Friday, August 13, 2010

Ah, Hollywood...

Not many pictures of flowers this week for Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday.  Just an update on what's going on.........

Thank you to those who wished me well on the tv interview,  despite my best efforts, I survived!  I'm writing this very late on Thursday night, so being a lot tired and a bit loopier than usual, I thought I'd share with you what I put everyone through on Wednesday night.

We were trying to make the gardens presentable Wednesday evening, but the high temperatures and higher humidity and swarms of incessant mosquitoes made working impossible.  Around 7PM, Carl and Joel decided to spray the yard for the vampires, we couldn't imagine putting the film crew through an onslaught of them the next day.  While the guys were spraying, I decided to try a mini-photo shoot of my two last choices of attire for the interview.


I just want to clarify something, I am as bad as my mom, the Elusive Lucille, when it comes to pictures, I usually do my best to disappear whenever I see a camera, but I wanted to see the various ensembles which were actually purchased weeks ago--I was so proud of not procrastinating for once.
Hamming it up with a bad impression of a British Accent, "Welcome to the Wisconsin Gardener."
Oh, that's not the way I thought it would look  Next:
Is it a bird, or a plane?  No, it's me and sigh, this ain't doin' it for me either.
Two outfits down, not what I was looking for after viewing them onscreen.  I needed something plain.  Then I remembered I had an old black dress in the closet, hmmmmmmmmmmmm...............so I went and tried it on over my work jeans, complete with one knee pad.  I thought maybe I could do a segment on Safety in the Garden for the interview; so here is an alternate use for kneepads when working under trees containing angry, acorn-flinging squirrels, remember, Safety First:
Oh dear..................

Way too long, needs a hem, and despite my goofiness, best I've got.  Carl wasn't crazy about it, Joel said I'd look like a Marilyn Manson back-up singer, but I like black, so off to the sewing machine.  A couple of hours later, and a new hem, trading black pants for blue and really, really tired, here we go:


Off to bed by 1:30AM, where I tossed and turned, wow, my nerves were jittery.  Finally dozed off at some point, but Carl and I were back in the garden by 7AM Thursday morning,  trying to get the rest of the work done before the crew arrived at 8:45AM.

We ran in circles, picking up hoses and weed pails and shovels, pulling weeds that sprang up from nowhere, and trying to make things as neat as possible.  The humidity was so high that both of us were wringing wet with sweat; Carl's shirt was completely drenched.  But there was not one mosquito!

At 8:15, I headed to the house to shower and get ready.  None too soon for the camera crew was right on time.  The first thing we had to do was bring my hair dryer outside to dry out their video camera which had fogged up from being brought out into the humidity from the air conditioned van.
Crew arriving, 8:45AM Thursday--yup, that's me, the big black and blue lady!
The temperature was nearing 90 already at 9:30AM....here they finally settled on the best place to film the five minute segment, in the shade with the quarry behind us.

Left to right: me, getting my microphone, Kermin (sp?) and Shelley Ryan, host of Wisconsin Gardener
Film rolling, Shelley and I, hanging out, talking about the gardens
Did I mention the entire segment we taped today took from 9:30AM to about noon and will result in an estimated 5-6 minutes of footage?  Yup, all that work from  Shelley's dedicated film crew in nasty heat and humidity for five minutes.  We had to go over the interview three times so they have enough footage to edit  and wouldn't you know, the best interview with me was the first one, before they ran the camera.

For some reason (probably the fact the camera was now running) the second time through wasn't as good, and I think the third time through was worse, so they quit while they were ahead and before we melted completely.  I tried my best not to laugh like a hyena and Failed Miserably according to Carl; I tried to remain calm which isn't easy for me as I am a very nervous person by nature (though they said I seemed perfectly at ease--but then, what are they going to say?  'Calm down, you loon?!")  and tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about, which is easier said than done.

  Shelley was wonderfully patient with me as was the entire crew, couldn't ask for nicer people.  Too bad they didn't put a microphone on Carl for an interview and decide which one of was better; I know he would have been, but he didn't want to .  ( And don't worry, I didn't suggest we add my Knee Pad Helmet segment...............)

Filming interview


The crew took a lot of pictures from different places in the yard
They wanted to know if we had a golf cart---they wanted pictures on a slow crawl through the garden.  The best we could come up with was the weed trailer hooked on to the old riding lawnmower with the photographer kneeling in the back holding that big camera.  I took these pictures from the house as the camera would steam up immediately if I took it outside in the humidity:
Making sure the photographer doesn't fall out of the trailer
Parade continues


It was SO hot!!!
 So, they filmed a closing segment (without me, thank goodness) did some long shots of Carl and I walking around the garden and then came in the house to sip some ice water and check out the stained glass.  Teddy Dog entertained everyone with his antics and around 1PM, they were on their way.  It was a very memorable day!

I have no idea when the show will air, but I know it won't be until next spring, at the earliest.  Shelley said I will be able to link it to my blog, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.  Thank you all for the moral support, and wow, it's 3:30AM again....I bet I can sleep much better tonight
Oh, by the way, Screech Kitty will feature prominently in the video, he stayed right next to me on the lawn  for Feline Moral Support through the entire thing!


Karen

14 comments:

Diana LaMarre said...

What an exciting day that must have been! I am sure you will be great on camera. I hope they give you a video to put on your blog so I can see it!

Darla said...

