a fun Friday the 13th

Working over 80 hours within 8 days has me a bit blurry and bleary, but I'm on holiday now, with two of my favorite eighty-three-year-old women. They're both sharp as the proverbial tacks and Jane likes to drive, so I got to curl up on the back seat of her car and sleepily listen to them discuss everything from Nashville-based characters in Ann Patchett books to meetings of the Native Plant Society.

During lunch (at the Ocoee Dam Deli & Diner), the recurring conversational threads about nature and hiking led Nancy into reminiscing about being a young wife in Poughkeepsie, and how she spent many afternoons with another faculty wife who was an artist and writer named Jean. Jean's brothers were prominent naturalists and she was married to a zoologist; Nancy did not grow up as an outdoors person, but she ended up learning a lot about plants and animals in the course of walks with Jean, who was in the process of teaching her toddler about such things. By the time Nancy mentioned about the owl in the living room, I'd realized she was talking about Jean Craighead George.

We reached Highlands in time for a terrific chamber music concert, followed by dinner at Wolfgang's with Nancy's children Kate and William (longtime performers at the festival). The conversation ranged from heirloom boxwood cuttings to seashell lamps and senior party girls. And orchids: I learned that for an orchid to be considered for the Bascom Flower Show, it must have been in the gardener's possession for at least five years. (One of Kate's friends has two orchids on display in the show; I'm hoping to see them for myself later today...)