So many people have met VPH in Buffalo that it seems silly not to use his real name now. Plus really observant readers will remember that I accidentally named him by showing the back page of the yearly calendar that said "A Gift From Heather and Lee." So yes, my Very Patient Husband (VPH) is known to the rest of the world as Lee. Saturday I tried to reward his patience by throwing a few items into our itinerary that would entertain him. Most of the more interesting shots I got seem to be from the non-gardening related portions of the day, like the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park:
And the oddest moment of the day...Lee shaking hands with Sen. Chuck Schumer at Taste of Buffalo...not the shaking of a politician's hand (we did both shake the mayor's hand on Friday), but the fact that Sen. Schumer was wearing Mardi Gras beads:
Don't worry, there were plenty of gardening photos taken, like this blooming opuntia cactaceae at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens:
I can't believe how much we've packed into 2.5 days and we even took Friday and Saturday afternoons off from the group to go our own way (like to Taste of Buffalo). I don't want to think about how tired the bloggers are who've gone to everything on the agenda!
It was lovely meeting you and Lee in Buffalo. You two are generous, witty and funny. If you have a contest, I'll come enter (snarf, snarf).
Truly, thanks for ferrying me around on my last day. I'm glad I got to partake of seeing those last few garden especially the one on Lancaster Street and seeing Jim's house.~~Dee
Posted by: Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings | July 12, 2010 at 09:54 AM
Wonder how he earned those beads? (haha... sorry, I couldn't resist!)
I'm so loving the flowering cactus and the pic of the Japanese garden. I can't wait to hear and see all of your other impressions of the Buffalo meetup! :)
Posted by: Blackswampgirl Kim | July 12, 2010 at 02:50 PM
Dee -- Aren't you sweet. Don't worry, I'll have a contest in the next few weeks just so you can enter! And thanks for being my buddy yesterday when Lee took the day off. I loved hanging out with you.
Kim -- I know, I kept thinking the same thing! I'm glad you're enjoying those photos as much as I did. I have a few posts spinning around in my head, but we just walked in the door at home after breakfasting in Buffalo, doing a wine tasting at 10am in Canada, seeing Niagara Falls (wow!), and driving 7.5 hours home. And I have a huge day at work tomorrow after 3 days off. So it might be a bit before I get to actually going through the hundreds of photos I took and cobbling together a few coherent sentences.
Posted by: Heather's Garden | July 12, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Heather, I kept trying to get a picture of that very opuntia flower and failed. Well done! I think it's funny that we both had to go so far away to finally meet - but I'm glad we did. See you again soon, I hope!
Posted by: kris at Blithewold | July 14, 2010 at 08:53 AM
Kris -- I took about 50 and got 2 that are okay, but still not what I envisioned in my mind. I confess I started debating a trip to Blithewold with Lee last night. We'll get there soon.
Posted by: Heather's Garden | July 14, 2010 at 05:23 PM
Heather, I am so glad I got to chat with you and Lee over dinner! The opuntia photo is splendid~The yellow flower against that blue marvelous! gail
Posted by: Gail | July 14, 2010 at 08:05 PM
Gail -- Likewise! We had fun at all the dinners, but that was a great table. I've finally got all my photos sorted and am writing up my post tonight.
Posted by: Heather's Garden | July 14, 2010 at 08:21 PM