Philadelphia Flower Show

Oh, don't I wish I had a garden that looked like this!!! Today Thad and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show. Chris' girlfriend Sunshine gave us tickets as a Christmas gift and today was the day. We got an early start (around 8 a.m.) and after dropping his truck off for service on the way, we arrived in Philly around 9:45. Just in time to get early bird parking rates!!! Although we did have to park around 4 blocks away and were on the roof level of a 5-story parking garage. I knew the walk back at the end of the day would be tortuous and it became more so as it was raining when we emerged from the convention center.

After parking the car we hoofed it up to the convention center and got in line to get in. There was a moment of panic when I couldn't immediately put my hands on the tickets - they had escaped the side pocket of my bag and were on the bottom (thank goodness!). I had decided not to take a purse but rather a larger quilted bag so that I could fit cameras and water and have a place to put all the literature give-a-ways that we might pick up. Besides the tickets escaping, the other downer about the bag was that the zipper broke as I was packing it up but I decided to take it anyway. (I think I'm going to treat myself to a Vera Bradley bag this time - this one was a Christmas Tree Shop knock-off and has served me well, but it's time to say good-bye).

Up the escalator we went and followed the crowd into the display area. Everyone was mobilizing to the right so we did too, but there were actually lines to get to the displays, so we meandered away from there and started somewhere in the middle and then worked our way around. I had two cameras with me (three, if you count my cell phone), and I know that I checked the batteries, but you know when you use flashes with digitals that they use up the battery faster. Luckily, they had a camera/film/battery kiosk and they even had already charged AA rechargeable batteries that came ready to use - so I was grateful to pick them up to be able to continue taking pictures.

The displays were beautiful. They had a Mardi Gras theme for the show this year and there were lots of mardi gras beads and masks all over the place. I'll be sharing more pictures over the course of the next week or so. They even had musical entertainment - that helped put a little pep in your step as you were walking around.

The left side of the hall had all kinds of vendors and we did manage to pick up some neat stuff. We got 4 primrose plants for $10 - nice, healthy ones, some peaches and cream jam, a hanging glass rooter for my "gypsy" kitchen curtain rod, three children's books signed by the author/illustrator, and a sweet painted wrought iron trellis with little birds on it.

I could go on, but I'm exhausted and really need to get some shut eye. I will share more about the flower show and catch up with the daily craft post for the month in the morning.