Cold Climate Kathy comes to Austin
Annie, MSS, Kathy Purdy, and me during a morning tour of my garden. Many thanks to Kathy’s friend Cynthia for taking our group photos.
Blowing in from the northeast, Cold Climate came to Austin today. So how come the weather was so danged hot?!
Despite the heat and humidity, Kathy Purdy seemed cool and comfortable. Either she’d chilled sufficiently in upstate New York before traveling to Texas or she’s tough enough to stand both the cold and the heat. After meeting her, I’d say it’s likely the latter.
Kathy had come to town to visit her friend Cynthia (delightful blog lurker from the suburb of Round Rock) before heading to Oklahoma City for the Garden Writers Association symposium. They showed up this morning with an offering of the famous and decadent Round Rock donuts. MSS and Annie joined us, and we adjourned to the porch, getting to know each other and looking at Kathy’s photos of her kids and garden acreage (equally charming and numerous). Then we poked around my garden for a little while, and afterward we drove downtown to MSS’s house and got a tour of her garden.
At one point I thought how strange it was to be looking at gardens and talking plants with a group of women—two of whom were strangers to me until now—that I’d met online, for goodness sakes. But blogging about gardening had already brought us together in cyberspace and made us comfortable with one another. Meeting in person just added another dimension.
Fellow Austin bloggers Dawn (far right) and Diana (second from left) joined us for a very Austin lunch at Shady Grove. Lounging on the patio under an ancient pecan, cooled by humming electric fans, we shared some laughs and traded anecdotes. Ah, hanging out at Shady Grove with new friends—sweet!
This afternoon, while shooting these spider lilies, I reflected on Kathy’s visit. Out of the kaleidoscope of far-flung, disembodied garden-blogging buddies, I’d met Kathy in person . . .
. . . and she’d become real to me. Don’t we all enjoy the close-up?
Wow! What a concentration of garden-blogging genius.
Wish I could have been there too.
I wish you could have too. If you’re ever coming to Austin (you aren’t THAT far away), drop us a line. The Austin bloggers have met Amy Stewart and Kathy Purdy. We’re ready to meet you, Bill. —Pam
Sounds–and looks–like great fun! My goal is to meet as many of my fellow garden bloggers in person as possible. It was certainly a blast to meet the other ranters.
A fun goal. So when will you be coming to Austin? You can knock 11 garden bloggers off your list in one stroke. —Pam
Even in the shade it was pretty darned hot! By the time Kathy & Cynthia were up here at my house the temperature was pushing 99º.
The entire day was so much fun, Pam, and I too kept looking around at everyone’s faces, listening to everyone’s voices, assuring myself that it was real.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I wish I could have made it to your garden too, even if it was 99 degrees by then. I won’t miss it next time! —Pam
Sounds like fun! I would totally hang out with garden bloggers. One day soon I’ll probably meet Alex at twogardens and Michelle from Garden Porn because I think we’re all going to next month’s Cal Hort meeting.
Do you get to call Annie by her real name? She seems like a hip chick.
Yes, we do call Annie by her real name—or sometimes a combination of the two—but I doubted if anyone would know whom I was talking about if I didn’t call her Annie here. And yes, she is a hip chick. Naturally she ordered the Hippie Chick sandwich at Shady Grove.
I notice garden bloggers are meeting each other all over the place these days. Some post photos, and some don’t. Will you remain incognito when you, Alex, and Michelle meet? —Pam
Wow! It’s like looking at an all-star lineup cast for an upcoming movie. It’s awesome to finally see some pics of stars who I’ve held in high regard for some time. I’d have given my right leg just to have waited on your table and overheard any juicy blogging tidbits.
Cheers for sharing the pics Pam.
Ha—juicy blogging tidbits! Several of the Austin bloggers remained fairly anonymous for a while, but no longer. And Kathy Purdy and I already have photos of ourselves on our About pages. But it was fun to get several group shots. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos, Stuart. It is nice to put faces to blogging voices. —Pam
I can assure you that if I ever ended up in Austin I would make a point of trying to see as many of you as possible. I wish I could travel more but my lifestyle as a nurseryman prevents me from doing so. Never the less its good to see the connections being made in person.
