The people behind the blogs

June 03, 2009


Layanee of Ledge and Gardens enjoying a glass of wine on Mr. McGregor’s Daughter’s patio. Layanee kept me in stitches with her wry humor.
I’ve posted mainly about the gardens we saw at Chicago Spring Fling, but of course the real reason we all went was to meet the people behind the garden blogs. If you are curious too, here are a few fun pics of fellow Spring Flingers. I only wish I’d taken more images of all the wonderful people I met or reconnected with last weekend.

Kylee of Our Little Acre and her charming mom on the bus. They were always such fun to be around. And look at how they match—and it wasn’t even planned (or so they maintained). 😉

Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings, always so sweet, on the train. We met last year at Spring Fling Austin and again that summer when my mom and I visited her Red Dirt garden.

Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, whose energy never seemed to flag, showing us Southerners the late-blooming lilacs.

Redheads Mary Ann of Idaho Gardener and rock-star Carol of May Dreams Gardens. I met both of these funny ladies at Spring Fling Austin, and it was great to reconnect with them this year.

Layanee and Gail of Clay and Limestone enjoying the tour of Rick Bayless’s garden. I missed getting a photo of Fairegarden Frances, but I thought of her and Gail as the team from Tennessee because they’d traveled together. I met both Gail and Frances last year but hardly got to visit with them. This year we found time to chat and get to know each other. And now—yippee!—I’m looking forward to a visit from Gail sometime this fall.

Isn’t this bag a hoot? I so wish my photo of the owner, Leslie of Growing a Garden in Davis, had come out too, especially as she was such a good sport to pose with it. At any rate, it was wonderful to meet Leslie, who’d come all the way from California, making her and the young Gardenpunks, Katie and Chris, the first West Coasters to attend a Spring Fling.
You’ll find more people pics scattered throughout my other posts about Spring Fling.
P.S. I’d like to add that the people of Chicago are among the friendliest I’ve ever encountered. Fellow Austinite Diana and I are directionally challenged, and numerous times strangers stopped to ask if we needed directions, helped Diana lift her amazingly huge suitcase, and just offered friendly hellos and smiles. What a great town!
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

0 responses to “The people behind the blogs”

  1. Frances says:

    Hi Pam, great minds, as they say. I was just commenting on your post when your comment came through. Too bad you didn’t get my photo! HA Of course it was all about the people, if there was an official group shot, I missed it. Gail and I were hoping to win the prize for best couple, but the competition was way too stiff for us. 🙂
    Frances

  2. Gail says:

    Hi Pam, Here I am the other half of the Tennessee contingent! It’s good to see the faces of blogging friends, new and renewed! The gardens were stellar, but visiting whenever and wherever we could, seemed to be the order of the day…I am looking forward to my visit to my first favorite city, Austin! Chicago is, of course, my second favorite;) gail

  3. Robin says:

    Pam, thanks for helping me get acquainted with these bloggers. I couldn’t help but noticing that everyone was wearing a jacket in the pictures! Oh, so hard to imagine, a jacket at the end of May…

  4. Randy says:

    I know you all had such a wonderful time. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll show up somewhere. 🙂

  5. Robin says:

    Love seeing the smiling friendly faces of all of my favorite bloggers.

  6. janet says:

    Thanks Pam, it is good to see faces to go along with names or blogs. I know some are a bit guarded about using names and/ or pictures of themselves online. Great post.

  7. Thanks, it was fun to see all my blogging friends again. We are all smiling and having a great time!

  8. Town Mouse says:

    Thanks so much! Almost as much fun as being there!
    (Of course I was hoping the next fling would be West of the Rockies, but instead it’s…Buffalo. Oh well. Maybe in 2011)

  9. Layanee says:

    Pam: I will be posting people pictures in the last installment and I have a lovely one of you, Diana and Jean. I guess I should back off on the wine as my teeth seem a bit purple…oh well. Believe it or not, I have that bag as a kitchen magnet that my daughter gave me about four years ago and it still makes me LOL! Love the pictures of Kylee and Louise, Dee (what a sweetie) and the redheads…still waters run deep although MA is not too still! Great shots as always. Love ya!

  10. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    Love seeing the people photos. I too wish I had taken more of them.

  11. Your photos of people are as good as your photos of plants. Everyone looks great. I find it funny that you describe me as full of energy, as last year in Austin I was dragging myself around. I guess sleeping in my own bed makes all the difference. I missed Leslie’s bag – it’s awesome!

  12. Brenda Kula says:

    I love to meet fellow bloggers! Looks like you guys had a great time!
    Brenda

  13. Very fun to see the faces behind the names! And I WANT one of Leslie’s bags–that’s way too cool. 🙂

  14. Jean says:

    Funny how everyone looks so happy in all the pictures! Guess it was being in our element. 🙂

  15. Sue says:

    Oh, that looks like fun! And you got to tour Rick Bayless’s garden?? Wow. He is a rock star in our house. Did you get to try his restaurant?

  16. Katie says:

    Pam, it was a pleasure to finally meet you! I was kind of awestruck like I was in the presence of a celebrity for much of the weekend with so many garden bloggers milling about. After knowing folks online for a few years, it’s surreal to actually meet them.
    Not only were folks in Chicago friendly, the garden bloggers turned out to be my favorite people as well. Just as nice as they are online. 😀
    I wish I could have taken pictures of The Bean when it was empty. But having people around made it more fun.
    Ralph from LA to El Dorado says hello!

  17. eliz says:

    I love these shots of the gang, Pam. Well done!

  18. kerri says:

    What a treat to see the faces behind the blogs. Thanks for sharing these happy photos. Those are some great smiles 🙂 It all sounds like wonderful fun. Now I’m off to read more about your adventures….