The Daily Rave

[Tradd]

Crap! It is that hot in Chicago? we are coming tomorrow to the botanical gardens.

Yes. And horribly humid too.

[Tradd]

So glad my Global Entry application finally changed status to conditionally approved. Took FIVE months to get there. Got the email notification last night. Went online immediately to get an interview appt. I was able to snag one TOMORROW at the Rockford, IL airport. That’s about an hour from me. Nothing was available at O’Hare. I don’t have the days off available to go elsewhere so I got this one.

[iris lilies]

Yes. And horribly humid too.

Chicago weather wasn’t bad. It was downright lovely Saturday, and not bad at all yesterday.

The Chicago Botanical Gardens are wonderful AND they treated our Lily Society like Royalty. They gave us a big beautiful room for the show, they made available meeting room space of various sizes, their staff was at attention and running to get things we needed, and now it seems they will even store the local group’, tubes and bases for future shows. This is unprecedented!

and compared to what the Missouri botanical gardens in St. Louis does for our plant societies it is such a contrast. MO BOT pretty much discourages plant societies from public shows or much else from anymore. Well, they are not going to be in my will.

[Tradd]

Chicago weather wasn’t bad. It was downright lovely Saturday, and not bad at all yesterday.

The Chicago Botanical Gardens are wonderful AND they treated our Lily Society like Royalty. They gave us a big beautiful room for the show, they made available meeting room space of various sizes, their staff was at attention and running to get things we needed, and now it seems they will even store the local group’, tubes and bases for future shows. This is unprecedented!

and compared to what the Missouri botanical gardens in St. Louis does for our plant societies it is such a contrast. MO BOT pretty much discourages plant societies from public shows or much else from anymore. Well, they are not going to be in my will.

I remember being there years ago when a local group was doing a Bonsai show/display. I’d forgotten about it until you mentioned the local lily group.

[Tybee]

I used to meet my friend there when our kids were small and it was about half way in between us and we would let the kids run and we got to admire the plantings and get ideas.

[catherine]

I'm in a "I love my home" mood. DH refinished the floors in June. I am going to confess that I wound up getting new furniture for the living room--not just for aesthetics but because I felt so bad when DH and had company over and we sat in our big "thrones" and other people had to sit on hard kitchen chairs. I bought a one-armed loveseat that fits 3 small-medium people and a club chair for DH. We removed the rather large bistro table we used as an end table and also we removed and moved to my office the big imposing Governor Winthrop desk.

When I look around at the new floors and more welcoming living room, along with the cheery wallpaper and the stained glass window I bought on eBay, and the bright primary color palette and the natural elements of bamboo shades and the very few pieces of wall art and lamps that I brought from home that I love, I can honestly say, I love my home.

Now I have to work on my office because it's way too cluttered with furniture, but that won't take too much work. New paint job, removing furniture and books I don't need, reorganizing, and it will be done. And once it's done I will be working AT my great-aunt's desk rather than just using it as a big storage unit in a living space.

[iris lilies]

Catherine, that sounds so nice! I still like your wallpaper a lot but I would choose the pink version.

[catherine]

Catherine, that sounds so nice! I still like your wallpaper a lot but I would choose the pink version.

haha, I hate pink, so to each their own... (But the pink wallpaper is cute, too).

[catherine]

Oh, when I talk about my home-rave, I'm not even talking about my garden, which is doing very well this year. You will see there are vines climbing up the pergola.. those are lonicera (honeysuckle) that I just planted this year. There are a lot of buds on them and they'll probably bloom next week. You can also see in the background the milkweed, echinacea, and Shasta daisies (not in bloom yet). I also have some beautiful wild geraniums this year and some lavender Veronica my daughter gave me for Mother's Day. I also added an elderberry bush.

IMG_5131.jpg

[JaneV2.0]

Catherine, that sounds so nice! I still like your wallpaper a lot but I would choose the pink version.

I grew up with different coral/rose wallpapers in our living rooms, but unlike antique furniture and decorative glassware, it never got old for me.