all that's past is prologue...

In a true sign that I am older than dirt, Beatrix designed an outfit for Pride and attended with her friend A. While I, on the other hand, worked in the yard all day while Patrick worked on the fence (though we also went to yoga, Pride version — this year's Pride brought to you by Chapell Roan). Of course I forgot to take before pictures, but my big project today was cleaning out the back garden along the fence at Summit. It was a huge mess, but I divided and gave away tons of lemon balm, divided joe pye weed and planted it at Winter Street and Ashland, got some plants I had been given into the ground, took apart a rotting old bench, moved the "Chank guy" over to that corner, and generally got things looking better.  This is on top of clearing out the huge nettles and cleaning up under the "frankenbush" yesterday. I had been given a waterlogged begonia that I replanted to add some color. And in the sun garden area, one of my containers is coming along really wel...

I always *intend* to have a light workday on Friday so I can get ready for the pool party. On Fridays Patrick generally helps out his dad for awhile, then goes to Costco to spend $$ on buns and meat and such for the party, plus his many obligations. I try to pick up some of the other slack, which today meant a ton of driving around and errands and such, plus several hours of work. So basically, it never happens. I had some creeping thyme to get planted, and I had vowed to string some solar lights and refinish the teak chairs (which always takes forever longer than it should, which is why I don't do it every year). The hook for the hammock is missing, and it takes time to get the various meds into Brutus, and Patrick is still working on the fence, and the house really needed to be cleaned, and everything just took awhile. Someday I'll get this all perfect. there will be lots of blow-up pool toys, and flowers, and the plantings will be perfect and with no weeds, and the food amaz...

There's never enough time for summer fun, which means we had to make the most of about 37 hours at Lake Osakis last weekend! We arrived late Friday night, blessing my cousin for leaving linens on the bed. We had a cold beer and some cookies (since Tip Top Dairy Bar was already closed), looked out over the dark lake, and got some sleep, so we could wake up to sun over the water the next day. But time was a'wasting! After breakfast, we headed out to see Jerry at Vintage Village, which was a few hours of the usual awesome fun. We even noticed, after all these years, that the wallpaper in the little house matched that in our hallway: Jerry told us about a new pop-up in Long Prairie, where Beatrix scored a sweet early father's day present for Patrick — an Hermes typewriter! From there we went back to the cabin for a little lunch and reading while gazing over the lake (it is "Summer of Reading" after all). Then we checked out the new Ida Graves cocktail room (currently ...