A Garden Center, a Homeless Man and a Sunburn. Those 3 things do not sound like they go together, but they did for me on Friday.
Where to start…
This year, I told myself that I wasn’t going to buy any flowers. I would stick with the flowers that came back up from last year and the year before but in the end, I had a lot of empty flower pots sitting around and I couldn’t resist the lure of filling them!
One of the reasons I didn’t want to spend money on flowers this year is that I really want to finish my paver patio this year and I wanted to spend what I would have spent on flowers, on pavers.
As I mentioned in another post, once I’ve spent a certain amount of money on the gardens, my husband will say, “Ok, that’s all we can spend on the gardens for this year”.
BUT, all those empty flower pots were really bothering me.
Valley View Farms
So, on Friday, I visited Valley View Farms in Cockeysville, Md.
As garden centers go, it’s on the smaller side but the plants are very well tended, the staff is helpful and they usually have a good selection of healthy Milk Weed/Swamp Weed, which I always get for the Monarchs that visit our garden every year.
I got some really lovely plants and a couple beautiful flower pots while I was there. I’ll talk more about my visit to the garden center in another post.
A back story and a sunburn
A few years ago, my husband got me a great little VW GTI. I had wanted the GTI for a very long time and knew exactly what I wanted! When we went to the car showrooms, I had a list of what I wanted and would not settle for less.
My husband had thought that once we got there, I would take whatever they had but he should have known better than that! I had already waited years, I was prepared to wait longer. Luckily, they had what I wanted but it was out of state, so I only waited about a week longer.
I really love that GTI! It’s so much fun to drive!
Unfortunately, not long into having it, my mother started to need a wheelchair more and more and I just couldn’t get a wheelchair in and out of the GTI on top of all the other stuff I need to carry for her.
In the meantime, my husband’s prized Mini Cooper was on it’s last legs and needed to be replaced but my sweet, sweet husband, instead of going out and getting the car of his choice for himself, researched SUVs long and hard and then surprised me with a practically brand new SUV. It has all the bells and whistles and is very easy to transport my mother, her wheelchair, etc in.
I had a great deal of trouble giving up my GTI though, so my dear long suffering husband, has taken over the GTI so, that I didn’t have to completely let it go and I can still drive it if I want to.
All this was to say that this is my first summer with my new SUV. It was GREAT for transporting the load of plants and flower pots from the garden center but unbeknownst to me, due to the placement of the sun roof, I developed a severe sunburn on my right arm, shoulder and neck!
I mean, this is SEVERE! Like, Florida Beach, red as a lobster, BAD! And all just while driving to and from the garden center, which was a 40 – 60 minute drive, each way.
I was shocked to get home and realize that I was so burnt!
The GTI has a sunroof and I drove it for two summers with no Sunburn, so, just WOW!
After leaving the garden center, I was so hot that I stopped for a Frappuccino.
As I was waiting for a light to change, so I could head back to the highway, I saw a little old man sitting on the side of the road with a cardboard sign.
A Homeless Man
The man is very old, short, stooped over and has a limp. He’s thin, has a very wrinkled face and he’s wearing a baseball hat.
The first thing I think is that he reminds me of my father. (My father passed away about 12 years ago. I miss him extremely, everyday.)
In fact, this could be a description of my father. He was a tiny little man. He barely came to my shoulder and I’m 5′ 6″.
Then I hear my husband in my mind saying, “If we can’t eat it, don’t buy it”. It’s one of his favorite sayings. Lol
And then I feel guilty… It is 100 degrees out, the sun is beating down on this little old man and I’m sitting here in my new SUV, with the air conditioning blowing, my frappuccino, a cooler bag full of water and a car-boot full of flowers!
I know, my situation has nothing to do with his. I don’t know why he’s homeless or even if he really is, but on a 100 degree day, it’s not likely that he’s sitting there for the fun of it.
So, I did the only thing I could do.
I don’t usually carry cash but I rooted around in my hand bag anyway and came up with $7.00. I gave him this and offered him a bottle of water. He thanked me multiple times and I watched in the rear view mirror as he hobbled away.