Note to Self: Check the Battery

This morning at Trade Secrets, I pulled out my digital camera to take a photo at 7:15 AM of volunteers Karin Gerstel of Lime Rock Station and Peter Felske of Amesville. I was planning to document all the Falls Village faces at the benefit plant and antiques sale for Women's Support Services (as well as celebrities like Martha Stewart who was buying plants as if her life depended on it.) Alas, I had forgotten to recharge my battery and thus you won't see pictures of Brian Munson supporting his wife, Deb, by working as a vendors assistant and carting urns and ferns to the "pick-up" area. You won't see Sievert McCabe helping out his mother, Nancy, nor see Bunny Williams greeting shoppers under the tent for Treillage, her garden antiques shop in New York. You won't see Tino Galluzzo (who has become a de-facto resident of Falls Village because he spends so much time at Toymaker's) directing traffic. You won't see Dawn Estern or Nancy Hodgkins gamely shopping in the rain. You won't see Naomi Blumenthal, who helped start Trade Secrets when she worked as Bunny's gardener, telling Tom Scott of Falls Village Flower Farm that he has the biggest and healthiest plants. And you won't see Eric Ruquist, Bunny's extraordinarily gifted chief gardener, but that's because he wasn't there: Bunny made him stay home this year because they are expecting hundreds of people tomorrow for a Charity Garden Tour, which also benefits Women's Support Services. If you have never seen the wonderland that Eric and Bunny create together, buy a ticket (which also gets you into two other beyond-belief gardens) and treat yourself to an unforgettable experience and support WSS at the same time.