Tuesday, August 30, 2011

When Old Friends Stop By. . .

Entertainments, adventures, and diversions aren’t necessary. If all you do is sit at the kitchen table, drink a cup of coffee together, and do a lot of talking, catching up, and sharing of your thoughts and lives, it’s a special time. (I didn’t even have a coffee treat to offer them, and they didn’t even mind!)

The flower was at least 8” in diameter.
I'm not trying to pretend my little camera can shoot great flower close-ups
on "auto" mode. I'm just giving you an idea of what the flower looks like!

I answered the ringing door bell to Laurie holding this giant-petaled red flower: “I have no idea what this is, and I have no idea if it will live if you put it in water, but I had to bring it because it is so cool. I wanted you to see it.” It is cool. The middle glows neon green. The flower survived brightly through the day, but when dark came, the flower withered.

(Later--Just got an email from Laurie. She says it's a hibiscus flower. Her son grows tropical flowers, and she got it from his yard. She said, "It dies every winter and takes all summer to get its leaves then makes dozens of these plate size flowers at the end of summer into fall that only last about 2 days each...so cool...")

 
They left me a little pile of vegetables: patty pan squash, zucchini, tomatoes—the makings of a tasty dinner (stuffed patty pan squash)! And they gave me three nice peaches. I love peaches. Peaches = summer and happiness.

 
When it came time to leave, Laurie walked over to the typewriter and said, “Am I supposed to sign this?” (Of course!) And it was quite entertaining hearing her tap out her message: “Uh-oh. I jammed the keys!” Tap-tap-tap. “Oh, no.  I did it again!” Tap-tap-tap. “Oops.” Tap-tap-tap. “How am I supposed to make this thing go back?!” Tap-tap-tap. “Oops!”

Aaron and I loved visiting with you, Dave and Laurie!
Come back soon!

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.
~John Leonard

4 comments:

  1. The flower looks like a hibiscus to me. Sounds like you had a nice time with Dave and Laurie. I like the typewriter note. :)
    -Aimee

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  2. Our (my) life has been so enriched by Laurie and Dave. Laurie is my inspiration for housekeeping/heart of a home living. Thanks for sharing your special visit with the blog world- I miss our old visits with them!
    Sarah A.

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  3. Thanks, Aimee! You commented just as I added Laurie's words to my post. I like the note, too! :-) Kiss my sweet granddaughter for me. xo

    Sarah, I actually thought of you yesterday! You and me both--Laurie is an inspiration and a mentor to me. I'm *sure* you really miss them. Dave and Laurie are amazing people. Someday, we'll *all* visit together!

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  4. Susan, I was going to tell you it looked like a hibiscus, but you already found out. They grew all over the place when I lived in South Texas.I love the color of yours.--I love your final quotation, "It takes a long time to grow an old friend." Just copied that down.

    Sarah, your comment made me want to meet the amazing Dave and Laurie too!:D

    Judi

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