In the middle of the night

I learned several important things tonight.

First of all, I learned that if you try to take photos of Hosta at 10:00 p.m. in the dark with only a flood light shining, every moth in the neighborhood will dive bomb your head.

Secondly, I learned that when you least expect it, an angel will step forward and deliver big fat juicy clumps of Hosta at the last minute. These luscious clumps just arrived and will spend the night in our breezeway.

We are under severe flood warnings for tomorrow. 2 to 3 inches of rain plus more in many areas are expected along with strong winds. There's even a special warning to expect basement flooding. I just finished moving as many pots as possible under some kind of shelter. Tomorrow is the last day for me to prep everything for our big plant sale on Saturday. I have my husbands white water rafting outfit (slicker and matching pants) waiting for me to wear. Still, for the first time ever I might be potting in the garage.

The last lesson I learned tonight was a tough one. I had to run to the school to speak to the band parents about the sale and give some instructions. I was running late and ended up not cleaning my nails nor even remembering to change out of my muck shoes. The meeting was half over when I got there.

I talked about the plant sale. A parent asked if it was ok if her son worked the afternoon shift instead of the morning shift. I didn't understand what difference it would make and then realized she was concerned if her child worked in the afternoon and we sold out by 11:30 that he would not get credited at all. I assured her that no matter what time we sell out, children that arrive for the afternoon shift would get full credit just as the morning shift students.

My phone just rang, quite late for here. It was a friend who was at the meeting and she told me that the whole time I was speaking there were several parents snickering and saying "she actually thinks she's going to sell out...she'll be lucky to sell half that stuff".

I'm heartsick...

but I'm also a gardener and I'm one of the most optimistic people I know. My mind is still whirling trying to come up with other plants I could dig at the last minute. My mantra is, "it's for the kids".

It can be dark in the middle of the night.