New Harmony and New Friends

What through youth
gave love and roses,
Age still leaves us
friends and wine.

by Thomas Moore

You all know I like to meet fellow bloggers. Not just any fellow bloggers, but the ones I speak with regularly and have established a relationship with. Albeit a online relationship-shhh-don't tell hubby!

Frances may not be too far off when she says she can see me traveling the country meeting fellow bloggers. One such blogger I wished to meet quite a while ago is Walk2Write. I knew she lived in Florida, but was in Illinois due to her husband's dream job of searching for oil. I had NO idea she was so close until she did a post and mentioned Carbondale. A light bulb went off. I knew I had heard of Carbondale and thought it might be close. It was quite close. I then set out to get a hold of Walk2Write to approach her with a meeting. Always a bit of an awkward thing because truly you don't know how the other person will react. Many are so afraid of meeting others from the Internet. To my delight, Walk2Write was open to the idea. Plans were made, telephone numbers exchanged and anticipation set in.

Now where to meet? How about a little city called New Harmony in Indiana? New Harmony....New Friends....hmmm...see a common thread here? New Harmony is a perfect town and Walk2Write was awfully kind to pick an area close enough we could drive to easily. I was not familiar with the area but she suggested we meet at the quaintest little restaurant called The Red Geranium. It had a darling little garden out front with some really huge turnips (thanks to the Jimster for identifying them), cardoon, Diamond Frost, and of course-geraniums. Scented ones that were huge! It also had a lovely seating bench where two garden bloggers met for a photo opportunity by more than willing husbands with cameras (a funny sight).

After a delicious lunch and some really good conversation around the table (and an even better photo op that Walk2Write has), we toured the town on foot. It was rumored there was a labyrinth in New Harmony. Well, after a bit of walking, we found the labyrinth. It was way cool. Looking at it from outside of it you would believe the shrubs were one solid mass of greenery. But what you can't see in the first picture is the multitude of paths that take you around this large labyrinth. I believe it was intended as a contemplative garden.

I had never heard of New Harmony and wondered what its background was all about. It was clear walking through the beautiful town that this was a religious town. I had never heard of Harmonists or Harmony, so thought I'd do a little bit of research. The Harmonists sounded like a pretty good sect, ones who valued gardens, peace and love judging by the many religious buildings in town.

Wikipedia says New Harmony was settled by the Harmony Society; which was founded by Johann Georg Rapp. The Harmonists left Germany after being religiously persecuted. I am not going into total detail, but it is interesting to note that the Harmonists settled in three areas of the United States; Harmony, Pennsylvania, then New Harmony, Indiana, then they returned to Economy, Pennsylvania (now Ambridge, Pennsylvania). The town still is very close to its German roots and was a super place to spend the day.

But back to our meeting with Walk2Write and her husband. Many of you know her husband is a geologist. What a cool job! I mean really cool! Mr. Walk2Write brought the Jimster a little gift that relates to his job as a geologist. And I want to say Mr. Walk2Write, if Jimmy chooses to become a geologist I will be grateful to you. This kit full of stones was quite the gift. The cards identifying them all and telling some folklore and history were very fun and educational. We all loved this kit of stones. In fact, I tried very hard to convince the Jimster it was given to me, but he wasn't buying it at all. lol

All kidding aside, I am hesitant to mention gifts at all because I do not want people to get the wrong impression on meeting bloggers. The real gift of meeting bloggers and the folks we talk to each day on our blogs is meeting the person behind the words. The person who brings great conversation all across the web on a regular basis. The person that can joke with you on the web and get it to come across well. That is not an easy thing to do on blogs at all. The person who is willing to carpool all the way to Chicago with you. The person who can talk and relate and with whom you have something in common. I have met many bloggers and all have made my day, been very nice and giving and talkative. Walk2Write, it was a joy spending those hours with you and Mr. Walk2Write. Mr. Fix-it, the Jimster and I sure had a super time. We look forward to visiting again soon.

Oh yes, the poem opening this post. The Walk2Writes gave us a bottle of wine. On the bottle of wine it had a sweet card with this poem. Inside of the card it said, "Enjoy the Wine Dear Friend". I was very touched by this card. We look forward to sharing this bottle with our new friends in Illinois soon. The last picture was one of many sayings inside the chapel at the center of the labyrinth. How perfect it is, though I did not intentionally take a picture of the saying involving friendship.

in the garden....

You can read Walk2Write's post on our meeting here. Do stop by and say hello to her!