God Bless Gardeners!!!

Today was turning out to be one doozie of a terrible, awful, no good day. I won't bother you with all the sorted details. I'll just hit the highlights. One thing after the other went wrong. From the sting of some unexpected criticism, some poor communication at work, to a fiasco with hair color (again!) and a stupid mistake on my part that was just too embarrassing for words, I was feeling pretty miserable. I realized that in the grand scheme of things none of this was any serious trauma. But the combination of it all, compounded by the fact that I had very little sleep the night before, left my emotions all clumped and cluttered.

As I drove toward my street feeling somewhat sorry for myself I noticed a yard sale sign (Boise has more yard sales in the summer than any place I've ever seen!) so I thought I'd stop by. I picked up a few things - a teapot, a table cloth, a dress I hope will fit my sister-in-law, a woven basket and a cool incense burner all for just five bucks. What a deal! But way better than my yard sale finds was the terrific conversation I had with the gardener who lived there. They had BEAUTIFUL hollyhocks growing out front, which of course I admired. The gentleman then gave me a tour of his back yard garden which was an amazing hodge podge of flowers and raspberry bushes. He had about eight different colors of hollyhocks and was generous enough to share a jar of seeds. How kind!

Now I have something to put where my noxious weed used to be. I'm hoping a variety of colors will come up.

I was most of the way home before I realized I had never even asked the man's name. But even though we were complete strangers, that brief time visiting among his flower beds and berry patches did so much to rejuvenate my spirit. Sharing a love of growing things was exactly the salve that my poor little battered spirit needed.
Thank you so much, Mr. Gardener. You were a much needed bright spot in my day.