Planning, meeting and dedication
I have to play catch up. I have been so busy I haven’t had a time to blog! We are down to the wire for the state MG conference, and Monday Julie and I went to Monticello to deliver the registration information and to have our final meeting until we do the walk through with volunteers on May 7. We had a lot to cover so were a bit late leaving. But that didn’t deter us from stopping in at nurseries and plant outlets on the way back, or from buying more plants. I have to make time this weekend to plant before I leave for Natchez on Monday! One stop was selling wild blackberries (dewberries). I have never seen them for sale, but also can’t believe they are ripe in April.
While in Monticello, we were amazed at how many impatiens, gardenias, daylilies and other flowering plants were already blooming, while all the spring bloomers are basically done. I have also dressed wrong every day so far this week. Monday, even in Monticello it was pretty darn nippy, and I was cool, so Tuesday, I dressed warmer and burned up, then today it was cool and cloudy in the morning, but heated up by afternoon! I was told that NW Arkansas had a light frost in the mountains on Tuesday. Very unusual weather!
Tuesday was our quarterly meeting of County 76 (our MG Advisory Group), and we had excellent participation and got a lot accomplished. Our goal was to end early so we could make it to the Pulaski County Greenhouse dedication that afternoon. Pulaski County has had a greenhouse, courtesy of the State Hospital for many years. They grow many of their plants for their MG projects, plus the azaleas for Arkansas Flower & Garden Show and also for their plant sales. With a generous gift from the Stella Boyle Smith Foundation in honor of longtime MG Maxine Hamilton, plus fund raising efforts, they were able to build an additional greenhouse on the state hospital grounds. They also refurbished the old one. In addition to greenhouse space, they also have a nice holding yard with great benches to house plants. They have another plant sale this weekend.
In addition to all these activities, I wrote columns, got the final program finished for the state conference, emailed all the speakers to confirm their locations and times, and sent the letter to the convention center to email to attendees. If you are registered for the state conference, you should be receiving something in the next day or two. I also got the information together for our April e-newsletter for the 2013 IMGC. Remember we go live May 7 for cruise reservations. Today was also Administrative Assistants Day so I treated our secretaries to lunch. I couldn’t do my job without them! As you can see, we are busy, busy, busy. Tomorrow I will be in Hot Springs taping tv, and then in Arkadelphia tomorrow night for a container gardening workshop.
A whole slew of us leave Monday or Tuesday for Natchez, MS for the Southern Region MG conference. My work car also hit the 100,000 mile marker. Whew!
