I delivered just three bouquets to The Garden of Ideas, before work at Cooper Mulch last week. I have worked part time at Cooper's for quite a few years, but it was Joe Keller from the Garden that introduced me to “Sweet Peet” so many years ago.

I had been a customer of Cooper’s long before I was an employee. I just love that I can wear my Birkenstocks, Uggs, or moccasins. No more high heels for me. And, I love the products we sell, the mulch, soil, compost, fish, plants, fountains and ponds. I grew beautiful lotus in a pot for years! I not only captured it’s beauty, but got to inhale it’s fragrance.

I often visit the Garden to admire it’s beauty. For me, it is like going to church. I reflected on the privilege I once had in picking a bountiful, beautiful bouquet of lilies for the wonderful, but ailing, Mr. Robert Stanger, reading specialist at Scotland Elementary School. I had Joe’s permission, who also admired Mr. Stanger's pedagogy, as did many. "Your vocabulary is the yardstick by which others measure your intelligence" he used to say.

When I called to ask Bob if he would be home, he had to turn down the opera music. He was thrilled to receive the bouquet. I had chosen just the right colors.

Here is to you, Bob Stanger.