If you happen to be down on the Alabama Gulf coast, anywhere near Fairhope or Foley, there is a wonderful side trip you might want to take. Weeks Bay Bog is part of The Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, located on County Road 17, a short hop off U S Hiway 98, the main drag between Foley and Fairhope. You park across the road from the bog, there’s plenty of room there. You might want to take a picnic lunch, there is room for that also and you are going to want to stay awhile.

My great good friend Norma Elkins and I visited the bog last September. There is so much to see taking a walk on the wide Kurt G. Wintermeyer Boardwalk built over the bog. No muddy feet, no fear of critters, although we did see the sign about snakes loving bogs, I guess that is because frogs also love bogs and snakes love frogs alfresco.

Even late in September there were plenty of blooming pitcher plants to see. Beautiful examples of White-Topped Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia leucophylla in shades of green, red Gulf Purple Pitcher Plant( Sarracenia rosea ) living just where they can be happiest. As you stroll the long boardwalk there are super placards explaining what you may be seeing, all the different plants, how they work and what to look for. There are other plants to be seen, wonderful cornflower blue spiky balls on stems that stand 3 inches above their greenery. Cinnamon ferns( Os-munda cinnomomea ) , Slash Pine trees, and many different kinds of grasses that wave in the breeze, and the occasional frog and tiny buzzing fliers ready to be dinner for a lucky pitcher plant or snake.

Go to their web site :http://www.outdooralabama.com/weeks-bay-pitcher-plant-bog. There you can read much more about the bog and all the things you can see at The Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. I am going back, as soon as I can, and plan to spend more time seeing the wonders of this place. Hope you enjoy these pictures Norma and I took, we certainly enjoyed taking them.

I very much enjoy writing articles for you to read.  What you take away is important to me. My hope is that you learn something of the subject at hand and are entertained in the process. Not necessarily entertained in the ha-ha but kept interested enough to read the whole piece. Of course, I can never resist a cheap ha-ha along the way.

For me there is always an under-story, some not very deep, others hopefully make you think long after you finish reading. I mostly write about things that interest me. Sometimes someone will say “write something about this or that” and those are fun too because they are things I might not have thought of on my own, or fill a need for getting the word out about a given subject.

Fact is we all like to share what we think and what we are interested in.  Whether we do it well or not, we want to tell others all about it. From gardening to cooking to shopping, our craftiness, our successes,  and sometimes our failures.  We want to share it all. Sharing takes our successes higher and makes our failures smaller when we hear someone else has had the same experience.

Share a success and you teach someone else to succeed; share a failure and someone will teach you to succeed next time.

The Webster Dictionary defines NEW as follows:

Margaret Goolsby’s family surprised her Saturday afternoon with a birthday party at Hidden Meadows Vineyard and Winery in Jemison, and the family graciously invited CCMGA members. There was wonderful  food, lots of presents, and lot of laughter! HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, Margaret!

MEET LEE and WALLY WALTERS. Lee and Wally went through the Master Gardeners Class and certified in 2013. When I first met Wally and she spoke, I fell in love with her beautiful German accent. Lee came to my creaking wagon’s rescue during a work session at my home, oiling and greasing the noise right out of it. That is the kind of people they are:  kind, compassionate, seeing needs and meeting them.

In 2007, Lee and Wally retired and moved to Lake Mitchell outside of Verbena, from Enterprise/Ft. Rucker, AL. Lee is a 43 year Veteran (active, Reserve and Guard) Army Aviator/Flight Instructor (helicopter). He also has commercial fixed wing ratings and several ground instructor ratings. His job has taken him from Texas to Virginia to Iran and then to Ft. Rucker for the last 30 years. Wally retired from nursing, a job she loved. They have been married for 42 years and have 2 sons, Richard, who lives in Birmingham and Marc, who lives in Memphis, TN. They have four grandchildren.

They chose the Chilton County Master Gardener Class because of it being in the county in which they live. During their certification process, Lee and Wally helped with  Plant Sale set up and sales. They also worked with the Fig and Vine Cutting Team in January and helped to propagate fig trees.

Lee has the normal yard maintenance experience and has tried growing citrus in containers. Wally started gardening about 30 years ago and enjoys a nicely landscaped garden. Like many of us, their interest in gardening began with liking things to look nice. This interest led to planting shrubs and flowers in beds and pots. Their favorite aspects of gardening is seeing good results and being outdoors.

