Into the Garden --


I have never been much of an outdoor person.  I am allergic to everything and really don't like being hot which is a bad thing since I live in Texas.  However, this year I seem to have a change of heart -- I am ready to embrace the outdoors -- right after I take my Claritin.

Saturday we went for a little shopping at our neighborhood plant nursery and picked up just a very few things.

Archie's Gardenland, Fort Worth, Texas

Lovely pink geraniums -- we didn't buy these

Peach and yellow Cannas -- or these

Very round, puffy hanging baskets with something purple in them - or these

Superbelles-- these came home with us!!

 We came home and Hubby got right to work.  We don't generally plants a lot of seasonal things but we do have a few pots and hanging baskets that we like to fill with things that we have learned do well in the spots we have placed the pots.  So, here is the results of his labor

Lovely pink Superbells

The little crabapple tree we planted two years ago -- growing nicely

Crabapple tree with the Skullcap at the base

Purslane

Purslane

And yet more purslane

The large Crabapple tree on the side

Somewhere in this hot mess is Arlo and his fairy door.  I think I will be relocating my little gnome as soon as I can find him!

So, that is the garden early in the season.  We have lots of work to do, everything needs to be washed down which I had intended to do today but it just didn't happen.  I am looking forward to getting it all spiffed up, though, because I really want a cuppa out on my patio!

Musing Mondays (Apr. 28)

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

The Library

Every week or so we take our granddaughter to the library.  She loves the library.  In fact, we took her to our local used book store the other day and she thought she was at the library and gathered herself up quite a stack of books.  Ha! That is another post.

However, as we were standing in line at the LIBRARY I noticed a lovely mystery book on one of the display shelves close by.  It is "Death Comes to the Village" by Catherine Lloyd.  Being the sucker for covers that I am, I snatched it up and brought it home.  It is the first time, in a very long time, that I have checked out a library book for myself and I was surprised at the exhilaration that came over me -- just like when I was a kid.  The library was one of my favorite places and I could lose myself there for hours and that was exactly how I felt this time.

I brought home one book that grabbed my attention, not a stack of random reads off a sale table.  I was excited to read this one book, not just put it on the shelf for "someday".  It brought back many great childhood memories.  I didn't realize that just one borrowed book could do that.

So, my thought of the day is that maybe it is a good thing that the B&N near me closed.  I have often said that the library is under utilized, under respected and should be protected. Maybe I need to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.  The library near my house is a short car ride away, much closer than B&N, maybe I should be going there instead.  I sure did like the way it felt.