Awesome yesterday

Yesterday, I went out with lorac. First we went to lunch for a large sushi feed. Then we packed in the car and drove out to our kindof-local needlework store. We both had a bunch of pieces to be framed, and I wanted to stock up anyway.

I picked out matching frames for Widget's birth announcement and it's companion, and a fairly plain ole wooden frame for the wedding gift that I finished a week or so ago (I *hate* picking out frames
for gifts, I'd much rather take the recipient to the store with me and pay for the frame, but they live in NYC, so it wasn't practical). She was getting a piece I had made for her, one her mom had done, and two of her own framed. Widget even mostly behaved for the entire time we were picking out frames.

Actually, Widget behaved admirably all day - she was good at lunch, despite being due for a nap. She liked miso soup, and liked teriyaki chicken too. And as usual, charmed the waitresses. She napped on the way out to the store, and was good while we shopped. It helped that the store had a basket of toys ion one corner, which kept her occupied when she got bored with being carried around.

Then, the shopping. I got presents. I also got kits to make sachets for my grandmother, and Wiley's grandmother for Christmas, and the chart for Le Printemps. Don't let the picture fool you, its stitch count is 384x295, or something incredibly ridiculous. I have NO idea when I'll be starting this one, but it is absolutely gorgeous. But the fabric and floss for it will easily run $50-75, so I may have to hold off for a little while.

Altogether, between framing, new kits and present buying, I spent a good deal of money yesterday. Ouch. But oooooh, was it worth it!

Garden-y goodness

I spent most of this afternoon digging up the bulbs I planted last fall. When they came up this spring, they were too far apart and looked straggly, and I've decided I want to change how it looks. I'm going to mix them in with the rest of the plants in the bed bordering the edge of the front yard, instead of having a big triangle. We'll try to get the triangle to go back to grass. Hopefully it will co-operate. I've got to get some more mulch to cover the few areas that aren't covered, but I shouldn't need too much more. It was neat in digging them up, to see how many of them are propagating further bulbs on them, spreading their flower-y goodness. I'd wondered how, in planting the bulbs 6-8 inches apart like the books recommend, that people have the giant clumps of daffodils, crocuses and irises, but I guess I know now.

The other really neat things was feeling just how warm the earth was from the sun. Most of the gardening I've done before today was in the spring, before the ground really warmed up. Today was different - as far down as I was digging, the earth was warm. It felt so vibrant and life affirming to be working with it. Or maybe I'm just silly.

In other news, every tomato plant I've put in this year has at least one little tomato hanging on it. And my yellow squash, zucchini and cucumber plants all have buds or flowers on them. The only plants that aren't showing signs of vegetable producing are the peppers and eggplant. I am SO excited!