Can I leave again now that I’m home? It feels strange just having returned after being away for 2 1/2 weeks but I’m still spinning and exhausted—and yet here I am planning other trips. Spending that much time enjoying plants, plant people, and gardens was a refreshing reward of sorts.

I’m going to suggest that this has something to do with several things at the same time, but mostly, I’m simply feeling better. Seeing and doing as much as I can means everything to me right now.

When I tell people that I was ill for three decades, it’s difficult for them to understand. I took time away from this site to process the first wave of feelings after being given the new medication that’s seemingly making me so much more stable. It’s been a wonderful journey and I have 4 more months to go. I still pinch myself daily.

Travel preparations began just after my last post. I was working so hard that I just did not want to sit down to post anything. During the trip I waited, and waited, then travelled some more, and waited some more. Staying at peoples’ homes, I felt strange not spending time with them. Writing was out of the question.

I plan to catch up on the posts I missed during the coming weeks. I really wanted to have 52 posts this year.

The trip covered 3 states and I saw many places and visited lots of different plant people. In the coming posts I’ll cover as much as I can. It all began at the American Begonia Society Convention in Atlanta, then I travelled to Rock Hill, SC, just outside of Charlotte, NC, and finally, I was in Raleigh, NC. There is still so much yet to see over there for me, and I will see it. I said I wasn’t going back right away, but it’s likely I’ll be over there again next year.

Returning to work yesterday, I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel, or even what I would do. After being away, I dove straight into cleaning the place up. Funny how seeing lots of clean greenhouses can do that to a person. Mail-order has been a blessing and a curse during the last few years. While we’re selling a lot of plants, it means a lot of labor goes into the shipping and handling process.

What’s the longest plant trip you’ve ever dreamed up and done? This was by far my longest but it will not be my last.