homesick

Would you like to sit for a bit? Or maybe take a virtual walk and see a little of what my family experienced this past weekend. We visited a local garden that has reopened after closing fifty years ago. Apparently there was a freakish snow storm that killed off much of the privately owned garden, the owner was distraught and overwhelmed and shut the doors. They have recently opened. This is Shangri La in Orange, TX. It is beautiful. It reminds me of Florida, which is home in my heart-of-hearts.

The weather was perfect, the children behaved, the conversation was nice. It could not have been better.
It also made me so homesick to return to Florida. I am pretty flexible when it comes to relocations and we have moved a fair bit, but both my husband and myself think of Florida as home. We have bought two homes there, one small & sweet after graduating from college, and a very pretty "family" home. When purchasing this last house I thought it would be our home for a while. It was ours for less than three years. We sold it to move here, but it was the house we brought our baby girls home to, there were egg hunts, Thanksgiving gatherings, birthday parties, football gatherings, sidewalk chalk art, dinners with friends, stoller walks through the neighborhood, which were replaced by walks with the wagon and eventually tricycle races, gardens, great neighbors. It remains very special to me.

So, to visit this garden and be reminded of so many things from home, well, the garden touched a soft spot. It was a perfect day. I loved it & I love thinking back on it. The sewing ceased for a few days, today is my mom's last day here before she returns to Florida. I think we will sit and sew a bit during nap time this afternoon. Seems like a nice way to wrap up her visit. I hope to be able to post a few photos of our handi-work soon.