Sunflower Daze

Wormtown was this weekend. What’s that you say? Well, I don’t really know. All I do know is the Camp they hold the music festival at is just up the road from our Sunflower Field and lots of people go and enjoy the music for 3 days. Kind of a mini-Woodstock. Most of the cars are kind of old, full of people and they are all there for a really good time camping out under the stars. People drive in from all over although, from our observation, most cars have Connecticut plates. Our sunflower field is just before the turn-off for Wormtown. And those music lovers love the sunflowers on Friday before the concert and Sunday when returning home.

We’ve been picking like crazy all weekend in between rainstorms to meet the demand. When I walk through the rows, my red rubber clogs sink down into the dirt and get all mucky. Forget the pants, they are dripping wet in about a minute. Glamour, all the way. Gotta keep the buckets full though and keep the beauty spreading……

Saturday, I was out in the middle of the field picking another armful of flowers – watching the road too – for entertainment’s sake.. When I see someone stop, I usually stay in the field because people who shop at self-serve stands tend to like to pick out their flowers by themselves, in peace, without a pesky salesperson. There’s something about the anonymity of a self-serve stand, isn’t there? Almost like reading a blog. Noone knows you have been there…… At a self-serve stand, you stand there, looking at and coddling the tomatoes or the blooms. You can ooooh and aaaahhh about the color and shape of the object. And then you organize yourself and pick out the prettiest peach, apple, tomato or sunflower on the stand. You drop the money in the slot and off you go to remember the sight, the experience, the romance of the hard work it took to produce such a bit of nature. For the next week to come, you enjoy your purchase in a fresh bit of pie or tomato sauce or a vase. And the farmer you bought it from appreciates the contribution, I can honestly say.

Where was I????? .... Oh, back to Saturday afternoon. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a quite fancy convertible speed by. I could see the driver looking at the flowers and excitedly saying to her passenger – “Wow! Look at that!” Me, I was hoping they didn’t have an accident and watched the curves. I kept picking and stocked the buckets with fresh flowers. A couple minutes later, the car came back and parked. Now, that isn’t too unusual at this time of year. People think they are in the south of France when they turn the bend.

I continued to fill my buckets with the sunflowers. There were four customers there at the moment and I usually talk to noone. Chit chat on sacred sunflower ground is avoided. Give the customers peace. But these ladies wanted to chat. Okay….. chit chat chit chat.

Turns out they were one of you! And they were both knitters on top of it all from Danbury CT who took my Joy of Color class at Stitches last fall. Marlene had just gotten a new car and she wanted to try it out. Tracie was up for the trip and they drove on up to see our Sunflowers. And a long trip it was! That's what I love about knitters - darn it all with high gas prices, falling financial markets - let's go see some beauty! Tracie, Marlene and I talked color and yarn stores and had a lovely time amongst the flowers with Julia easedropping on every word. The nicest compliment of all was they told me they have looked at colors in a different way since they took my class last November. (I'm doing the same class again this year at Stitches although it is longer and there will be some practical hands-on knitting this time around! Click here to sign up!)

I met another wonderful woman named Bonnie from Holyoke on Friday afternoon. She happened upon the stand by accident like most people do. It turned out she was an artist and she was so excited she could barely contain herself over the flowers. She also has a blog. We talked color for a bit and she left with a handful of flowers. Saturday morning she brought her husband back and they wandered the field. She sent me some photos of our “sunflower family” as she called us which she kindly has let me post here.


Talk about a life full of glamour – oh boy I am a sight. But we do look like we are having a good time - Julia, me and the sunflowers.

Thanks Marlene and Tracie for making the trip. You certainly gave us something to remember. I’ll see you in Baltimore, at Stitches, I hope!