The Family Tree Grows

This past weekend Mimi and I did something I thought we would never do. We raced to the Jackson International Airport to catch a flight to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 4th of July. After watching the news lately we have both commented that we really don’t want to get mixed up in the airport scene any time soon. It seems like for the last few months there has been something crazy happening with flights about once a week. Jets are bumping into each other on the runways, jets are crashing into helicopters or some body is getting sucked up into an engine, or, even milder, bad weather causing delays. It looks bad until we found ourselves in need of a flight.

Everything went smoothly through Atlanta and on to Philly, it really wasn’t extra crowded as we thought it might be on the 4th, we moved early and I think that helps. When we got our rental car we headed into the city towards Reinhard Park where people were shuffling around, laying around catching some sun and generally enjoying their day off and getting ready for fireworks later that night. We found a cool spot to have a late lunch in an old building (lots of those in Philly) with sidewalk dining so we could soak up the scene.

We had a few reasons to be in Philly. My sisters and their spouses were already there visiting the many gardens that this area has to offer. They have been there before and can’t get enough, you really can’t see all the gardens in one trip, so they keep going back. We met up with them and Ginny’s son and his wife and 2 little kids that night at a seafood restaurant. We went from there to Delaware where we had an Airbnb big enough for all of us. We were there to see the gardens also but our main reason to be there was that we planned to spend most of our time visiting with our new side of the family. Mias fiancé is from there and his entire family still lives there.

We met Cody’s family at Easter when we all converged into Greenville, South Carolina where Mia and Cody will get married on October 18th. We hit it off so well we decided to take them up on their offer to show us their scene. On the second day there, we got ourselves to Longwood Gardens as early as they would let us in. Cody's mom and dad and sister would meet us there later in the day so we could stay into the evening to catch the light and fountain show. We knew that my brother and his wife and dog were going to meet us in the gardens that afternoon also so we wanted to get in as much plant nerd stuff before all of that happened.

Chip and Susan make an annual trip to Maine to cool off for a month. This year they coincidentally decided to pass through Philly on the 4th. The whole gang was there and we had a blast! Longwood is a couple thousand acres, some intensely landscaped, some parts in the form of huge meadows and grasslands. We are interested in any kind of styles that we could garner new ideas from. We rambled towards the topiary gardens first to see the shaped shrubs and trees that had been there since the DuPont family bought the property to conserve the land and the trees as best they could. The DuPonts are famous for their being a part of the same DuPont chemical company that is still around today.

They were all into big gardening, there are several other gardens in the area that were started by other DuPonts. We bumped into Karen and Maur and Ginny and Mark in the topiary gardens and we stuck with them for the rest of the time. They had been there before and were willing to show us around, they were like kids in a candy store! They led the way to several places that they knew we would love and saved us a lot of time getting our bearings straight. It was truly hard to keep moving, there is so much to see in every direction. I loved the areas with bedding plants that each area, acres large, had a color theme. We would be in an area where all the plants blooms were blue and as we moved slowly forward we would find ourselves surrounded by everything white slowly transition to all yellow then red then orange, it was really cool.

We took pictures of new varieties of plants that we already grow and of plants that we have never seen before. We were sending pictures back to our grower as fast as we could until he cried “uncle” and shut me down by saying that we were going to have cough up the bucks for some more greenhouses. No more pictures for him after that.

It was about then that our new family showed up, John and Linda and her mother, Pat and Cody's sister, Lilly who works at Longwood as an EMT knew their way around since they live about 10 minutes away they had visited often. Chip and Susan and Rattler the “service dog” showed up at about that same time so we had the whole gang together now. The pace slowed considerably so we could walk and talk. Everyone had different interests and we began to fan out some, it didn’t matter since we knew we would convene near the fountains for the light show that evening. John and I hit it off big time the first time we met at Easter. Mimi and Linda had the same experience so were having fun spending time together.

One of the many things that John is good at is woodworking which is what Chip does so you can imagine how those two hit it off. John is also a fireman as is his father and as was his grandfather and Lilly and John’s brother is in the fire world as well. That is a fascinating world that I’ve never had a chance to peek into so I was mesmerized by the stories. We got to where we were covering no ground at all once we all got to chatting. We walked through the conservatory where there were rooms with just orchids, rooms with 150 year old bougainvilleas, just aquatic plants, Bonsais, tropicals and on and on. I saw a lot but Mimi and I plan to go back when we can spend more time focusing.

