“Some people are just going to like marigolds,fluffy curtains and wallpaper borders.”

hmmmm. I recently said I would start trying to avoid sarcasm in all my emails and other electronic messages, but I can’t resist saying that I always love being reduced to a cultural stereotype.

Maybe marigolds are prevalent b/c (a) you can buy them anywhere —- groc stores,hardware stores, (b) they’re cheap, (c) they’re hardy, and (d) they are pretty much guaranteed to bloom a long time. I think so many people (like me) are not gardeners but have a notion each spring that we’d like to plant something. And many people don’t want to spend much effort on their annual planting so marigolds are an easy fix. I wonder too if what Susan said (“…[we see them ]often along streets and especially at gas stations. We’ve had to look at this tired old design scheme for, oh, 50 years now?”)explains in a psychological way why they’re popular. Maybe we feel soothed by the familiar, stuff from the gauzy past that we remember as innocent and simple.

Have I overthought this yet?

Pam (who has no fluffy curtains or wallpaper borders but plenty of other tacky stuff)