I wrapped my arms around my daughter and complained, “Your visits go by so fast! I wish you could stay longer.” After spending a wonderful weekend together, it was time for Tammie to return to her home. Her car was packed and ready to go.  

Tammie assured me, “I’m coming home again in four weeks, and we’ll visit the New Life Lavender Farm in Baraboo. That’s something nice to look forward to, isn’t it? I’ll call Niki to see if she and the kids would like to come with us. It’ll be an educational field trip.”

Waving goodbye as my daughter drove out of the yard, I smiled. Tammie liked to cheer me up by turning my thoughts to activities we would do during her next visit. I thought, “I’m so lucky to have such a thoughtful daughter.”

Lavender plants do well in my garden and some years I even get them to survive winter. But my sweet-scented lavender plants with their small, demure blossoms do not get used to their full potential. I like how they look, but don’t have a clue how to use them other than displayed in a vase.

Four weeks later Tammie was home for another visit. She said, “We need to get to the farm by eleven in the morning on Friday if we want to ride a hay wagon around the lavender fields.” That morning we packed lunch in an icebox. There were eight of us in Niki’s van including my sister, Agnes. We arrived at the farm 15 minutes before the tour, enough time for us to scope out the gift shop where we found a surprising number of lavender-themed products to buy, foods to eat and drink.

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