What a busy day! I rode my bike into town to go to my cleaning job and arrived at 7:50 a.m. This gave me the early start I needed because Rhiannon and I had plans to go to lunch and visit another greenhouse. She was home painting my mother's kitchen wall and doing laundry. She finished in time to come pick me up in town just before lunch time. She loaded my bike in the pickup and I got a free ride home! The wind had really kicked up considerably since I left in the morning and I wasn't relishing the thought of a slow-grade, uphill ride home against the strong west wind.
My old reliable bike needed a new tire a few years ago and we had an awful time fitting it. Clint offered to buy me a new bike and the story is pretty much the same as the tiller. I agreed to a new one only to be sorry later. (This same scenario happened with the best sewing machine in the world a few years ago! You'd think I'd learn!) The new bike looks just like the old one, but is the hardest riding bike in history. I like the old granny bikes (after all, I'm a granny now!), no hand brakes, no speeds, etc. Well, I can't count the times I've wished for my old bike back. Kori rode mine last spring and said it was the most awful riding bike she'd ever been on. She exclaimed how hard it was to pedal. Keep in mind I'm nearing 50 and she's early 20's. I was so glad to hear her say that!
Just as Rhiannon and I got ready to leave for lunch, Clint called from Centreville where he'd been working and asked to meet us for lunch. So we changed our plans and met him there. Afterwards we went to one of the large greenhouses and spent too much money buying big, healthy perennials. Actually we bought six pots of new stuff. Three of them were a birthday present to me from Rhiannon. Two cup and saucer delphiniums--pink and purple, dianthus--two shades of two-tones, bee balm--a color we didn't have--and a new foxglove. We decided not to plant them today since the weather report was calling for thunderstorms and high winds. No sense whipping them to death before they ever get a foothold.
Got home just in time to grab the morning's laundry off the line as it rained on me. Close one. Then I headed in to do a little sewing on the 70's dress. Wow, is it ever coming along nicely! I am not a champion at fitting and so I decided to just go with a certain size and call it good, although I'm terribly hard to fit. So far that plan is working and the dress is really nice. I did a little improvising because I didn't have the kind of trim it called for. A little creativity with some of my stash of lace created a pretty eyelet for the lace up front. I try to buy bargain lace and trims, ribbon, etc., even fabric when I see something that I like. This enables me to keep a drawer, actually several drawers full of stuff that I can dip into during a project. I rarely buy all that's needed when I start a garment. I rely on what I already have to design and improvise. I think it saves me in the long run. For instance, the dress that I'm wearing in the current picture that's on the blog was made for about $10. I bought all the fabrics on bargain tables. It was a rather complicated pattern, but turned out well through "make-do" techniques. I had intended it as a practice dress for one I was going to make in very expensive fabric. Turned out I never made the other one.
When I went out to gather eggs this evening, I decided to take my little combo hoe/claw tool and dig a few little places for hollyhocks around the chicken coop and in the English garden. It was quick work. I took the bucket of seeds we saved and planted several. I then grabbed two of the stalks we had saved and marked with bread ties and pulled the seed pods off them and planted them. They are marked with bread ties to indicate that they were a special color--something I liked or wanted more of. This rain we are expecting should come at the perfect time for the newly planted seeds. When I went to the barn I noticed that I had more potatoes to plant that I had totally forgotten. That's the problem with this time of year--too much to do at once! Tomorrow....
The idea of too much to do as regards planting stuff reminded me of the verses in Ecclesiastes that talk about time. "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven; A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;"
That is so true. And when the time is here you must make the most of it. It's like that with lots of things. If we don't make the most of the "time" we often miss opportunities. We may miss a chance to witness of our faith, a chance to help heal a wound, a chance to make a difference in someone's life, a chance to plant a seed. We may even miss God trying to speak to us. I know I have. Many of you have heard me relate the vivid story of an incident that happened to me in Africa where the Lord spoke to me loudly and clearly and I failed to recognize it at the time. This weekend I've been asked to speak at a mother/daughter banquet, my first formal speaking engagement in a long, long, time. Please pray for me as I intend to relate that story once again and encourage others to a closer walk with the Lord.
Second favorite flower clue: The only colors I know that it comes in are white and pink, pink being quite rare.
Did anyone remember the dress pattern I described?
Blessings, LORI
Once again, I know your second favorite flower and am not allowed to tell! And I agree.. your bike is horrid!!!
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