A Quartet of Pink Ladies in the Barrens

It was a busy day that would find us cancelling and remaking plans, as I was originally supposed to have a lovely outdoor lunch with old friends in Boalsburg on this day. But due to activities related to the upcoming holiday weekend, that date got rescheduled to next week.

My husband had also made plans - for us to lunch with my mother-in-law on Friday. But Friday, we heard, was to be a day of thunderstorms. And so with our Thursday freshly cleared, we regrouped and moved the Friday lunch date to today. (Are you still with me?)

This meant that my walk in the Scotia Barrens on this morning had to be a spiffy-quick one, as we had travel plans. So I set off on my bike and took the opportunity for a fast visit to the Pink Ladies of the Barrens. They are at their peak now and I can barely stay away for even one day!

This is one of the prettiest of the stands of pink lady's slipper, aka moccasin flower, aka Cypripedium acaule. They grow wild here, and it is just a major treat to see such gorgeous, fancy flowers blooming right along side the trails.

It had to be a fast visit, and I walked and biked back home in time to get ready for lunch, which was at Traditions in Martinsburg, not even a mile from where my mother-in-law now lives. She had a mushroom-Swiss burger, my husband had the fish sandwich, and I had the sloppy joe with two sides (fries and onion rings); my mom used to make sloppy joes and this one was quite good - it tasted a lot like hers!

We adjourned after our meal to visit in my mother-in-law's beautiful sunroom in the back of the house, where we sat and told stories and laughed our heads off together for a few hours. We had not seen her in a month or more, I had a new photo book to give her for her recent birthday, and it was good to catch up.

At the end of our visit, just before we left for home, we all drove over to the Ritchey's Creamery, which is actually probably close enough to walk to from her house. (But she's not a strong walker these days, so we rode.)

My husband had a chocolate peanut butter fudge milkshake, Lois had a chocolate salted caramel cone, and I had a salted caramel shake made with vanilla ice cream that just may have been THE BEST salted caramel shake of my life! No, I'm not lyin'! Possibly THE BEST EVER!

So that was our Very Good Day Out!

Now, this day is also the birthday of Stevie Nicks (happy birthday, Stevie!), and I can't let the occasion go by uncelebrated. In honor of the quartet above, I've picked four of Stevie's tunes for us to enjoy on her special day:

Stevie Nicks, Edge of Seventeen.
Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.
Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, Silver Springs.
Stevie Nicks, Wild Heart. (And let me add that this is a personal favorite, as I am also a girl with a very wild heart! When I am happy, I listen to this song. When I am sad, I listen to it. On this day, at bedtime, as I brushed my teeth, I brought my computer into the bathroom and put it on LOUD so I could listen one last time before bed!)

Related (recent) tale:
Ellen's Ashes, A Journey Into Immortality, in which my dear friend comes home to me at last, and becomes one of the Pink Ladies of the Barrens.