Their yard and garden consists of one plus acre of lakeside property on a slope, 1/2 is kept natural, ¼ is Bermuda grass, small area of raised beds, plantings of azaleas, hydrangeas, roses, evergreens, plus annuals and some perennials. Lee says when the work is done, his favorite spot is the lakeside patio or deck. Wally prefers sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake. Between them, they spend 5-20 hours maintaining their yard, depending on what needs to be done. Lee prefers any plant material that is low maintenance. He grows a few peppers, okra, tomatoes(for the squirrels) and some citrus. Wally prefers maples, dogwoods, roses, hydrangeas and a variety of perennials and annuals. Their soil is really poor, so they also do a little composting to use in amending the soil.

Lee prefers hobbies that take him outdoors and close to nature:  salt and fresh water fishing, boating, gardening, hiking, flying and traveling. Wally also likes to be outdoors swimming, boating, hiking, and weeding her flowerbeds. She enjoys classical to modern music, art and travel. Both are avid lovers of animals and are the proud parents of two rotten spoiled cats and are big supporters of the Chilton County Humane Society. They enjoy playing board and card games with their children, grandchildren and friends.

One can guess that Wally is from Germany but the city is Stuttgart, Germany. She met Lee while visiting a girlfriend in Texas. They had a correspondence courtship and after 10 months she joined Lee and the were married in Texas. She has worked as a secretary and as a real estate agent. They have traveled the past four years with Overseas Adventure Travel touring  Boston, New Zealand, Australia, Baltic Countries, Russia and just recently to Argentina/Chile (from the Andes to Patagonia). They have also traveled on their own to Europe and Asia. Wally tries to visit Germany at least every 2 years to see family and enjoy spending an afternoon in one of those great European cafes with tortes, cakes, pies, pastries displayed everywhere.

They believe words to live by are Honesty, Integrity, and Loyalty. They wake up in the morning thanking the Lord for another day. They try always to be cheerful and not take things too seriously.

Lee and Wally say their favorite thing about Chilton County Master Gardeners  are the nice people that are involved.

Steve McAnally has given service and dedication as a volunteer to CCMGA by developing, creating and overseeing the organization’s website. Steve certified with the Chilton County Master Gardeners in 2012. Having limitations that keep him from working with the more physical side of the MG program, he was quickly drawn to his interest and niche’.

In 2009, the Chilton County Master Garden Association needed a new webmaster. Leo Phillips started and managed the website since 2009 but was ready to move on to managing the First United Methodist‘s webpage and to his other interests.

Enter Steve McAnally, a Master Gardener intern enrolled in the 2012 Master Gardener Program sponsored by the Auburn Extension Service. Steve had plenty of experience with computers and web pages in his past working history. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and has a professional career spanning 40 years in the computer field.

In 2012 Steve certified as a Chilton County Master Gardener. He worked with Leo Phillips, Sondra Henley and Audrey Giles, to develop a new web site for the Chilton County Master Gardeners Association. In 2013, Trisha Williams joined the Web Team staff. The development started in September 2009 and went live on December 2012. The aim of the web site is to promote Master Gardeners and gardening knowledge. Steve has met these web site goals constantly as he has sought to improve and provide interest and information to the CCMGA as well as to the public audience. The site is hosted by Auburn University and can be accessed at http://www.aces.edu/counties/Chilton/mg/.

Not only has Steve served as CCMGA Webmaster, he has been a member of the 2013 CCMGA Board, meeting monthly to manage decisions and activities of the organization and a member of the 2013 Finance Committee. His value to CCMGA….priceless!

They have assumed one of most difficult chairmanships possible, besides fund raising.

The army is said to travel on its stomach, so do Master Gardeners.

Each month the Knowles make sure that enough volunteers have been assigned KP duty and remember the assignments via emails and reminder cards.

They insure that there is plenty of food and drink – picking up the slack when a lapse occurs.

They share their wealth of home grown fruits, etc with all of us.

The refreshment table is a pleasure to visit during each monthly meeting.

The Knowles embody the best of Master Gardeners – sharing their knowledge of plants, their enthusiasm, and they their enjoyment of Master Gardening.