A Garden Gala

The summer fundraiser at the Luther Burbank Gardens has come and gone, and it looked like it was a big success. I helped with the flowers, which turned out to be a more athletic job than I had anticipated. First I had to pick up the many arrangements from cold storage and transport them to the gardens, about 35 vases in all. That was the easy part. Once I got to the gardens, they had to be unloaded to hand carts and then wheeled to the tables on the far (of course!) side of the property. The final step was to schlep them to the 20 individual tables and plop a table number in the center of each vase. I was pleased with the finished product, but my feet were telling me that I was finished, too.

So, as the band and the catering team arrived,  I limped to my car and left the approaching festivities behind, not even stopping at the martini bar, open for business, featuring fruit infused gin and vodka. The $100 a plate tables looked beautiful and welcoming, and the weather was perfect. 

Hallelujah!

Volunteer Tales




The View from my Desk



My days as a volunteer have officially begun. It's not that I needed more to do; it's that I felt like branching out now that -being retired- I have time to do exactly what I want to do. So, I signed up to work at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens gift shop, passed the interview, completed the training, and survived my first day as greeter, tour organizer, and sales person of the store merchandise.

Scarlet Poppy

I was slightly nervous about operating the computer. It, of course, is v-e-r-y smart...even tells me how much change to give to the customer, but it is quite a complex machine, having multiple steps to opening and closing. Being a computer, I have to do everything exactly right or it doesn't do what it is supposed to do. However, the store traffic was light those first few days so I was able to successfully bumble through without causing any disasters.

The Back of the Burbank Home

Starting to get the hang of it and feeling moderately confident, I reported to duty a few days ago. As I approached the shop, I noted that there were many more people in the garden than usual and wondered why. It turned out there was a Master Gardener convention in town at the Hyatt, just a few blocks from the Burbank Gardens. Oh, my. I was swamped from the minute the doors opened and found myself dealing with multiple firsts: credit cards that were refused, merchandise that was nowhere to be found on the computer, running out of one dollar bills and quarters, and so on.

I survived.

The day was a fluke. Or, at least, I hope that is the case .