Thursday, April 30, 2020

Eavesdropping and laughing

Walking a garden, or nursery, I try to be conscious of of the dialogue happening around me. Some might call it eavesdropping, I call it being aware of my surroundings. I love the little bits of conversation I overhear. During my visit to the Huntington Gardens in December (posts still to come) I was privy to the exchange between a couple of young students working an educational booth, and a family visiting the garden.

The students had just explained and shown cochineal to part of the family group. The newly educated were amazed!

"That white fuzzy mess is a bug? And it makes pink dye? NO WAY!" Yes, way. An important detail, my story rests on the fact they were told it makes pink dye, not red dye.
photo of cochineal from my visit to The Lodge on the Desert in Tucson, I didn't see any actual cochineal at the Huntington
 
When you say "pink dye" kind of fast it can be heard as "pink eye"... so you had one part of the family excited to show the other part where pink dye comes from...

"You guys this is where pink dye comes from! Here touch it...."
... "Pink eye!"... "I don't want to touch it, I don't want to get pink eye!"

...and around and around they went. One side saying pink dye and the other hearing pink eye, and both sides getting more and more exasperated with each other.

I just giggled quietly to myself and walked on, admiring the opuntia...

Weather Diary, Apr 29: Hi 74, Low 53/ Precip .01

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. Funny! I've heard some funny things in gardens too. At Chicago Fling, touring the Lurie Garden, the hort person touring us around pointed out the salvia "river" running through the garden. Two passing dudes looked at each other and smirked, and one said, "Saaaaalvia." They weren't talking about the ornamental kind!

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    1. Ha! That's pretty fabulous. I wish I would have been able to attend that Fling, I've never been to Chicago.

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  2. Amazing bit of info about where the red dye comes from. I would find it difficult to keep quiet and not try to end the silliness of that conversation :-)
    Bug or no but, the last photo is a particularly fetching vignette!

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    1. I just hate coming across as the know-it-all, sometimes it's better to just listen.

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  3. Thanks for the giggle - Pink eye indeed.

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    1. Right! Ha. Wish you would have been there with me... (miss you!)

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  4. LOL, this was a great conversation to overhear!

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    1. I've heard some great ones in my days, this one is right up there.

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  5. How could anyone pay attention to anything but those incredible Opuntia!

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  6. Overheard coming out of the Rodin Museum in Paris: "why...that was just...OBSKEENE!"
    rickii

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  7. Cochineal reminds me (very fondly) of my nan (my dad's mum).

    Back in the 70s my sister and I used to visit her at the weekend and she would cook us a lovely Sunday roast and then we would have custard for dessert and we would always have Cochineal added to it.

    At the moment I feel quite serene thinking about my nan, she was a lovely old lady. Thank you for reminding me of her :)

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    1. I am so glad to help bring back what sound like lovely memories.

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  8. Your story sounds like the garden equivalent of the Abbott & Costello exchange "Who's on First?"

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  9. Hilarious! Thanks for sharing that, Loree, I need to laugh a lot more these days.

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  10. Oh, that last scene is delicious! Hey, you were in a public place, so...it's impossible to ignore interesting conversations. [snicker]

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