Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2003. I almost forgot about moments like this until I saw this picture. Peter captured Mattie and I dancing together in the kitchen! As you can see Mattie enjoyed these dancing times a lot and it brought a big smile to his face and laughter. I absolutely loved his smile, because when Mattie smiled his eyes seemed to glimmer!


Quote of the day: She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts. ~ George Eliot

Peter, Karen, and I went to the Washington, DC Home and Garden Show today. It was held at the Dulles Expo Center. I can count on one hand how many times I have visited this expo center. The last time we were there Mattie was with us. We took him to a train show years ago and as Peter reminded me today, Mattie came home from that show NOT with a toy train, but with a big toy truck! Mattie was fixated on that truck throughout the show because it was big, opened up, and had mechanical parts. Peter and I tried not to give into toy demands when Mattie wanted them, because at the time we wanted him to understand that the world was bigger than what he wanted. Nonetheless, in retrospect, I am happy he got what he wanted that day.

While touring around the expo center, I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder. So I turned around, and I immediately recognized the face. It was Mike, one of the managers from Mattie's favorite restaurant. Mike knew Mattie when he was just a preschooler, and then of course helped us with Mattie when he had cancer. Mattie was always welcomed into his favorite restaurant no matter how he was feeling or looking. I will never forget this type of kindness, because I found it heart breaking at times going out with Mattie, since people would be staring at us. As if we had done something wrong to cause this horror, or even worse, that Mattie was abnormal and deserved a lot of space and separation from the rest of society. We met Mike's wife today and son, and we both laughed how we seem to travel in the same circles.

Despite there being crowds at the Expo center, it was very manageable. The crowd was calm and well behaved for the most part. What interested me about the show was the gardens. I was hoping for two things, the first of course was to see greenery and the second was to be inspired by the arrangement and types of plants. Some of the displays were lovely, but for the most part, the show was not what I was expecting. I did not feel like I left with any new ideas for gardening.

I snapped several pictures today, and what I liked about this garden was that the fountain was the centerpiece. In a way it reminds me of Mattie's fountains and how they are integral parts of our garden.

Tulips seem to signal spring to me. These beautiful red tulips seemed SO perfect, that I saw several people go up to them and touch them to verify that they were real. Indeed they were!

This may have been one of my favorite sights at the show. The rich and beautiful purple hyacinths just caught my attention and their fragrance stopped me in my tracks. It was the smell of spring!

The composition of color caught my eye and as you look at this picture it may seem like no one else was around me. That I was at a tranquil park. But there were people everywhere!

I snapped this picture on the way out of the show. The bench in the background of this picture just seemed like the perfect place to sit, relax, read a book, and to try to find peace.


We spent the rest of the day at home and we tuned into cooking shows and had a grand old time watching the show "chopped" and the "cupcake wars." After watching the cupcake wars, I concluded that there were indeed some cupcakes in the world that even I wouldn't eat! Karen heads back home tomorrow afternoon, but we have certainly tried to pack in several things while she was visiting this week.