A Day with Garden Enthusiasts
Paint Branch Garden Club Talk
This past Monday, I was invited by the Paint Branch Garden Club to give a talk about Behnke’s Early Years at their meeting. I had been looking forward to this ever since they told me it would be at the Hornbake Library at Maryland University. Plus, I always love talking about Behnke’s!
What a great group of ladies that were at this talk. I might have talked too long, but they seemed interested and asked great questions. After I spoke, they had their business meeting, and I learned about what they do. Paint Branch Garden Club was founded in December 1948. One of their projects is their adopted garden, Calvert Memorial Park.
Time To Join Your Local Garden Club
If you have ever considered joining a garden club or plant society, I urge you to do so. There are so many right in your backyard. If you live in the Paint Branch Area and want more information about joining, you can contact Rosemary Blunck, the president (rosemary@thebluncks.com), the secretary, Anne Turkos (aturkos@umd.edu), or Beth Alvarez (alvarez@umd.edu)
I was also invited to lunch with these lovely women at Riviera Tapas Bar which if you are in Riverdale, MD, I recommend you try out. It is right next door to Calvert Memorial Park. My meal was fabulous!
Hornbake Library At The University Of Maryland
Getting back to the University of Maryland. Growing up so close, one would have thought I would be more familiar with the area. But I can count on one hand the times I have been on the campus. Wow! So many young people are heading in so many directions. Once I parked in the garage and figured out how to work the parking meter (thankfully other ladies from the garden club were there to advise me) we were off to the Hornbake Library.
I have always loved libraries and was impressed at what I saw while going to the room we were meeting in. This room might have been where the university might have had radio shows, but I could be wrong. However, inside, they had all these antique radios! Amazing. I loved looking at each one; from what I was reading, there are many other collections here. What a treasure these students have. The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the University of Maryland Libraries have worked together to collect and preserve the history of the radio and television industries of the United States! It’s such a grand collection.
Thank you, Stephanie. I only lived in MD for 4 years, but Behnke’s was a regular pit stop for me, and until she died, for my mom, too, as we acclimated to a bit of a rough move from MO to MD. We made the most of our brief 22 months together before she died of leukemia (of all things), and since it was an in-between moment for me, career-wise, I was able in that time to focus on her, the house, and while they were townhouse-small, the gardens. Behnke’s filled my HOA-approved beds and my non-HOA approved boxes hanging off of the kitchen balcony, and whenever we needed a little drive (from Silver Spring), and a stroll around some beauty, we frequently opted for your lovely family nursery. In this season of gratitude, I thank you and yours not only for the comfort of the “shop,” but for your ongoing blog, too, which helps me to remember that time and place in my own life, filled as it was with fleeting moments, now memories. Take care, Cindy Shanks, Tulsa, OK.