New England Flower Show

After attending the New England Flower Show last year, I wasn’t impressed. I’ve been spoiled by the Philadelphia Flower Show (which is sort of like how the San Diego Zoo spoiled all zoos for me, and Disneyland spoiled most amusement parks).

But I went again this year, because six weeks mostly housebound with a broken ankle is just too much. It was warm and moist and mostly green. Several of the big exhibits were pretty, but no show-stoppers. The horticulture section was disappointing again. I should definitely enter next year. In the vendor area, the highlights were once again a few of the vendors and a couple of patrons! I did buy a few things–a passion flower vine and a gardenia (actually one stem instead of four or five cuttings!), as well as a new Red Lion amaryllis bulb. After years of being intrigued by the Hawaiin flower booth at every flower show I’ve ever attended, I bought plumeria cuttings. It is very exciting to have window space in my new apartment.

Sarah Mapps Douglass: Faithful Attender of Quaker Meeting: View from the Back Bench

By Margaret Hope Bacon. With a foreword by Vanessa Julye. It’s really good to have this story published. Bits of Sarah Mapps Douglass’s story have been told before, but this pamphlet places what Margaret Bacon has found about her life into the context of the times and of her family and friendships. It makes clear a shameful part of Quaker history.