That night all of that gang met at a great Italian restaurant somewhere in little Italy. I let John guide me since he knows more about eating Italian than I do, he guided me right into a great meal that had a little bit of everything on the menu. We all left with go boxes that night after having a great time getting to know each other. The next day we headed over to John and Linda’s where they had family and extended family over for a party. They live in a wonderful neighborhood in a great house with a pool so the little kids had a place to splash around. Some of us went to the fire station with John and Lilly to try to get a perspective to the world of fires and rescue and saving people which is something this family has been into for generations. The fire station was super nice with 3 fire trucks, 2 other emergencies vehicles and all the equipment that the guys and gals have to wear and use to protect themselves with. I knew that stuff looked heavy but I had no idea how heavy everything is. They let me put on a fireman’s hat and the fire retardant uniform, let me tell you, its a hardy person that works under those conditions. The helmet itself was more than I can imagine wearing for any length of time especially when you are hurrying during an emergency.

Back at the house the crowd was ever growing with our people and their people. More and more “Philly” food was showing up, they had prepared everything in advance and were ready to show us how it is done family style! At some point later in the day I noticed that John and Lilly and John’s dad were getting some calls about an apartment fire, they were looking at each other and I asked if they need to head towards the fire, I guess I secretly wanted to go on a fire call. They said it was covered and they wouldn’t ned to oversee this one, John being the fire chief had apparently done an excellent job of training his people and he was confident that they could handle it. 10 minutes later another call came through, this time John said that there was an accident with injuries so Lilly told me to don’t walk but run to the emergency vehicle in the driveway. John and I headed to the fire station with our sirens and lights going.

We jumped into a full size fire truck, me with a fireman’s helmet on, pulling the line that makes the sirens and horns blare, cars were parting to let us through and th whole bit. His guys had reached the accident before we got there and had everything under control. The wrecked vehicles had to be removed and we were done. His crew was super efficient and capable with no troubles or injuries. We all met back at the fire station where they were putting their gear away and beginning to cool down. John and I took the long way back so we could drive that fire truck around some more and we passed back by his house where all of our people were partying. I got to run the sirens for people at the gathering, I basically turned into an 8 year old for a little while there. I have a great respect now for anyone who gives the way the people in the rescue business gives. They risk their lives to save others, it’s a different breed of people and my hats are off to them.

Back at the house the lunch food had mysteriously disappeared and dinner food was out. Linda had obviously held some big shindigs before for their gigantic family and made it look easy. She was so calm and generous with all of us there, she made us all feel like a real part of their family, it felt like home. As we were leaving her home she laid some containers and bags of food on us so we wouldn’t have to go out for lunch or dinner the next day. It was just perfectly done and we all had so much fun being with them and learning their culture, one of my favorite things to do.

The next morning Mimi and I beelined it to another part of Pennsylvania to one of the companies that sells us much of our pottery at Garden Works. We have been buying from Campania for about 30 years and they graciously had us in for a tour of their facilities and had a nice lunch with us. Coincidently there was a friend of ours with 3 locations in Birmingham doing the same thing we were doing. We made a big order while we were there and expect that container to come in around November. We got back into Philly around 4 that afternoon and met John and Linda for a tour of the historical sites. We also made time to talk wedding business. Mimi and Linda have very similar tastes and likes and wishes for Mia and Cody's wedding looks like we will be going to that wedding in a truck and trailer. We have a plan together and we will see each other in Greenville in October to tie up any loose ends up that those two might need from us.

We feel so fortunate to have met this family that will now forever be a part of our family. I have never seen so many people get along so quickly and so well it’s like this match is meant to be. We are excited about becoming one with these families and we have new buddies up there anytime we feel the need to see some more of Longwood I know we will be able to spend some time with this wonderful family. We can’t wait for them to come experience the south with us. We have plenty to show them in the Northside but I do believe that New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta will be a part of their southern experience. It easy to show new comers the south with our different kind of history and flavors. I hope that day comes soon.