First bouquet, the gardener revealed, and nostalgia

This morning I went out to mosey about the deck before it got warm, not very hot today but very humid, and picked the first little bouquet of the year.

Daisies and sage, in an antique Trenton Potteries pot, probably 1890s, and the faithful white Herendt porcelain hound.

Newer readers: every year I make little bouquets from what's growing at my house, in a very small area. It's surprising how many flowers there are. 

Soon there will be zinnias which I plant as seeds for my cutting garden, posh term for three containers. I also have various wildflowers coming up in containers. 

And I got out walking not wishing to miss a day before the heat comes back. It's important for my spirits to walk on grass under the trees, and my spirits have been flagging lately, one thing and another.

We'd had a lot of rain so I had to stay on the sidewalk. That worked out fine because I finally met the gardener who created a lovely small area down the street, all kinds of flowers and ideas. 

Cinder blocks lining the walkway with flowers growing up from them, all kinds of interesting containers, great thought put into a tiny area.

She was sitting on the path weeding when I passed, nice very old Japanese lady, maybe with not much English because her side of the chat was smiling and nodding and making modest little hand gestures at my compliments.  But that explains the meticulous care of the area year round. She knows what she's doing and does it.

Another person that's true of is Marion, multi talented YouTuber from my home territory. 

Today she was at a flea market, with great old items, and she chatted with a number of stall holders. Oh, the lovely northeastern voices! It was heavenly to be among them for a while.

Go there if you want to hear the sound of home to me. In this blog, there's Suzanne who's heard me many times, probably too many, on Spoutible pods, so she can tell us if these are my people!

Marion is wildly talented, from stitching and embroidery to gardening and diy, I don't think there's anything she can't do, and she's so good humored with it.

Reading is still in Tudor times, and now Jane's husband and Anne Boleyn are gone, but Cromwell has brought Jane Boleyn back to court as his spy now Jane Seymour is Queen. The plot keeps on thickening. Tudor history has so few names, trying to keep the Janes and Annes and Marys and Thomases and Williams straight.

Happy day everyone, tired day today, but I did get the chicken roasted and the potatoes parboiled ready for quick food, also custard. 

And I'm getting ready to make a belt with these colors 

It's going to be another clasped weft with orange and purple main weft colors and yellow for the warp threads. 

And I'll weave in a slit at one end,  tapestry style, to slip the other end through, to fasten it.  Fancy stuff. If I set this up tomorrow I'll have it ready for being occupied indoors later in the week. Be prepared!  

Happy day everyone, don't be like Gary who cut a bunch of weeds then came running over this morning, to show me, in a panic in case it was poison ivy to which he's very sensitive, and we have a lot of it. Once again I identified it as Virginia creeper, it's usually Virginia creeper, so he went away calmer.