It was a dark and stormy night...
Actually it was a dark and stormy late afternoon, disembarking from the coach, we ran to the front door of the mansion as lightning crackled and thunder boomed. The candlelight flickered as we entered the grand foyer. Haunted house, murder mystery setting? No, just all in a day's work of an intrepid garden blogger.
Garden2Blog has been exciting so far, just as much for the opportunity to go garden touring with P Allen Smith and two dozen garden bloggers, as for the weather. The first night we were evacuated to the ballroom while the winds whipped around the downtown hotel. Did anyone notice my pajamas under the leather jacket? I tried to accessorize with a quick scarf.
Tornadoes have killed 8 Arkansas residents this week. Weather warnings,sirens and such have punctuated the visit, making for a dicey trip out to Marlsgate Plantation today.
The dapper man in the pinstripe blazer apologized for the power outage and assured us that we could all seek shelter if necessary in the cellar of his 1840's home. Otherwise we were treated to icy peach Bellinis and delicious cookies. We were allowed to wander at will through the dim rooms filled with antiques, taxidermy and art. Cut glass in the form of punch bowls and chandeliers glimmered reflecting the flames of the tapers. Such hospitality, the kind only southerners offer.
The enormous red blobs parted on the radar like the Red Sea, two tornadoes turning away from our little group. We took a quick whirl through the boxwood gardens and back to the coach.
I'll be blogging about the other gardens soon, but somehow I know the trip to Marlsgate will stick in my mind long after I have forgotten those.
