Another Mary and Reed Adventure

School starts this coming Thursday and we have to get our adventures in while we can. Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Des Moines to the Mid -Iowa Cactus and Succulent Show at Merle Hay Mall.

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Ribbons were given out to members who displayed a plant.

The plant in the foreground is a pine cone cactus – my friend Jane sent me one of these for my birthday along with several others.

Now I wish I had taken lots more pictures of the specific plants I liked the best. There were also plants for sale! I had every intention of downsizing this fall – haha!

Reed and I have been planning on this trip/sale since last winter – Reed has been saving his money to buy new and unusual succulents. A show like this is where one finds those rare varieties and you can count on them being strong healthy plants.

The plant Reed is holding is a terrestrial orchid- I did not realize orchids were part of the succulent family, did you?

I will have to break this into 3 posts because when the post gets too big it oftentimes crashes and I lose all my hard work.

Our next stop was the Des Moines Botanical Garden which was almost indescribable- we had the best time! Read about this next adventure in my next post.

27 thoughts on “Another Mary and Reed Adventure

  1. Launa

    An eventful day out n about with succulents. I see a few I would have purchased, too, Mary.

    What a great T shirt Reed was wearing..such a smile!

    Waiting for the next adventure post.

  2. ada

    I am always amazed by your adventures with Reed. I don’t know any kids who would enjoy chickens and cactus plants.

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Ada – honestly I don’t know of any other kids who love chickens and plants either! He’s a special kid!

  3. Sharyn Resvick

    I absolutely love keeping up with your adventures. I grew up in a small farming community and so miss it. The constant commotion of the city is very wearing. I look forward to reading about life on the farm. Still very busy but a different kind of busy one can probably only understand if they, too, grew up on the farm.

  4. Meta O’Connell

    What a fun kid Reed must be. I’m sure you both have a good time. Love his shirt! 😁😁

  5. Patty

    What a great looking kiddo!
    Good wishes for your school year young man!
    I love following along on the things you all do.

  6. Martha Engstler

    Reed reminds me so much of my Iowa cousins. Aside from good looking I wonder if he has some Norwegian heritage? He seems to be growing up as we watch your blogs. Wonder what grade he will be in. He has learned so much this summer in your travels together. Lucky young man.

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Martha – Reed will be a 5th grader this year. I hope he doesn’t grow out of his love for chickens, plants and me!

  7. Rose Moy Mikulski

    I love Read Reed posts! it’s all about him and made possible by you. Reed is becoming a little man isn’t he?

  8. jan mittler

    Love these adventures………they are the best!!!! Reed and you have the best time!!!! Love his shirt!!!!! Where did he get that?

  9. Jo Sunderman

    You two have had a wonderful summer together. Thank you for taking us along, it was fun for us too.

  10. Colleen

    Wow lots of interesting plants and more to come. Your adventures are so much fun to read about. Reed is a 5 th grader what a wonderful friendship you share. You’ll miss him once school starts and he has to spend so many hours of the day doing school work. And he’ll miss being able to talk or come over anytime. It’s good that you live close by each other.

  11. Carla J

    Reed is wearing a great shirt! The cacti selections all need to be named with photos, please, so we know which ones to go hunting for ourselves. I will miss your adventures when school starts.

  12. Pat Smith

    Fifth grade is the best year—I taught fifth grade and found it the best combination of kids being independent enough to do interesting things and still fun loving enough to not be self conscious about it. You two have the best adventures! I don’t know anything about succulents or chickens except what I read in your blog. I missed out on having a mentor like you.

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Pat Smith – thanks, Pat! I didn’t realize I wanted to be someone’s mentor!

  13. Derrice Skow

    I really like Reed’s shirt. My son is a poultry judge for 4-H. He judged about 20 shows this summer. Over the years we have had LOTS of birds. It’s always fun to see your photos!

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Derrice – does your son have any advice for Reed? He’d like to be a poultry judge some day!

  14. Teresa

    Fun blog post. Really enjoy your adventures with Reed. He’s a great kid to be so interested in the world and not focused on video games or sports.

  15. Kathy Hanson

    Another great adventure!! Like everyone else I love Reed’s shirt! When I talk about Reed and You I always say he is a boy your are mentoring – what a wonderful relationship you have. The succulents look amazing, so interesting. It will be harder for you and Reed to have adventures during the school year but I would imagine you would find some on weekends or school days off! Keep having fun with him!!

  16. SusanfromKentucky

    You two are having such great adventures together. Hope it lasts for a long time! Love his t-shirt!!!

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