Workin' it y'all

This is my special Labor Day post! So listen up.

If you've been reading IHATH for very long you may remember back in June when TG and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, and TG was out of town on the day, and he sent me flowers ... and to paraphrase The Bard, therein lay the rub.

Naturally I wrote about the whole experience ... in a post entitled Poorly Peddled Petals. If you haven't read it yet, please do so now because the rest of the story won't make sense unless you know the first part.

I'll wait.

Well well! Now that you're up to speed, I think you'll like this.

I Cast My Wilted Petals Upon The Water

Thinking many freelance-writerly thoughts mixed fancifully with hopes and dreams, I sent a copy of Poorly Peddled Petals to the Society of American Florists' glossy to-the-trade magazine, Floral Management.

The editors liked it, liked my "sass" too they said, and wanted to publish my article in their magazine.

And so they did! I haven't seen the finished product yet (my copy is in the mail) but I know my words are in print because a few days ago I received a nice email!

He Knows From Flower Derangements

Ms. Weber:

I received my copy of SAF's Floral Management magazine today and read your article (Viewpoint. September 2010). Thank you for writing it!

I own a flower shop in the suburbs of Atlanta, Eagle's Landing Floral Design, and have worked hard over the last eleven years building my staff. I married into the business and know little about color wheels, designing, texture and the like, but I do know about business and customer service. My wife is the creative end of the business and I pay the bills and do the heavy lifting.  

I pride my staff on "going the extra mile" to satisfy our customers and I am positive that is what has carried us through this downturn in the economy. What I stress to them is that, even though they deal with the beautiful flowers every day, the customers we serve only see them occasionally. 

In your case, the error by the driver was merely an inconvenience for him, having to return to make the delivery. Our policy would be not to deliver the same arrangement, but deliver an upgrade to make up for the inconvenience we put you through.

We do not make many errors; we are a charter recipient of the "Petal of Honor" from Teleflora for our outstanding customer service. But when we do, we do our best to have the recipient focus on our product and not our error.

You can bet that your article will be priority reading for my staff. It will certainly help to reinforce our motto: "We don't just deliver flowers; we deliver WOW."

Thank you again for your timely article.

Sincerely,

Bob Wood  

Owner, Eagle's Landing Floral Design

Stockbridge, Georgia

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

So! My feeling is that if you live in the metro Atlanta area or are sending flowers to someone who lives in the metro Atlanta area, this is your florist. 

Because clearly they get it.

God be with every hard-working American who on a daily basis provides goods and services to the public in a conscientious, courteous, and considerate manner.

A healthy work ethic makes the American dream come true ... one satisfied customer at a time.

~Happy Labor Day Weekend!~

SkyWatch Friday: It was electrifying

So a few weeks ago when TG and I went to Aiken, on the way home we stopped to gas up the flivver.

If you don't know what that means, you're probably too young to be on this web site.

Anyhow, as my darling did the heavy lifting I was fiddling with my camera and maybe looking at myself in the mirror (flaming narcissist that I be) and I even took a Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear picture of TG, just, you know, for posterity. 

And as I thus amused myself I became aware of what appeared to be a flash going off behind me.

Several times, sort of creepy-like because I could tell without even looking nobody but me was taking pictures at the filling station.

And if you've never heard it called a filling station, you are definitely too young to be on this web site but stick around anyway. You may learn something.

Anyway, when my beloved got back behind the wheel I mentioned the flashing to him and he looked bewildered.

But then as we turned out of the parking lot, the flash flashed again and I saw it: a massive thundercloud built up in the distance.

My camera's not exactly set up to do justice to this kind of shot and even if it were I wouldn't know how to operate it in such a sophisticated manner, so you'll have to believe me when I say it looked amazing.

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The red lights mark the tail-end of a tractor-trailer full of lowing cattle that was idling in the vacant lot TG found. That yellow light on the left is a street light. The big white light to the right of the cloud is the MOON and it was waxing, nearly full.

The thing you can't get from this picture is the hugeness of that cloud. I am sorry. Some things must be experienced firsthand to be believed.

And then it happened! Lightning flashed in that cloud -- not around it, not near it, but IN IT -- and I got so excited I lost my cool (always a rare commodity) and purt-near dropped my camera.

In all I must've taken eighty-five pictures and a few times I was rewarded with shots of the actual lightning in the cloud.

I know ... I know ... amateurish, yawn. All you pros out there? Step off! Cut me some slack! I did my very best to chronicle the phenomenal awesomeness of nature as it happened before my avid eyes and eager lens.

And not for nothing but I was totally in the moment and where I come from, that counts for something.

Happy Friday! Keep a weather eye on the horizon!

Good times made easy

I love this. I've watched it, like, fifty times. My favorite part is when she drops the sack of flour.

What can I say? When it comes to entertainment, I'm easy.

Wordless Wednesday: Pearl Fryar's Topiary Garden

NOTE: I had this all set to publish this morning -- actually I had it all set to publish late last night but then I thought of the song Try To Remember and how much I like it and then I found the YouTube so that got top priority -- but then today all of a sudden with no warning I had no cable, no phone, no Internet, nothing, I have no idea why.

It was an outage.

Everything just came back on a little bit ago so here you are. Better late than never.

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I visited Pearl Fryar's Bishopville topiary wonderland late in 2005.

There is no way to describe it adequately so, although the pictures do not do it justice, I'll let them do the talking.

Click the pics to see them slightly larger.

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005 

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo of Pearl Fryar by Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

Photo Jennifer Weber 2005

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Way to go Pearl, getting a John Deere commercial.

(We don't keep the black man down in South Carolina. Got poetry in your soul? Talk! We're listening.)

Happy Wednesday! Don't forget to dream!

Just try to remember

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow ... follow.

Try to remember the kind of September
That no one wept except the willow
Try to remember the kind of September
That dreams were kept beside your pillow
Try to remember the kind of September
When love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow ... follow.

Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Without a hurt the heart is hollow
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
The fire of September that made us mellow
Deep in December, our hearts should remember
And follow ... follow ... follow.

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~Happy September~