Greetings from Pillywiggins Garden! We hope you have a wonderful, safe & happy holiday season filled with love, laughter, friends & family! Best wishes for the new year. We look forward to visiting your gardens again next spring!

This season's holiday cards included wildflower seed paper enclosures shown below. If you would like to be added to next year's holiday greeting card list, feel free to email us at gourds@pillywigginsgarden.com or better yet, send us your holiday card!

2022 was a busy year. We didn't have much time for blogging but we snapped plenty of photos to share over the winter months. We also have a few exciting adventures in store. Be sure to follow our Facebook Page for more information, photos & updates!

Our Sunday Fun-Day began with a stroll through Brownwood Acres on Torch Lake Drive outside of Central Lake, Michigan. If you haven't visited Brownwood, you should! Their homemade doughnuts are so good. They remind me of the "fried cakes" Great-Grandma Webb used to make. Delicious! 

Torch Lake gifts, local preserves, Minnetonka Moccasins, there's a lot to discover at Brownwood. ​Jason can't resist the old-fashioned candy in the general store & we both love to browse the flea market vendors. You never know what you'll find!

A long needed weekend away. We spent our mornings & evenings relaxing on Narrin Farms located in Groveland Township in Oakland County, MI. But, afternoons were made for exploring! Narrin Farms is located on a dirt road which is no problem for this country girl. (Paved "main" roads are just a mile or so away.) I was pleasantly surprised this quiet country life existed so close to the hustle & bustle of the big city. It was beautiful countryside. 

We found a cool fossil, rock & mineral shop to explore in Goodrich, MI called Cosmic Connection. It's not a large shop but this place is packed full of beautiful, ancient treasures from the earth. Fossils of all types, from tiny sea creatures to large slabs of fossilized seabed & everything in between. ​Their prices were fair and the variety they carry is unreal. ​I purchased this Trilobite fossil for Jason for under $10 and a piece of raw gold sheen obsidian for myself.

How cool is this?!
​We stumbled upon a real A&W Rootbeer complete with car hops!
​You know we pulled in for lunch & it was just as good as I remembered.
​Mmmmmm... A&W Roobeer in a frosted mug!

What a cute little town! We arrived in Ortonville in time to shop the local farmers market that lined the main street. I bought a loaf of banana bread, one of the few baked goodies left on their table. I was told they sold over 180 loaves of bread that morning! I'm not surprised. We snacked on banana bread for the rest of our stay. It was delicious!

There were plenty of booths to browse but I was drawn to the rock & crystal vendor. She had several beautiful specimens at great prices. I brought these beauties home to add to our collection. Did you know Sodalite glows under UV light?

Our next stop was Clarkston. Although I've been to many concerts at Pine Knob Music Theatre, this was my 1st visit to the downtown Clarkston area. It's an adorable little town filled with vibrant artwork. I loved it!

Clarkston's "Art in the Alley" exhibit features artwork created by local students. That's right, elementary to high school aged kids! Can you believe it?!?! Such talent. I was really blown away to read the ages of some these young artists. 

All of the artwork was incredible but one print really stood out for me. ​It was a mixed-media collage created by Yeisline Vargas-Morales, entitled "Dog." It was my absolute favorite piece. I love the expression the artist captured. Incredible talent for such a young age. Yeisline is a 5th grade student at North Sashabaw Elementary! 

We wandered around the downtown area eventually finding our way down to the old mill pond. Beautifully landscaped homes lined the waterway creating a peaceful oasis one block off Main Street. It looked like an awesome place to live. I would definitely visit this area again.

Saturday Wendy's daughter Hailey invited us to her new home for a BBQ. We were enjoying our visit as Hailey tended the grill when something in the distance caught my attention. It was a faint sound, barely audible, but it was the most magical sound in the whole wide world. And it was headed our way!!

So what brought us down to the Motor City anyway? You might laugh when I tell you. Wendy & I have been friends for 27 years now and we both agree, it's a good thing we didn't meet when we were teenagers or we'd both still be grounded! LOL We're in our 50's now but that doesn't stop us from doing all the things we weren't allowed to do when we were teens. And so, here we were. Two middle-aged women attending our very first stadium rock concert!

I owned every one of their albums back in the day. Yes, record albums! In fact, I still remember my conversation with my dad over Poison's "Look What The Cat Dragged In" album cover almost verbatim.

​We purchased our tickets almost 3 full years ago. The concert tour was postponed twice for COVID. Finally, the big day had arrived! We had excellent seats on top of the Visitor's Dugout at Tiger Stadium. It was my 1st time at Comerica Park. Here's a helpful hint. If you're planning a visit to Comerica Park take a credit card! Comerica Park is a CASHLESS facility!

​We had a wonderful time on our weekend away! Right up to our ride home. My old Buick Roadmaster broke down on the freeway just south of Saginaw on our way home. But that wasn't the worst of it. AAA left us stranded on the freeway for 4 hours before finally admitting that NO ONE was coming to our rescue!!

​Thank Heavens for my wonderful hubby! By phone from 200 miles away, Jason found us a tow truck within minutes after AAA had failed miserably. Our tow truck driver was awesome. He towed us all the way home to the repair shop & even made a pit stop for us too. Huge shout out to Austin of Mike's Wrecker Service of Saginaw for delivering us home safely! 

Cruising in style? At least we're cruising!
Wendy & I were all smiles riding home in the tow truck.

A weekend away was just what I needed. I think it's what we all need really. In the hustle & bustle of everyday life, it's easy to forget to charge our own batteries. So here's my best advice...