Four X Four: A Warm Memory in the Cold of Winter

Brave Sir Robin issued a general tag order on this meme, and I am obliging.

Here are the rules:

Go to the file that holds your pictures, go to the fourth folder and pick the fourth picture and display and write about it.

I was a little concerned at first. I don't post identifiable photos of myself or the people in my life, and the odds were excellent that the prescribed photo would be of people. It wasn't, at least not of people we know:



(Photo not taken by me, although I am sometimes guilty of less-than-perfect shots.)

The occasion was a very happy day last summer. Daughter, her children, and I were in northeastern Maryland visiting the family, something I've not been able to do much of over the past, oh, 25 years. So, yes, happy time. I told everyone that I'd like to go to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, and who's with me? Frankly, I didn't expect much reaction, but in the end, in addition to Daughter and her two tikes, my mother, two sisters, and two nieces made the trip. (This, folks, is only about a fifth of the sibling and niece/nephew inventory.)

Longwood Gardens is the most beautiful place I've ever been that's crafted by man. If there's a lovelier place, I'd like to see it. The "4th folder, 4th photo" picture doesn't really offer that beauty, though. This was part of a special exhibit of treehouses. Here are examples of some of the beauty at Longwood:


Several groups of Amish folk were also enjoying the gardens that day. One of my neighbors here in Florida is, interestingly, from the same general area that I grew up in. He and his wife, when traveling to Maryland, have also gone to Pennsylvania and visited the Amish shops and restaurants. I need to put this on my to-do list.

As stunning as the grounds were, it was the conservatory that I couldn't leave. My family finally made me go. Some of the reasons why I wanted to just move in, permanently: