A Beautiful Day

 


It was warm today.  Warm enough for me to have breakfast on the patio, which I did.  It got up to 75 this afternoon.  It was glorious.  I spent most of the day outside.


 


I used a shovel to uncover these four patio blocks that THE RAT had spread dirt all over when digging its burrow.  I know it doesn't look like much but it was fun to unearth these blocks.




My peace lily is blooming.  It has one white flower poking up out of all of the shiny green leaves.






 

The grape hyacinths are blooming like crazy all across the front of the house.





                                       And the pink tulip is about ready to open.









I knitted a bit on Stuck-at-Home Warshrag #3.  Two more rows of blocks and it's on to #4.






                                     Tonight's sunset was a good one.


02 May--Barbara Malcolm, Tropical Obsession. 

Mona and Jack had been on the island for less than a month when they saw Manning in the bar at the Plaza Resort. They had gone there for dinner and were sitting in the bar afterwards listening to the jazz quartet playing softly in the corner.

Manning had the look of an adventurer, tanned and fit, wearing khaki shorts and a chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He came into the room and paused in the doorway where he removed his hat and sunglasses, shook out his golden blond curls, and waved at someone across the room.

Mona noticed him immediately. His air of confidence and the crinkles in the corners of his blue eyes sent a little zing up her spine. She reached her foot over and stroked Jack’s shin.

He looked up from trying to fish the olive out of the bottom of his martini and said, “What?” 

A sensuous smile curved her lips. “Oh, nothing.” 

He frowned at her, looked around the room, caught sight of Manning and snorted. “That’s a bit too rough for you, my dear.  Better lower your sights.”  And then he went back to chasing the olive in his glass with a swizzle stick.

Mona pushed out her lower lip in a pout that she had seen Judy Holiday use in an old movie once. That pout had gotten a lot of mileage Mona remembered.

Too bad Jack was immune to womanly wiles, he was more of a shot and a beer guy deep down, but he had made a lot of money in the dry cleaning business in a few medium-sized cities in Indiana and a lot more money when he sold out to a giant conglomerate ten years ago.  Jack had a battery of lawyers and a crack investment banker who had done nothing but increase his money no matter how much he spent. That was not to say that Jack was not ruthless. Jack was very ruthless. He liked to tell people that he had gotten his fortune through a connection with organized crime, but Mona suspected that he was too much of a bully to have ever been a part of that life. The fact that Jack’s last name was Spencer instead of something Italian also helped plant seeds of doubt.

My neighbors invited me to their fire tonight so I smell faintly of wood smoke.  There was popcorn too.  It was nice and felt almost normal, even while social distancing.
--Barbara