Three Day Weekend

We didn't know until Sunday afternoon that Dave would have Monday off, which added up to a three day weekend for us. His job, meatcutter for Jewel, is so strange, in that he rarely works at the same store all week and never knows his schedule until the last minute. This makes for a non-existent social life, unless it is spur of the moment as it was on Saturday.

So there we were on Monday, sleeping late, 7:30am! and having a nice cuppa on the deck, basking in the warmth of the morning sun...what would we do with our day? Since I work at home, and have tons of work waiting for me ALWAYS, it was a real treat to just do nothing.

I let myself imagine that we were on a cruise, just lounging there on our deck chairs, sipping our hazlenut cream coffee, listening to the birds, smelling the last wafts of perfume from the lilacs and enjoying not having to wear a bathing suit. There was no other place I would rather be than at home...

We didn't get dressed until noon, if you can believe it and then Dave decided that we should visit Countryside, a garden center where I have been known to drop wads of cash every Spring. He NEVER wants to go there, but he was the one that suggested it, so we did. O BOY!

It was such an outstanding array of flowers, shrubs, trees and garden furniture. Fountains, pots, trellises and even Koi for sale, and we priced things that we had no intention of buying. For a moment we wanted a Japanese Maple, but at $250 for a mere twig, we passed. For the same price one could have a huge clump of fully grown birch, an instant tree cluster for the front yard. But then there would be the delivery charge and the labor cost of planting the whole thing...we passed.
I had planned on getting some basil seedlings in a six pack. None to be had. They did have individual plants for $3.49, wha???
The most beautiful things were the hanging baskets of petunias, which this year are so different looking. There is a new variety of doubles that are unlike anything I have seen in petunias before. These baskets were at their height of perfection, and one knows they won't get any fuller or larger, and require daily watering in the heat of summer, when I will be away from home, of course. So again we passed.
After poking around every pot, planter and price tag we felt satisfied and left without a single purchase. Sometimes that can be just the right thing to do.

Now I would like to share two lovely new works from my fave British Fiber Artist Margaret M. Roberts. She has kindly sent me these wonderful pictures and has allowed me the honor of posting them here.
Hawthornes 1

Hawthornes 2

She is getting a blog soon and I am planning to post a link as soon as I have it. I am just delighted to have the opportunity to see this work and drool over it. You may remember an article in an early Quilting Arts Magazine about Margaret. I wish I had that issue, #4...it is sold out.