On the farm, our double Roman narcissus are beginning to bloom (Narcissus tazetta ‘Double Roman’). In the trade, there is a variety known as Constantinople. Some claim it is the same plant. I would like to find out. This next fall I plan to order some and compare. Both claim to be the double form of the Chinese Sacred Lily.

We are digging out dirt for our lake, from which we plan to irrigate. Beneath our sandy loam soils, some beautiful colors of earth have emerged. I took someone on a walk with me through the lake bottom. I was told about the earth pigments I was walking on, and soon running my hand through. We dug the dirt together, and I never knew that I would enjoy digging dirt so much. Little did I know, but the dirt in our buckets was the same colored earth that has adorned buildings throughout the centuries.

The dirt contains every color of the color spectrum, and that makes it different than the synthesized colors we are used to. When the sun hits the dirt, an array of colors delights the eye, and even though we might not realize it, our minds fully capture the beauty and are drawn in. Synthesized colors contain one color, and when we see the paint on the wall, that is the only color we see. They remind me of people I like; their personalities are not fabricated reactions. Their responses to life are formed from the pigments that form their very being, and the more you get to know them, the more you are drawn to them in an unexplainable way.

I took the train to Dallas this weekend. It cost me $19 one way. That is less then what I pay in gas. It was 2 hours late, but I asked the station veteran in Dallas about how to better time the train. For Mineola, she said you have to call Little Rock and find out the departure time from their and the timed arrival to Marshall. From Marshall you can easily calculate the time to Mineola and that is when you should plan on being at the station. From Dallas going to Mineola, you need to call and find the departure time from Clebourne. Once it leaves from Clebourne, it is one hour away from Ft. Worth, and unless the train is held up at the tower ( I don’t know what tower), you can calculate the time to Dallas. “Delays aren’t that bad,” she said “considering the train started off in Chicago.”

I walked to downtown Dallas and worked on e-mails, customer responses, some bulb orders, and other computer items. Before I left, I put the latest gift certificates in the mail with personal notes because they were late and slipped through our system. I’m here for the weekend and then will take the train back. Tuesday I am with the Wood County Master Gardeners, my first talk of the year!