Larry's

Today after school, I took Brianna to our standard meeting place in the Ocala National Forest where her grandmother was coming to collect her for a couple of days. The air conditioning only works on high in my car at the moment and we were tired of high, so we unrolled the windows. Brianna had brought along a Shania Twain CD and she was laughing that we were quite the country girls on the back roads!

As I was driving through Altoona, (population 88, area .5 square miles per 2000 census) I noticed Larry's.

Mental note: Stop a Larry's on the way home.

There were some cool looking blanket flowers there. Apparently, they grow really well in our area, but nobody sells the ones with the great big blooms. They are a winner for Larry because I am not the only person stopping by to see if I can purchase some of those flowers. Unfortunately, they were planted! Larry did tell me that he was collecting seeds for next year.

So, now I am at Larry's, and I am not going to get blanket flowers. Larry's little nursery is in the front yard of his trailer home. I think I should buy something...fortunately, this is not a problem, because he has some great stuff.

I finally decided on two Rose of Sharon plants and a hanging basket. I had left my purse in the car. I asked Larry, "Do you take Visa?" No, he doesn't. He takes cash and checks. I don't carry checks and I seldom have cash, but I think I might have some. So I tell him that I need to check and see if I have enough money.

"Oh, don't worry. You can take the plants and drop the money by whenever it is convenient."

I did have enough cash. And Larry has new patron!