The simple title is perhaps reminiscent of planting in the springtime, or of a person's fondness for the brightly–colored vegetables; yet a reader, no doubt would be surprised to discover the true nature of the verse, which tells of the calamity a much younger Phipps visited upon her brother years ago.

"I can still remember how you looked wiping your tongue on Mama's dress," Phipps, a resident of North Christian, recalls in the poem she penned in 1997.

The writing is but one of hundreds of similar stories Phipps has put to paper since her earlier school days in Crofton; in recent years, she has embraced her craft even more and begun recording verses for family, friends and others who enjoy her work.

Inspired by memories of her childhood and the local community, she readily shares stories of how she gave her brother, Roger Barnes of Huntsville, Ala., a hot pepper when they were children, of spankings she received for climbing atop an old coal shed and of one memorable day at school when a classmate flattened some old stovepipes with his feet.

She writes of local people and places, from the popular Ferrell's Snappy Service eatery downtown to tales of radio personality Dink Embry, former teacher Hazel Ray and broadcast journalist Jim Love.

Encouraged by Ray, Phipps wrote her first lines during a classroom exercise and blossomed under Ray's praise. In notebooks at home, she continued her work, writing poems, short stories and other pieces that she kept in notebooks under her mattress.

Phipps, who was born in Crofton, eventually married and left her notebooks behind. But the need to write stayed with her and she began picking up her pen once again. Most of her pieces have been written since 1995, when she acquired a computer and decided to complement her poetry with graphics.

Just recently Phipps also printed some business cards and has sold a few pieces of her work. She hopes to be able to publish her work professionally, but she says that likely is not a realistic idea.

"I really always wanted to have a poem book," she says. "But you have to work every day, and that's kind of a dream world. You just go on and do your regular work to get a paycheck."

Yet it is time and again that Phipps will pick up a pen and scratch down a few lines unbidden from her mind's eye. The words usually come easily, and she can write a poem in as little as 10 minutes.

A good night at home may yield three or four poems if the house is quiet and she is not tired.

Phipps edits and adds graphics to her pieces on the computer, but she much prefers to write them in her notebooks.

"I sit down when I'm in the mood or when an idea hits," she explains. "Mostly, I write about my childhood and things we did when we were growing up."

From her pen spring memories of her school days, tributes to special people and stories about nature from butterflies to Christmas snow.

Yet perhaps one of her more poignant stories is about Ray and how the long–ago teacher helped a little girl adjust to a new school and instilled in her a love of writing.

Phipps fondly remembers how Ray would read stories about Black Beauty and other horses to her students, and she records these memories in her poem about the teacher.

Likewise, in one tribute to the now deceased Embry, Phipps recalls memories of listening to him sing "There Ain't No School" over the radio.

Yet she is just as happy writing about other people's memories, which she does often if those who know her talents ask for a poem.

Close friend and mentor Louise Juckett said it's no trouble for Phipps to take a topic somebody has given her and write a poem with a message that is easy to understand.

"Elsie can say anything you want to say to anybody in a poem," Juckett said. "She has such a talent."

Juckett first became aware of Phipps' poems when her friend began bringing them to work to share with her; impressed with her friend's abilities, she has since encouraged Phipps to begin selling her material, and Phipps has printed some business cards.

Calling her new venture Personal Poetry, she has already sold a few pieces, yet she remains awestruck by the thought that somebody would want to hang her finished work in their homes.

"That was really inspiring to me, to think that people would want these in their houses," she observes. "It makes me happy that I've touched their emotions and they like what I'm doing."

Phipps says she gets a personal satisfaction from her work as well. Writing has helped her notice things a person normally would overlook… like the colors and seasons and the numerous bright yellow butterflies that are abundant in the fall, she says.

Writing also gives her "a chance to escape some of the things in my life," according to Phipps, and she shares her appreciation of its healing properties in one of her poems.

"A midnight dance at the edge of the woods as songs spill forth from the heart," reveal the lines of Phipps' "Dance of Freedom."

"The wind takes her troubles and casts them aside as the stars become her stage," she continues later in her narrative. "…She gains once again the strength that she needs to face whatever life brings."