I can't imagine how nervous you were! Is this the first time your gardens have been featured? If so, that's hard to believe, your gardens are so magazine/T.V. worthy!! How exciting!!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Oh Karen ~ I'm sure the segment will be wonderful after they edit it to the best parts. I would have been a wreck that's for sure. How cool that Screech Kitty stayed right by you, I do see him in the one picture above. It's going to be exciting to see this segment come spring. Do they have videos on you tube? I love seeing garden shows of real people's gardens.

Hope you and Carl have a nice quiet day today. Your gardens are fantastic, now you can relax.

FlowerLady

Susan said...

Well, Karen, you're famous now. ;-) I'm sure the show will come out very well. And what a thrill and compliment to be featured. Your gardens are absolutely gorgeous, so there could be no surprise why anyone would want to feature you. How wonderful, if not totally nerve wracking. I am with you, I try to avoid the camera at all costs. It's nice to be the one taking the photos. It's gotten so bad though, that for my very own birthday, there were only three shots of me. The rest were of everyone else. LOL Oh well, the incredible "invisible" me. :-)

I hope you have a lovely day and the humidity breaks for you soon. It's like walking into a wall of water here, too. In the house a lot this week. I'm sure most of us are just waiting for that 73 degree day.

Happy weekend,
Susan
http://simplepleasuressimpletreasures.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunflowers-sqaush-and-few-bees-oh-my.html

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Karen, I am so glad the day went well. The black looked great, but so did the blue. I can't believe you are getting the same heat we are. Someone just told me yesterday to go to Wisconsin to cool off - ha, ha!

Eileen

Alison said...

It must have been agonizing in the heat. Kudos to you on surviving the interview! I'm very interested in seeing it, I hope they let you link to it from your blog. Honestly, you looked wonderful in every one of the outfits you showed us. Like you, I hate to be photographed. Sweet Screech Kitty, I think he knew you were nervous and was trying to provide comfort.

Thanks for letting us know how it went!

Karen said...

Thank you Zoey, Yes, it was quite a day; Shelley said I will have a way to add the video to the blog when it's complete. I hope they do large amounts of editing!!!

Darla, well, yes, we've kinda been on TV before; we were filmed by our local TV news channel twice, back in 2006 for a segment on an upcoming area garden walk where they went around interviewing the six gardeners for publicity. One segment was taped and edited, but the second one was a live feed with me staring down a big camera and responding to a voice in my head (I mean ear--it was the guy back at the news station, asking me questions, lol, not my imagination) I should see if I could put them on the blog somehow, how funny and then you could hear my goofy guffaws. We just watched it the other day....I sure looked younger then and so was the Quarry part of the garden. As far as magazines go, we were contacted by one in 2005. They had a date to come and take some pictures but a week before I received a letter telling me they were sorry, but the magazine was going out of business. So, that was as close as we ever got to a magazine spread. Thanks, Darla!

Karen said...

Thank you FlowerLady, editing will be a monumental task but I know they are great at what they do. If you search for 'Wisconsin Public Television The Wisconsin Gardener' there is an archive of their past shows. I love to watch them, too. Screech had come out to greet everyone (we are the caretakers of HIS garden) and then flopped down on the cool grass between Shelley and I. The wonderful camera man, Frank, wanted to know if he could move him a little so the camera could see him better as I was all wired up for sound, so he gently turned Screech around and that's where he stayed for the whole thing.

Thank you, Susan, I don't know about famous, but it's official, I wouldn't want to be a garden show host. I'm thinking photographer would be a great job! Only three pictures of you on your birthday, how hilarious is that, the 'Incredible Invisible Susan', LOL! And you're right about the humidity, it's like working in a swimming pool. (As I'm writing this, another thunderstorm is pounding the house this morning........good grief!)

Thank you, Eileen! I don't think it would be worth the drive for cooler weather unless you head to Door County's lakeshore. We're supposed to hit 91 again today and tomorrow. There is a wedding party arriving here either today or tomorrow for pictures--what a day--and another wedding on Saturday, too....91 degrees in a long gown and tuxedos? Oh, boy...

Alison, aw, thank you very much. I'm a big girl and am always searching for the 'right' outfit to make me look instantly smaller. If I would have had time, I would have posted all the outfits first and asked for votes, but I didn't think of it til too late. The first designer to come up with a size-reducing garment that's not a girdle will make a fortune!

And yes, Screech is a big ham and a sweet sixteen years old this year; we have never had another cat like him.

It's raining again, I think I will sew today. Thanks to everyone for the support, it meant so much!!

Karen

Karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ginny said...

Everything looks fabulous, and I'd never guess how hot and humid it was - you look so cool and calm! I hope you got lots of sleep and that you have a restful weekend!

Junebug said...

Wow, Wow, I have a blog friend that is a TV Star, I feel so lucky. And yes, your garden is also a big star, simply beautiful!! I so hope you can link up to the finished product for I would love to see the video. Maybe I will just have to come to WI to watch it if not!! Now go and relax, oh wait, all the garden chores are calling. Hugs!! Have a great weekend!

DutchBakerGirl said...

You are amazing!I can't wait until you get the link for your blog...link it to facebook, too! Your gardens are so beautiful...it won't be long before you're in a magazine....

Ellada said...

Hello,
You are famous now :)
Me I would be so scare.

Beth said...

Karen, The area where you sat for the interview is so beautiful! Love your wrought iron table and chair. You could have tea or a coffee and a bagel out there in the morning. Like how you re-did the black dress - great job, Karen! Have a great wknd!
Beth