When I was in my 20s, I imagined a glamorous career that took me to big cities and beautiful places. I wanted to experience the world via planes, trains and automobiles, rub elbows with famous people and dine at chic restaurants, clinking glasses with witty and interesting people.
That’s not exactly how it worked out. Oh, there is plenty of travel. But as you know, travel isn’t all that glamorous anymore.
Airports are among the most unhealthy places in the country, over-crowded by hurried and often distraught travelers, abysmal, heart-attack-inspiring food, mind-numbing delays and nowhere to sit. Big-city cabs are atrocities on wheels. They smell terrible and there is always a spring in the seat sticking up into my bum. More than once I have questioned my good judgment for getting into a car with one of these dangerous and dangerous-looking men.
A good hotel can be a small oasis of sanity, but it’s still a hotel. And you don’t get to pick your neighbors. How many amorous couples, giggling girls and drunken good-old-boys have I had to share a wall with? Yes, I am the kill-joy who knocks on the door at 2 a.m. and explains that she has to get up at 5:30 a.m. for work.
To travel, I must also leave the serenity and quiet of my country home. I have put the care of my little dogs and pet chickens and the watering of my fragile container plants in the hands of my husband and son. God only knows what devastation occurs while I’m gone and gets tidied up before I find out about it.
And while I’m enduring airline delays and munching on stale sandwiches with the other weary travelers, I always think about what I’m missing at home—tons of vegetables that should be picked, weeds plotting world domination, flowers blooming and fading. There are also the peaceful surroundings and views, such as this serendipitous view through the garden gate. (Don’t these two mourning doves look like they were sent from central casting and told to look like lovebirds?)
Mourning doves prettily perch on the garden bench. They kindly waited while I snapped their photo.
Although the travel isn’t easy, I will admit though that the people are worth the effort. For example, among other recent travels, I headed to Chicago for the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, where I had a fabulously good time rubbing elbows with some of the most interesting people I know–other garden bloggers.
“So where are all your fabulous photos from Spring Fling?” you ask.
Well, it seems that since I live in a rural area and don’t get to socialize all that much with other gardeners, I completely lost my head and forgot to take photos. Oh yes, I have a few photos from the Chicago Botanic Garden and a few other places, but not so many of my old and new gardening friends. So if you weren’t there yourself, head on over to the official Spring Fling website and see who was there.
Next year our Spring Fling will be in Buffalo, New York. Will someone please remind me to stop talking and take some photos?
Hi! I'm Robin Ripley author of Wisdom for Home Preservers, published by Taunton Press. I am also co-author of Grocery Gardening. Bumblebee is about my life in rural Maryland, my garden and my love of food, my little dogs and pet chickens. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for visiting!
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Oh, you poor thing! I’ve always known that I never wanted to travel for business (thank goodness) and I’ve become more of a homebody with each passing year.
I don’t know what happened, as I forgot to take photos Saturday evening at dinner and after dinner. I guess we were all too busy talking & laughing. If I go to Buffalo next year, I promise to remind you to take more photos of bloggers. If I remember.
Beautiful photo. Yes, those birds do look like they are following the script! This lovely spot would be hard to leave.
Robin, you were one of the most interesting people I met at Spring Fling! And yes – I did bring a camera and forgot to take pics myself.
Life at its funnest is often imperfect – but always memorable!
Happy Chicken Wishes for you,
Shawna
Oh how I can relate to your travel woes. So true, so true! But it sounds like from your lack of photos at CSF that you were more in the moment, and how bad can that be?
your gardens are lovely!
Gack! I feel the same way about travel now. After going all over the world, joyously enduring everything from the Turkish Revenge to grabby Japanese men on elevators, I now feel so much more happy pulling weeds at home.
Go figure.
Robin – I love this photo! I got tickled that so many people took the exact same shots and posted them on their blogs, anyway (myself included). Like that one zig-zag path at the Bayless garden. I think nearly every person on the tour has that picture!
I hate that we didn’t have more time to chat. It’s on my list of Spring Fling Regrets. I really wanted to ask you about things like running your business and how you stay so hot looking with all you’ve got going on (working, traveling, writing, the chickens…)
Glad your back for a while….Did the chickens run up to you when you went outside? I hardly have any decent people photos, too. There was so much to see and so much to say! It was great to chat with you over pizza! gail
Since everyone is talking about pics, I know several people who would love to see pics of your paps in the garden. Please feel free to bring them to Buffalo next spring. We have soft hearts for our pap friends!
Sometimes I think it is more important to make the memories than to take the photos!