Fun & Games
It was gorgeous outside today and I was feeling better, so I decided to tackle some gardening. I did a little weeding in front of the pottting shed, because the bed was becoming overgrown with ivy and liriope, and planted a hydrangea by the walk. I broke a nail in the process, so now I also have a good excuse to cut them all short and practice my guitar.
The hydrangea was a sprout from one of my Grandmother's bushes that I meant to plant in the fall, but the ground got cold and hard before I found a place for it. It spent a long winter languishing outside in a pot and I was sad because I thought I had killed it. Earlier this week I noticed it was growing new leaves. I decided that after the unintentional neglect it had suffered, it deserved a fair chance in the ground and a prominent place to boast its blooms.
My Grandmother was an expert gardener and I think it's really cool that almost 10 years after she died, I'm able to take care of some of the very plants she loved and cared for in her garden. Mom has been keeping several specimens at home in Raleigh for me until I had a yard big enough to plant them in, so I'm looking forward to doing a lot of that this spring. My biggest quest is going to be locating a Chinese snowball viburnum, because that was my favorite plant in Grandmother's yard as a little girl. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to put an 8-foot tree when Granddad died (and it probably wouldn't have appreciated the move, anyway), so we left it in the yard at their house. Once we have our retaining wall rebuilt and the American holly taken out by the driveway, I'll have the perfect place to put one.
Following Holy Week readings, since we were semi-dressed up, the Doctor and I had an impromptu dinner at (possibly) the world's most intimate (tiny) Italian restaurant, where I had a delicious, yet unpretentious wine (a jammy, plummy red - Antinori Santa Christina), and the special for the evening--Pollo Pellegrino--chicken with sliced mushrooms, basil, prosciutto, and bleu cheese in a brown sherry sauce. Yum. I think I'll try making that at home.
Our after-dinner entertainment was to find a place that sold lottery tickets so the Doctor could indulge his desire to scratch-and-win. I thought this was great. Since NC now has the lottery (boo) and it was going to be our first time playing it, I suggested that it woud be fun (and easy) to keep a lifetime total of how much we spend on tickets. Like our own little game. ;)
Here's the current score:
NC "Education" Lotto: 5
drmellow: 0
(Thank goodness for LJ Tags!)
The hydrangea was a sprout from one of my Grandmother's bushes that I meant to plant in the fall, but the ground got cold and hard before I found a place for it. It spent a long winter languishing outside in a pot and I was sad because I thought I had killed it. Earlier this week I noticed it was growing new leaves. I decided that after the unintentional neglect it had suffered, it deserved a fair chance in the ground and a prominent place to boast its blooms.
My Grandmother was an expert gardener and I think it's really cool that almost 10 years after she died, I'm able to take care of some of the very plants she loved and cared for in her garden. Mom has been keeping several specimens at home in Raleigh for me until I had a yard big enough to plant them in, so I'm looking forward to doing a lot of that this spring. My biggest quest is going to be locating a Chinese snowball viburnum, because that was my favorite plant in Grandmother's yard as a little girl. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to put an 8-foot tree when Granddad died (and it probably wouldn't have appreciated the move, anyway), so we left it in the yard at their house. Once we have our retaining wall rebuilt and the American holly taken out by the driveway, I'll have the perfect place to put one.
Following Holy Week readings, since we were semi-dressed up, the Doctor and I had an impromptu dinner at (possibly) the world's most intimate (tiny) Italian restaurant, where I had a delicious, yet unpretentious wine (a jammy, plummy red - Antinori Santa Christina), and the special for the evening--Pollo Pellegrino--chicken with sliced mushrooms, basil, prosciutto, and bleu cheese in a brown sherry sauce. Yum. I think I'll try making that at home.
Our after-dinner entertainment was to find a place that sold lottery tickets so the Doctor could indulge his desire to scratch-and-win. I thought this was great. Since NC now has the lottery (boo) and it was going to be our first time playing it, I suggested that it woud be fun (and easy) to keep a lifetime total of how much we spend on tickets. Like our own little game. ;)
Here's the current score:
NC "Education" Lotto: 5
drmellow: 0
(Thank goodness for LJ Tags!)