I Think There's A Law...

... that you can't go to the garden center and buy just one plant.  The oregano didn't survive so I had to stop today for another one.  I really meant to just pick up one $3 herb plant but evidently it's against some natural law, that buying one plant is like eating one potato chip, you just can't do it.  (she says as she munches on a snack bag of 9 bacon-flavored Ritz Crisps [2 WW points])  So I got the Golden Oregano I went for, a Lemon Variegated Thyme (I love variegated yarn, why not buy variegated plants?), a Peppermint, and a Spearmint.  What?  They were all 20% off--which means I should have bought another herb, that would have been like getting one free.  Now there's logic for you, a prime example of "women's shopping logic."  Do you think it's genetic or learned?


Before I went out erranding I put on my thickest leather work gloves, grabbed a pokey, digger thing, and went next door to vanquish this stand of thistles.  Our renters have been very busy having a new baby and planning a wedding and I don't pay much attention so a couple of these things were waist high on me.  Now, I'm not very tall so it's not hard for things to grow waist high on me but these thistles were determined to stay in the ground.  I prevailed and only poked myself a few times.


Yesterday afternoon while the laundry went round and round, I sewed up the first Tablesetters Placemat.  It's a double thickness of upholstery fabric with some of that non-slip shelf liner on the back with bias tape holding the layers together.  I spent the rest of laundry time trimming the strings off the edges of pieces of fabric and ironing them so that when I want to sew something with it all I'll be ready.  I didn't get anywhere near done with that little project but, trust me, there's plenty of fabric for me to sew up without needing to buy more.  Plenty.

After supper I decided to cast on a preemie hat and use the helical stripe method I used for the last pair of socks.  As you can see I only got three rounds knitted before I heard the siren call of the Sandman and toddled off to dreamland.  The other two colors will be cream and coral but I'll do a few more rounds of the lilac for the rolled brim before I add them in.

Speaking of supper, I can not express how much I love plain old chicken on the grill.  Not with barbecue sauce, not even salted & peppered, just naked chicken with skin and bones slapped over hot charcoal and cooked for 45 minutes.  Mm, that's good eatin'. Even only taking one bite of the crispy skin and then throwing the rest away, it is some of the best stuff there is.  Plus that little pound of boneless pork chunk I marinated and grilled along with the chicken is going to make two suppers of pork fried rice.  You totally wish you were coming to supper. All week, because there's plenty of chicken left.  Mwa-ha-ha-ha.

June 4--Linen Postcard, A Winter Scene on the Mojave Desert.  Lea stared through the windshield at the mountains.  No matter how fast she went or how long she drove they stayed firmly on the horizon.  The road was straight and flat and after a few hours she began to feel like her car was stationary and the scenery was moving.  Well, all except for those mountains out there in the distance.  The sun had shifted and came baking through the window making her left arm feel like it was on fire.  If she was hot and bored she figured that Nicholson, her terrier mutt rescue dog, was hot and thirsty.  "Next piece of shade we come to we're taking a break," she said to the little brown and white dog snoozing in the passenger side foot well right under the air conditioner vent.  He lifted an ear and peeked at her with one eye as if you say "you talking to me?"

I walked this morning and I'm happy to report that I was just about a half-mile in before my legs and back started aching.  This is a great improvement over the last time when I didn't get 100 yds. from home before my leg muscles tried to convince me to turn around.  Too much sitting, too much knitting.  Gotta change.  Gotta go get my new herbs in the ground.  Dirty fingernails, here I come.
--Barbara