Trey, you met another garden blogger not long ago, didn’t you? There are getting to be so many of us, I expect to read about many more blogger meetings. —Pam
What fun to meet up like that. And it’s nice to put a few more faces to some blogging voices. Annie’s and yours I already knew of course but it was nice to see the faces of the others too. Having said that, I’m still too shy to show mine. ;-p
But not too shy to show the under-gardener, I noticed. And a fine-looking fellow he is, too. 😉 I was shy at first, but then I got over it. Maybe you will too. —Pam
What a great day you all must have shared! The garden blogging community is such a supportive one and you all look so happy in the pictures. It is very interesting to put faces with heretofore faceless names and, what is Annie’s real name? Annie, do tell! Your lilies bloomed for the group!
I had a great time meeting Kathy and her friend Cynthia, and reconnecting with the Austin bloggers. I’ll leave it to Annie to divulge or keep secret her real name. A little mystery can be fun, right? —Pam
Thanks again for including me for lunch. It was lovely to meet Kathy, Diana & Cynthia for the first time and to see the rest of you again. What a beautiful group of ladies! (Must admit I prefer my group photo taken at Shady Grove because I cropped off my lower half). Heehee! 😉
I’m so glad you could join us, Dawn. I wish more of the Austin bloggers had been able to make it too, but they were either tied up with work or out of town. Alas, the real world does have its demands. —Pam
Hip chick! That remark from Chuck made my day. But rather than hip or hippie it’s “hip-py”.
My name is not a big secret – I’m another Kathy. When I started to blog I’d been using Annie in Austin for several years to make comments. Kathy Purdy and Kathy Jentz were very well known garden bloggers and staying Annie avoided another Kathy in the mix.
As a gardener named Pam you’ve had your own moments of confusion, haven’t you!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
[sometimes known as Kathy-Annie]
Sounds like you all had a great day. What Bill said, that’s a quite a concentration of garden bloggers. Perhaps a new record of six together at one time? Can anyone beat that? Maybe some day we should have a Garden Bloggers’ Convention, in real-time, and set a new record. Wouldn’t that be something?
Carol at May Dreams Gardens (still a name and a garden but no face because again, that profile picture of the lady mowing in the white dress is not really me!)
Oh, no, six is no record. The Austin bloggers topped that number with the first Ground Robin get-together last April, when eight of us toured each other’s gardens, swapped divisions, and yakked over wine and some great appetizers. We were accompanied that day by a Statesman photographer, who was taking photos for my soon-to-be-published article on the popularity of garden blogging in Austin. (The link to my article no longer works, so I’ll republish it in an upcoming post.) Click here for the photo of the eight Austin bloggers. From left to right: Dawn, Julie, Vive, R. Sorrell, Pam, MSS, Annie-Kathy, and Susan. Since then, Diana and Bonnie have joined us, and of course Tom Spencer is here as well. One day, I hope we can all get together.
I’ll throw down the gauntlet right now to see if another group of garden bloggers can beat that record. Actually, I’d be thrilled to see it happen—with photos for proof, of course. —Pam
What fun you all must have had–and what a good-looking group of girls you are in those photos! 🙂 I would love to meet some fellow bloggers. (And I actually may, soon.) But you can keep your 99 degrees… Kathy Purdy may very well be able to handle that with aplomb, but I would melt. Or be driven under the canopy of very shady trees.
I melt in those temperatures too. I hid in the shade in MSS’s garden, though she has less of it than she used to. And of course Shady Grove is very shady. —Pam
What a great photo of ‘all the girls”. Its nice to put the faces to the blogs.
I had a wonderful time visiting all three gardens. I don’t think of myself as someone who can take the heat, but it really didn’t seem as humid to me as when we have a 90+F day around here. And it has been unseasonably warm here in upstate NY, so there wasn’t as much of a temperature shock as there would have been in a “normal” year.
I think garden bloggers should start thinking about having regional meet-ups. Pick a location that’s a day trip for most bloggers in your state, and time it to coincide with a garden event that you can visit or do together–even shopping at a nursery together can be fun.
I knew you were tough. I’m glad the heat didn’t bother you though.
Regional meets for garden bloggers is a nice idea. We’ve been doing that in Austin already, but it would be nice to meet the north and east Texas bloggers too. West Texans might feel left out, though. It’s a looong way from here to El Paso. —Pam
What fun to meet Kathy and her friend, Cynthia. I enjoyed seeing the photo of the group.
Gosh, 99º sounds a bit too warm for me! Our weather has been beautiful. I sure would love to see it linger for a good while longer.
It was a lot of fun . . . and it was too warm for me too. Please send some cooler weather down Texas way. —Pam
Wow, what fun! And how cool to see these photos and bloggers from near and far meeting each other. I like it!
Quite a few Colorado gardeners have gotten into blogging lately. Maybe you will have a meet-and-greet one of these days. Wouldn’t that be fun? —Pam