The first five...

There are two or three spots that have been immortalized hundreds of times in photos from 413—the back steps, the bank of cupboards in the dining room, and the front room window, with a couple of different couches but always the same window treatment.Could Jim look any thinner? Did he miss out on the nightly milkshakes and popcorn with melted butter? Then there's the matching outfit thing going on here. I never realized how often Martha and I ended up wearing the same things until I started looking through some of these old photos. And as Martha and I know, the same sheer curtains are still hanging in that window, with a little lace darning, but still hanging.

Lots of garden news, but most of it indoors. The seed trays have multiplied. These are in the kitchen. More petunias and for the first time, geraniums. The bargain of the week? A new knitting bag. If you look closely, you will see some fake rhinestones. Stilll with the original tags on it, and only $4.50. I had a perfectly good, in fact great, knitting bag that Bridget gave me, but Henry has decided that it is his, and what Henry wants, Henry gets. I haven't seen him zip himself in yet, but that's probably coming.

Plaids and stripes and lots of sprouts...

I finally found a little more time yesterday to go through some old photos, and this one takes the prize today.I don't know where it was taken—maybe the chicken coop on the Heights or the upstairs of the barn at 413—and of course there are a few short people who are missing, but how often do you get four cousins all lined up just shining with happiness? Something awfully good was either about to happen or already had. I like the missing teeth, the plaids and the stripes, and that very stylish pink plaid cape on Mary.

On a more contemporary note, Tom had a meeting, so Cullen and I managed to find our way to Dulles Airport yesterday afternoon (and even more amazingly, I found my way home). He may travel light in most ways, but on this trip—for almost 10 days in sunny California—the bike goes too. That's about 60 pounds in a hard case, fortunately with wheels.

And about those seeds that went into little pods last Sunday? The news is almost too good.Those leggy stalks are pumpkins and squash. The slender little shoots are the tomatoes, marigolds, and cosmos. Tom spent a fair amount of time this afternoon doing the first transplant and planting MORE seeds. This time petunias and zinnias. Where we had one flat in the basement under a grow lamp, we now have this. That's three shelves, with every pot we had in the house filled with a seedling. Can we turn Bridget's room into a greenhouse?

Sunday—indoors and out

In between cleaning up for potluck with the Monsignor, some real work was done around here this weekend. This is the before picture of a huge ornamental grass plant in one corner of our garden.

It's a great plant, because the leaves when mature are striped, and it grows taller than our fence, but in the spring when it is time to cut it back almost to the ground, there is no way to do it without crawling under and cutting one stalk at a time. We're not talking soft little blades of grass here. These stalks were about half an inch thick and woody, and I'm guessing there were more than 100. I filled the wheelbarrow three times.

And indoors, Tom started the grow lamp, peat pod project. We now have a shelf cleared in the laundry room with a tray of little pots on a heating pad with a lamp above them. If they sprout, we'll be in good shape for the hanging baskets, and have plenty of tomatoes—Husky Gold, Donna, and Carmello.

And for those of you who are keeping track of my dental issues, the only advantage to Friday afternoon's visit to the periodontist was that I was back in Gaithersburg earlier than I would be normally, with plenty of time to check out the second-hand store. I debated long and hard over a $28 eight-piece set of ironstone china, blue floral pattern, but opted instead for this $13 set.

What comes over people that they give up 10 perfectly good dessert plates, 4 teacups (with saucers), 4 dinner plates, and 4 oblong soup bowls?

It's been a lot of years

and some pictures remind me of that more than others. I'm guessing this was summer or early fall of 1945. The year is easy, pinpointing the exact date is a little tougher. Maybe Jim has something else on his mind, but certainly Ed and mother are treating the newest female in the family with the gravity her presence deserves. Pretty stylish denim overalls, hot enough for them to go without shirts, and mother, as always, in a dress. Thanks to everyone who remembered yet another birthday. Cards, flowers, chocolates, doesn't get much better. Cullen, Tom and I saw "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" in Bethesda this afternoon. The 2:00 p.m. show is a good time to see a movie, even if the young couple behind me did decide that the line of people waiting to buy tickets looked like escapees from a retirement community. Nothing light and airy about that movie, but despite the R rating, lots of redemption in the end, even if it won't get me on a horse crossing the border into Mexico.

Then an early dinner at a restaurant that does tapas. The trick is to order 2 or 3 plates. The servings are small, but big enough to share so the table ends up looking like a smorgasbord, or very quickly like a cluttered table. And once again Cullen opted to let his parents take on the dessert duty. White chocolate mousse on the left, chocolate mousse on the right. I know there's been a little bit of a dog versus cat issue in the family blogs, but what's not to like about two cats in the sun? That's Henry in all his long-hair glory on the left, just waiting to have his ears licked by Eli. Two mellow cats.