Saturdays At My Home

This morning is overcast and threatens rain, though only 60%. I believe the percentage becomes more certain after 12:00.

Today is my wonderful nephew, Chris' nineteenth birthday. He graduates from high school next Saturday so quite a couple of exciting weekends for him.

Saturdays at my house, usually referred to by all who know me as The Day From Hell, usually starts with DH out early on the mower, followed by weed eater therapy, accompanied by a lot of yelling and being pissed off, mostly directed at me or my gardens (garden tools, pots, etc that are not in DH's idea of the proper place (anywhere he can't see any of them...............never happens, but it doesn't keep him from making Sat. a rip roaring good time had by all). This Saturday the grass is too wet to cut but that won't stop him after his nap. He was up early to walk, read the newspaper and work his crossword puzzle. Perhaps since we were out late last night to his company's picnic at the stadium in Chattanooga, including a baseball game (Chatt. won by the way), he needed to take a nap before starting the rest of his morning.

1:00PM
The rain held off until DH finished with the weed eater. He announced he wanted to go to WalMart to buy some ivy and other plants to put in the flower basket hanging from the split rail fence around our front yard. It is really pretty now with lovely yellows and reds planted in the basket, but not what he wanted so this should be a fun trip. We ate at subway in WM and then on to the garden center. I purchased some tomato plants (rutger, better boy, beefmaster and a larger german hybrid that I believe is hopefully similar to Papaw Tarpley's tomatoes from years ago). DH purchased two packages of seeds (cantaloupe and watermelon) and two containers of inpatients with multiple plants in each container (one set is white and the other set is a pink and red and coral mix which I hated and he loved, but it's his project so that's fine) and two containers of ivy. The ivy is to mix into the fence basket and to add to one of the containers of plants he bought yesterday.....I think the purple petunia hanging basket. He also purchased a table top container that has million bells in pale pretty shades of pink mixed with pale lavender petunias....now I love million bells but the colors are just too faded for me. I think they'd look great mixed with some vibrant colors and really show up but this is not bright enough for me. I have to say that one year his front porch hanging basket really got me turned on to using purples and reds together a lot. I'll never forget that I had been working my butt off last summer to get some beds planted that looked really great with lots of colorful blooming annuals when he came home with two hanging baskets for the front porch and commented about his baskets, "Now that's what flowers are supposed to look like!" He was quite pleased with himself. I was a little miffed at what I felt was a "dig" (no pun intended) at the flower gardens I was working on but happy he was showing interest in flowers. Everyone's idea of color is different and you just can't go too wrong when working with plants and flowers.............. I hope all his baskets and flowers turn out just like he wants this year, for it gives one such a feeling of pleasure and accomplishment to look at plants you've chosen that turn out to be a constant source of beauty all summer long.