting outside made lunch even more enjoyable. Wednesday was a great Oktoberfest event at the Grumpy Rabbit in Lonoke, then I had friends for dinner here on Thursday and we had dinner at a friends house on Friday.
Saturday morning I worked with Katie and Ben on their yard and helping with Halloween decorating
before heading to St. Joseph’s for a lovely memorial tea
celebrating the life of Karen Patton.
It was a beautiful day for this special event.
Sunday ended with a celebration of daughter Katie’s birthday and friend Lynne’s.
What better way than ordering lobster from Maine for lobster rolls! They did not disappoint.
I think Katie had a pretty special day.
Lynne really liked her gift I found in Texas. Clay and I ate at the kids table–lol!
It felt good to have a series of activities this week. In between, I did find some time for gardening and a few projects around the house.
This Saturday is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazettes Health & Wellness Expo at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock from 9 – 2. I will be talking gardening from 12 – 1. It is a free event, so come join me.