I must admit, the blog post “Stamp and Address the Envelope” did not have colorful, inspiring pictures.  I must do better.  I claim to like to take pictures, yet my first post contained images I clipped off the internet; shame on me.  This post will be different.

I thought that once in a while I would write a post that gives you a little insight into me, “Yours Truly”. Here’s the first one.

In addition to coming from a long line of letter writers, (my dad, my grandmother), I also come from a long line of gardeners.  Unlike only having recently discovered what passionate letter writers my dad and grandmother were, I have known for a long time that I have a slew of green thumbs in my past, and am expected to continue this “green thumb gene” forward.  Luckily, I do enjoy gardening; flower gardening that is.  I will continue to purchase my vegetables at one of the many markets that have an unending supply of fresh veggies.  

My grandmother and grandfather (on my mother’s side) had the most beautiful flower and vegetable gardens  imaginable.  Some of my first memories are of the roses (and the bees) and the tall asparagus ferns.  Flash forward to my parents, and I remember things such as getting a load of Arabian horse manure from the ranch across the street (because it is really good fertilizer – never mind the smell), my dad pouring over seed catalogs, looking at previous year’s notes, and diagramming out the current year’s garden (I still get seed catalogs in the mail every spring and can’t help but think of him looking for the newest variety of tomatoes to try), and my mom spending back-breaking hours weeding her flower gardens.

Here’s a funny side note:  At least 15 years after my mom had passed away I was at my dad’s, weeding the same flower garden she always did.  I would toss the weeds off to the side, in the grass.  Turns out that’s what my mom did.  My Dad came over and complained that I was just like her; “See all of the weeds growing in the grass around the flower garden? That’s because your Mom did the same thing”.  We really do become our mothers!

All of the pictures in this post are of flowers in my flower gardens. Pictures that I took, I might add.  In all honesty, they were taken a few years back.  We have undergone some renovations around our home (that’s a story for another day) and the flowers are still recovering.  I’m hoping this year will be a good one.

A final thought. . . I wonder if I have successfully passed on the green thumb gene to either of my kids.  I have pictures of my daughter planting flowers with my mom, and pictures of my son planting beans with my dad, so maybe.  And they both liked to pick dandelions.  I might have to try a little harder.  I know I haven’t done very well with passing on the importance of letter writing.  Maybe they will read my blog and understand.