A Change of Pace and Place

 On Wednesday Tom emptied out his greenhouse and his nursery and loaded up the van. 

My sister Laurie joined a garden club when she and her husband Arnie moved to the Winlock, WA area some years back. The garden club puts on a plant sale to raise money for a scholarship for a local high school student. Laurie had asked Tom if he could raise some plants for the sale. He did, and then some!

Laurie is a country girl. Recently, about six months after Arnie died,  she moved into a smaller place in the town of Chehalis. These are small towns surrounded by lots of open country side, and I was looking forward to a day in the country. There seemed to be a blessing in the sky as we drove south  on the freeway Thursday morning. 

We met up with Laurie at her home and then took the back roads to Winlock to deliver the plants and help set up.

We had lunch at a little country restaurant that Laurie and her family love. 

Just like we know every plant nursery in the greater Seattle area, Laurie knows every nursery in her surrounds, and of course, we had to visit one. The drive through the country side and along the Cowlitz river was beautiful.  Here we are at the Castle Rock Nursery. 

I was especially taken by the abundance of wonderful petunias. 

I didn't buy any petunias because they don't do well on our yard, but we did buy a few other plants. I like supporting small, independent, local businesses. 

We looked for another nursery, but it wasn't open, but again, the driving around was fun.

Then we headed back to Laurie's house to visit, have a salad supper, and talk some more.

It was close to 10:00 when we made it back home, but it was a very good day.