Early Gardening

I took myself out into the garden this morning when I saw peeks of red out there.  See?  And more to come.  I pinched flowers off the basil and then admired the coneflowers.  That made me wonder how the Black-eyed Susans are doing.  They're blooming just fine, thanks.  But I especially liked seeing the sunrise through the fence.


I've been knitting on the Make It Even ankle sock and discovered that I won't be making it to the end of the toe with this yarn.  There I was, knitting along, minding my own business last night at the City Band concert when I pulled out a tape measure to see how far I had to go before decreasing for the toe and saw that I had only a teensy bit more yarn for something like 2 more inches PLUS the toe.  Not gonna make it.  So I scrounged in the sock yarn bin when I got home and found this tonal orange red Fixation left over from a previous ankle sock.  I think it'll do fine, don't you?  Besides it'll be in my shoe.  Who's going to see it?

It's time to start making real preparations for our Wild West jaunt which is coming up.  That means someone (not me this time) will be spending a few hours this weekend counting out nuts and snacks into zipper snack bags for in the car treats.  I wonder if I made a packing list 2 years ago?  I'll have to search around to see.

August 7--George Barker, Stern-Wheeler Arriving at Silver Springs, Florida, after an Overnight Run up the St. Johns, Oklawaha, & Silver Rivers.  The steamer was loud, hot and dirty, and Larissa couldn't wait to get off.  The trip downriver had been smooth but three days confined on a boat was too long for someone used to freedom.  She had kept her eyes down and kept to herself during the trip staying far away from the gamblers and drinking men in the saloon and the soldiers that crowded the decks.  She felt the boat slow and change direction.  She stood on tiptoe to see out the tiny cabin porthole and watched a man rowing a boat nudge the much larger riverboat toward the dock.  Now if she could only get off and melt into the crowd without being stopped.

It's another work day.  I know, another one so soon?  But Mrs. Boss is counting on me and I'm sure there'll be throngs of dive guys pounding on the door when I get there.  I'll have to elbow my way through to unlock the door.  No, not really but I have discovered that if I'm there in good time no one comes in for quite a while.  If, however, I am running a bit late someone's in the parking lot pointedly looking at his watch.  I try very hard to be there on time, and I'm usually successful.  So I need to go wash up, eat a bit and flee.  Toodles.
--Barbara