Back from Philly

Made my annual trek to the Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday. Three packed buses organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension in Binghamton shuttled us safely to Philly and back, leaving at 7 AM and returning about 11:30 PM. The show was dazzling, themed Bella Italia (Beautiful Italy),dripping with a profusion of colors and teaming with flower admirers of all ages, mostly women, mostly older, like myself. It's impossible to see everything, but I ran around, snapping pictures, getting a feel for the overall displays, some of which were beyond my wildest imagination. I really liked the Botanical illustrations and pressed flower pictures and window boxes, and overblown, jaw dropping flower arrangements. I also enjoyed seeing the people admiring the displays, the older couples, pointing out every nuanced detail to each other, the small groups of Amish women traveling in tight little flocks,and friends, snapping each others' photos against gorgeous backdrops of flowers. I always enjoy going alone and setting my own pace, sometimes dashing around quickly to get an overall impression of the show and theme, sometimes limping along as my feet start hurting from wearing the wrong shoes. I spent a couple hours, resting my feet, listening to two flower arranging lectures in the afternoon.























When I returned to the show area to take one last look around before boarding the bus at six, I spotted Lisa, a fellow blogger and Flickr contact, zeroing in with her camera on the magnificent floral arrangement at the entrance. I'd seen her pictures on the web, (I discovered her when I searched for Philadelphia Flower show photos last year, and I've been a faithful reader of her great blog ever since). I thought it might be her, it kinda looked like her, she was toting a camera and wearing comfy looking boots (her trademark), but I wasn't positive. Hmmm. I knew she'd be going to the show, but thought she'd be going Wed instead of Tuesday. Finally, asked if she was Lisa; she was! We snapped photos, I was excited and nervous, so didn't do very well holding out the camera for a quick pic of both of us, but it made my day! She's just as genuine and warm as her blog, a very real, cool, talented person and inspiration. Sending out good wishes for her and Mark and extended friends and family.





My new camera batteries died shortly after that, so I just walked around again, absorbing the sights, smelling the heavy, damp, scent of flowers and picked out one more bouquet of inexpensive roses to add to the other two I had in my bag.