Okay, I Lied...

... I had one more plant to plant and I did that today.  Stein's Garden Center has coupons in their Sunday ad every week for 2 plants, usually annuals, for $1.99 each and this past Sunday they were for a coleus and a tuberous begonia.  How could I resist?  I planted the coleus in one of the cauldrons in front and took a couple days to think about the begonia.  I ended up digging out a plain old clay pot and some potting soil and parking it on the crumbling park bench I stole, uh, junk picked from St. Norbert College's trash pile almost 20 years ago.  Of course I chose a red one, what other color is there?



In other plant news I finally went around to the west side of the house to find a poppy blossom and a yellow iris just about ready to bloom.  I think this looks like one of those painfully precise Japanese flower arrangements, don't you?




In the corner of the garden more poppies are getting ready to bloom.  There are quite a few of these fuzzy buds growing taller than the jagged leaves.  I just love these buds; they look like alien fruit to me.

On the yarn front, I added probably 2" of rows to the Montparnasse Cardi sleeve but it looks pretty much exactly the way it did the last time I showed it to you.  At Friday Night Knitting, DD, one of the original FNK-ers was in town visiting her ex (don't ask, I don't understand it either) and she brought a bag of yarn that she'd cleared out of her stash.  I glommed onto these cotton & acrylic skeins for dishcloth making.  I just love variegated yarn.  It's very difficult to resist grabbing a pair of needles to cast on (I even have a pattern in mind) but I'm determined to stick to my cardigan project monogamy as long as I can.  I only have about 6 more inches to knit before I have sleeve #2 finished and can start on a front.  I'd like to have it done by the fall when sweater weather comes around again.  Oh, LB said at FNK that Fair entries are open.  Woohoo!  I've decided to enter my Sudoku Afghan, a pair of fancy dishcloths, and maybe the play kitchen I sewed up for LC and OJ.  I'll have to poke around to see what other cool things I've made and hung onto over the past year.  Entering the Fair and maybe getting a ribbon is very satisfying especially since I'd never been to the fair before a couple years ago and never was in 4-H or anything else fair-worthy.  Also I am a dork.


June 2--Henri Lebasque, Bathers on the Edge of the River.  At the bend in the river downstream from the boat launch there was a quiet pool that was perfect for swimming.  The bottom was sandy and a gap in the trees let in the sunlight that warmed the bathers on the bank but the cool water kept it from becoming an oven.  It was a bit of a challenge to get to, no roads led there, so people parked on the logging road and had about a half mile to walk.  The distance discouraged...

Discouraged who?  What?  Haven't got a clue.  I'm sure I had a brilliant idea but the Sandman conked me over the head and away I went.  One thing I do really well is sleep.  In fact, I think I'll get ready to sleep some more pretty darned soon.  I had every intention of spending the afternoon downstairs sewing and cutting but ended up outside cutting off raspberry canes that didn't come back, hacking down volunteer bushes (I should probably put some Roundup on the parts I couldn't get out), and weeding across the top of the retaining wall. 
--Barbara