Moo Goo Gai Evil

Very Mary doesn't know about you, but she really does prefer her Chinese Food to be Nice. And skip the duck sauce, please - she'd much rather season her Nice Food with glonous history.

and cultural.

Taking a Walk with Very Mary : Part Two

And so we continue our walking tour of Very Neighborhood: a quaint little place with two streets for access. No throughway. Two streets to get in and get out. That's it.

Very Mary lives on one of the streets. Very Mary's cousin lives on the other. This flora is in her cousin's garden. In between the two main (term used loosely) streets are a few horizontal streets. Very Mary has never counted, but she's guessing there are fewer than 300 homes in Very Neighborhood.


There are, however, lots and lots and lots of trees. Good trees. Trees with funky trunks.

Trees that hang over the sidewalks, but are perfectly pruned at about 6.5' underneath so that passersby feel a bit like they're under a secret canopy of Mama Nature.

See? Secret canopy.

And just so you know, the people who comprise Very Neighborhood tend to be rather adorable and quirky. Very Mary loves quirky.

Did she mention that the folks in Very Neighborhood love them some gardens?

Along one of the alleys, Very Mary passes this interesting little cabin-esque place. Tis sadly run down. Very Mary imagines it would be entirely too much fun to transform this little travesty into a cottage. She sometimes spends her entire walk thinking about what she would do if she owned it.

Did she mention the quirky neighbors?

And the gardens? And how she totally popped her camera through a hedge to snap this photo? And how it's so secretive and delicious that it made her rather giddy?

FYI: folks really do still dry their clothes on clotheslines in smalltown USA.

And these same folks tend to use stuff for a long, long time. There's all sorts of great timeworn stuff where Very Mary lives. Patina is so underrated.

What's a walk without a little dog?

Or a Sweet Gum tree?

(And, by the way, did you happen to know that Sweet Gum oil is a highly coveted commodity? No? Yeah, Very Mary didn't either, but she's totally addicted to Google.)

Ah, and finally the return to Chez Very, which is Very Good. (Very Mary wore a sweatshirt when she left for her walk and, by the time she returned, she was boiling.)

One of the denizens of Very Neighborhood told Very Mary that houses have souls. She believes it. When the Very's bought this house, it was a rather sickly shade of pale-bridesmaid-dress-green. When the Very's found this color - La Fonda Olive Green, they sort of fell in love with it. And when they started scraping off the other paint? And the paint under that? And the layer under that? Underneath all the layers and years of paint? This? This was the original color of the house. From 1923. Very Mary belongs in this house forever and ever amen.

Taking A Walk with Very Mary : Part One

Very Mary loves her small town. It's not incredibly small, but, well, yeah, it's small. And it's cozy, and it's safe, and it's mostly friendly, and it's nearly always quiet after 10 p.m. on school nights. And Very Mary's neighborhood tends to be all of these things only moreso. It's a good fit.

Very Mary has recently taken on a new walking regimen. For her *gags* health. 6 times a week, 20 minutes minimum. It's a good thing she loves her neighborhood. First, Very Mary leaves the comfort of her studio up there, at the top of her stairs.

Then she often stops to admire the delicious foliage on the bush separating her from her darling, genteel neighbor, Betty.

Very Mary loves living in the kind of place where folks are comfortable leaving a jug of sweet tea out in the sun all day while those folks are at work. Around these parts? People just don't poison one another.

Isn't this woodsy staircase a temptation?

This garden is, hands-down, one of Very Mary's favorites. Its owner has hundreds of species growing, and there's always something new in bloom.

Same garden, different view. The owner used to have a fish pond, but there are raccoons aplenty in this neck of the woods. Enough said.

Very Mary has ALWAYS loved this house. She is trying to convince her Very Good Friend to move here and this house? Is for sale.

And the yard? Is magnificent.

There's something comforting about a split rail fence. But Very Mary also enjoys the smell of fresh manure, so maybe she's a little nuts.

Once upon a time, a clothesline was hooked into this tree.

And this is the alleyway at the Very End of Very Neighborhood. It beckons, does it not? Dead center at the end of this lane is one massive tree.

It's not actually dead center. It's off to the left slightly. And it grows bigger every year.

And every time she passes this tree, Very Mary sort of wants to hug it.

It's awe-inspiring, the way this magnificent beauty has stood there through all that man and nature can throw its way. Despite a few war wounds, it's no worse for the wear.

In Very Neighborhood, people love their gardens. A lot. Very Mary totally understands. Join her tomorrow for Part Two. She'll finish the walking tour then...

Simple Treasures

Sometimes an apron in a corner is all it takes to make Very Mary smile.

Flora's Secret

Very Mary likes to hide stuff in her garden. You know, like concrete frogs and bleached turtle shells. Like that. Do you hide stuff in your gardens?

Put the Metal to the Petals

Very Mary finally broke down and bought a metal stamping kit (or two). Don't worry, she isn't planning on beginning some huge new business venture, but she is excited to play with her new metallic toys! Yesterday, she made some tags for her herb garden.

She LOVES them! They make her feel all giddy and delighted!

If you happen to love them, too, pop over here for more photos and maybe how you can buy some for your own garden!

Because Very Momma Said So.

Lately, Very Mary has been wondering whatever happened to the thank you card? Not the thank you text. Not the thank you email. Not the thank you facebook post. But the real, old-fashioned, handwritten thank you note.

When Very Mary was a kidlet, there was no choice about whether or not to write a thank you card, because Very Momma Said So. And maybe there was some grumbling under her breath and a fake plea of hand cramps, but Very Mary always wrote those thank you notes. And she still does. And Very Daughter writes thank you notes. And Very Mary's friends write thank you notes. But that's about where it ends. When did it become okay to not write a thank you note?

Here's what Very Mary would like : a thank you card revolution.

Buy some. Make some. Use a napkin or a scrap of paper. Anything. Heck, send a thank you postcard - it'll cost $0.28 and take about 3 minutes of time. Thank people through the regular old mail. Doesn't it feel good to be appreciated for what you've done? Very Mary loves a hearty pat on the back. And that's why she still writes thank you notes. A really real, tangible card to say thanks. It's easy. It's heartfelt. And to be quite honest, it's polite. If someone does something nice for Very Mary, the least she can do is thank that someone in a mannerly manner with real words written by her Very Own Hand.

Thank you.

Happy Momma's Day

Made for Walking