Coming home after a time away is always — well — interesting. It seems my family almost always manages to acquire something — often something questionable — in my absence. This time was no different.

I spent the first part of June on the West Coast. I left Toronto on May 27 for Vancouver to attend the annual conference of the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners. Because the Advocis annual conference and general meeting was in Victoria, June 14-17, I decided to forgo the trip back to Toronto and stay in the West. So I fit some holidays into the days between the two conferences.

I hung out in Vancouver and did a little sailing (providing ballast and not much else). I visited friends in Kelowna, and together we did some sampling of B.C. wineries. (I was very good at that.)

Then I had a few days visiting friends in Victoria and exploring the countryside (let me recommend a visit to Butchart Gardens).

In all, I was away three weeks — leaving my husband Norm and oldest daughter Kate without my influence for 21 days. And Norm and Kate are a dangerous combination. It seems that while I was sampling wines, they were watching infomercials.

Norm loves a gimmick and I am afraid, in this respect, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He also likes to garden and regularly wrestles Kate for the title of chief gardener.

I also know Norm has been very busy this spring and although the front garden is looking very good, the side garden has been looking a little sparse.

Enter Roll ’N Grow — as seen on TV.

Shortly after I arrived home, Norm and Kate announced with great enthusiasm that the Roll ’N Grow had arrived. Having not watched television for the past month or so, the significance of this passed me by. But the two of them were only too happy to explain.

Roll ’N Grow looks like a 25-cm-wide piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting. But it is more than that. It is loaded with more than 2,000 seeds.

Essentially you roll it out in the area where you would like to have flowers, apply water — lots of water, twice a day — and wait 15-30 days for the flowers to grow.

Two For One

Because Norm and Kate ordered right away, they received the special offer: two three-metre rolls of Roll ’N Grow for the price of one. One roll has been installed in the side garden. Roll two has been earmarked for the window boxes.

We have only to wait. In the meantime, anyone who didn’t know would think we have given up gardening for indoor/outdoor carpeting. But we have lived in this neighbourhood for more than 30 years. I keep thinking our neighbours must be used to us by now.

Besides, it puts the 19 bottles of wine I acquired in British Columbia into perspective. I can sit on the porch and enjoy the wine while I wait for the flowers to grow.

The only trouble is I am now off to Whistler, B.C., for the first annual conference of the IDA-Trade Association.

It seemed, when I made the reservations, that taking a few days vacation time on the end would be a good idea. Now I am wondering.

This time I’ll be gone 10 days. What will those two get up to while I’m away? Just what will await me when I return home?