Fayetteville and MG training, then Supper Club

Yesterday Julie and I met at the storage building we rent for the MG program to load up the myriad of signs we use for each state MG conference. I was going to drop them off in Fort Smith on my way up to Fayetteville.  We really didn’t give any consideration to the fact that their might be any ice or snow to contend with, but we were wrong. At first we both parked on one side where the ice seemed to have melted, but I realized we would have to cross the icy mess to get the stuff in our cars so I moved to the other side.  I opened my door to a sheet of black ice.   I backed up my car enough to find enough footing to get in and out plus load the car. Julie was on the other side and when she opened her door, she dropped her car key. To get to it she had to sit down and scoot to get it without falling.     It was so slick!  She moved her car where we had enough leverage to move signs into my car.   It was pretty slick  everywhere else.    The next row over was even worse than ours, but we made it and got everything into our car. I was glad I was not renting a unit and had to move that week!

I made it to Fort Smith and dropped off all the signs and picked up things they had for me before heading to Fayetteville.

This morning we had a great class for the Washington County MG program.  They are rotating their classes each week to different MG projects. This week was the Shiloh Museum.   They have a very nice meeting facility and we had a really nice class.  As always, the hosting group went above and beyond to make the new class feel welcome with loads of food and door prizes.  Lot’s of good questions as well.    As I was teaching houseplants, I mentioned aloe vera.  I said it was a cactus, and one new trainee said isn’t it a succulent. I was not positive, but said I would check. She was correct. Aloe vero is a succulenet and surprisingly enough to me, is a member of the lily family.  There are over 350 different species of aloe vera.  When we were in New Zealand we found many interesting forms that were hardy there.  

It was a nice drive back home.  The temperatures really warmed up today and tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 60’s!

Everyone is talking about the winter weather and the effect on plants.  Their dianthus looks a bit burned but will rebound.    Some spring bulbs had sprouted and showed some damage, but the bulbs are not showing flower spikes yet, so should be ok.   Let’s not be too quick to assume extreme damage. There isn’t anything you can to change things, so let’s wait and see what spring brings.

Tonight was our monthly supper club dinner party. This month was at the Feild’s and as they had recently been to Williamsburg, we had a colonial theme.   Special accouterments were included–and we tried to be serious but it was hard!   We had a great meal and of course, great fellowship as well.  Fun times.