Buicks and Day Lilies

     James and I go to Arkansas each Father's Day to the Petit Jean Antique Auto Show and Swap Meet.  We stop at favorite antique shops on the way to Hot Springs where we spend the night at the Arlington Hotel.  It is a relic of the era of grand hotels and we just love it.  The last few years it has been the venue for the Arkansas Bar Association's annual conference.  The lobby is packed with lawyers swapping courtroom anecdotes while drinking from an extensive open bar.  As we weave our way to the desk, we hear snippets of, "then the judge...", and "but the witness couldn't...".

 After checking in, we head across the street to Rolando's, a great Latin restaurant with a nice outdoor patio on the second floor.  It is built right into the rock of the mountain and is always cool and shady.  Early the next morning we take off for the top of Petit Jean Mountain where the swap meet is held.  It is a beautiful drive up and we spend it commenting on the scenery and the antique cars traveling the road with us. Our conversation goes something like this:

                                                                             Me 
                     " That's a cool old Chevy in front of us.  Looks like a '58."

                                                                             James
                      "Oh, yeah, you mean the Buick. It's probably a '68.  Look at the gardenias in
                       that yard."
    
                                                                              Me
                     " Those are beautiful, but I think those are mock orange.  Look at that great,
                        blue GTO!"

                                                                              James
                       "Yeah, I love that color, but that might be a Le Mans.   Look at their daylilies. 
                        They're so tall!  We need some like that."

                                                                               Me
                         (Looking over at a clump of canna lilies.) "Oh, they are awesome."


     And on and on, up the mountain we go trying so hard to be knowledgeable about each other's hobbies. The truth is, I don't know one make or model of car from another and by the end of the day will revert to just calling them by their color, "cool, red car". 

James calls every white flower a gardenia, every red flower a rose, and everything in between a daylily. 

 But the point is, we try and every now and then we have our "crowning glory" moments like when I spied three window cranks for his "64 Buick Skylark convertible hidden in a mountain of parts on a table at the swap meet and he picked out some beautiful daylilies (not cannas) at a nursery on our drive home.  It truly is the thought that counts. :)

     "Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved!  That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly."       

  Leo Tolstoy

    Love ya'll, 
Shelli