from penny in florida, Apr. 12

hey toots..  i flew to florida today.  do you remember i am here for 10 days to take care of ellen while her parents are on a trip?  its balmy here.. not humid so that is good.   i was chatting with your sister kate online the other day.  it was a little like talking to you.  so i liked that a lot because i miss you.  there's stuff i want to talk about, get your advice about.  dang it all.  anyway, i was telling kate that we like to go on great adventures... often spur of the moment .. she said she'd like to hear some of those stories.  well, i can't tell ALL our secrets but remember the great winterberry caper?  well i guess there were two. one was last year.  we had gone to peterborough i think and saw lots of winterberry.. of course the best stuff was growing in the swamps and i had clogs on so i couldn't get to the really good stuff.  this year we were prepared.  clippers and wellies. we had been scouting for places to go and get some good winterberry for christmas decorations.  you  and lee and a few others and i had driven down to tower hill to see a display of dresses purses  shoes.. all made with natural materials.  we thought it was so-so .. a long drive for not much BUT we thought we'd get winterberry and that would make the drive worthwhile.  nope.. not a single shrub did we see. on the way home, we stopped by the power lines in ayer and got out to inspect the bushes.  they were growing in lots of water.  a policeman came by and asked if we needed any help.. were we ok?  oh no  officer, we're fine, just looking at plants.  in the dead of winter.... right.  he smiled and drove on.  then you remembered that there was some winterberry across from agway nut you thought maybe it was a private road.  the road in had some signs that said no atv's so we thought no problem.  we drove farther in the winding dirt road full of potholes. there was tons of the stuff. big fat red berries.  we came to the no trespassing signs and thought we better turn around. i got out my wellies grabbed my clippers and headed for the swamp (oh excuse me -wetlands).  just then a truck came around the corner.  we grinned as if we owned the place, the guy waved...  i think you had to move the car  a bit.  i ventured deeper into the swamp, balancing on hummocks , holding clippers in one hand, grabbing branches with the other, then handing them up to you on the bank.   we got quite a haul..  and i only got a wee bit wet when the water went over the top of my boots.  you laughed and laughed at the sight.  too bad we didn't have a camera..  we dropped off some of our booty at lee's house and then made lovely christmas decorations with the rest.  so put it on your calendar.. next december we're going back to the secret winterberry cache.  xoxo.. p