Life is full of serendipitous moments. You answer a call out on Twitter, and suddenly, you’re having coffee with some of the nicest Oklahoma bloggers out there. A year or two later, you ask one of them, a gardener, if she’d mind you taking photos of her. You’ve become good friends through Facebook, Twitter, email etc., and she says yes.
So, lucky me, I got to visit Marie’s animal menagerie and veggie garden. Where else would guinea hens, chickens, a gaggle of geese, a beautiful paint horse called Chanta, a blue and gold Macaw named Pacino and a teenaged buffalo named Chunk-Hi, but called Chunk, all live happily together? At the Lazy W Ranch, of course! Marie is supremely good at keeping everyone happy.
There are even llamas, a mommy, a daddy, and baby makes three.
Marie interviewed me and wrote about our adventure on her lovely, fun and eclectic blog. She is a true Oklahoma girl, an artist, well versed in the Sooner State. I also discovered Marie is Pottawatomie. I have some Cherokee from my maternal great-grandmother too. You almost can’t hail from Oklahoma without a bit of tribal blood running through your veins. Maybe we have a little red dirt in there too.
Marie made smoothies with watermelon, cantaloupe, honey and mint. Yum. We also ate boiled eggs from her hens. There is nothing like eggs from your own chickens.
We finished our visit with a trip to Tony’s Tree Plantation. I rarely get out there because it’s so far south. I bought a couple of coleus I don’t have–couldn’t resist–along with a variegated canna for one of the containers on the deck. In a week or so, I’m going to take pics as Marie and a friend capture a wild bee swarm. She’s stopping by here too before a beekeeper meeting. She may entice me to keep honeybees too. You never know. Isn’t life exciting?
Writing a book is hard. Laughing and talking with Marie was a respite from my self-enforced, daily word count. I feel recharged today, and that’s a very good thing. You never know where the roads of social media will take you. On the news, we hear about the bad, but I’m telling you the Internet takes good care of me. Just make sure you know the person well before you meet them. Oh, and since I don’t date that helps too. LOL!
Life is full of serendipity. Don’t forget to grab the gold ring when you can.
Hi, Dee, What a lovely warm post! Your friend is adorable! I especially love that portrait at end of post, and I bet she does, too!
Lucky you.
Lucky you.
How wonderful that you two were able to get together! The farm looks like a fun place, and Marie is beautiful. Good luck with the book writing! Someday …
Yes, what a lovely break! I love her ranch and I want a smoothie right now.
How wonderful and what a beautiful portrait you’ve taken of her. Sounds like a great time. I also have the best of internet friends. We met on GardenWeb about ten years ago then met in person for the first time a couple years after that and have remained fast friends since. I agree the internet is a great thing,
I really enjoyed reading this, Dee…was a respite for me, too. I’m grateful for the internet myself. ~ Daricia
How nice. What an interesting garden. Thanks for sharing it and it is wonderful to make new friends.
What a lovely meet-up…thank goodness for the great parts of social media.
Dee – I LOVE that friendships have lingered, grown and blossomed from our first meeting. Marie is a lovely soul and your photos of her are endearing. So glad you got a reprieve from your daily word count. Bless you both! ~ RDK
Hi Kelly!! xoxo
HA HA – Howdy, Marie – XXOO back to you!
What could be better than a new friendship becoming deeper?
Lovely lady, great story. Thanks!
what a fun read this was. glad you two found each other. and of course you don’t date – Bill wouldn’t like that. : )
Yes, I never would have met you, Dee, if not for blogging and the internet that makes it possible. So glad you had a good time with your friend.
Some of my best friendships have been made through the internet. Glad you had fun
That was fun! You’ve inspired me to go see my gardening friend Doris, she’s in the middle of a garden re-do and I want to see her process. I love the garden photo and tell her please, that I love those boots. xoxogail
What a wonderful sum up of our day! “Small talk and smoothies…” LOL xoxo You are something else ma’am. So amazed and glad to hear that yesterday served as respite fro you in all of your wonderful hard work. Cannot wait for our bee capture and garden tour at your place. xoxo