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?