Creative Play

I'm finding less time for my creative fabric and paper play but more time for other creative pursuits like arranging flowers in pretty color combinations, cooking and visiting with dear friends. Yesterday, after work, G & I took the dog and prepared breaded eggplant and the remainder of the peach and raspberry cobbler over to P's house. We were there to see her new pergola. A very nice pergola. P and I had gin and tonics while I fried the eggplant and she heated up sauce and cooked pasta. We had cut up fruit and a nice cheese with spelt crackers while we cooked. We ended the evening with coffee and dessert by candlelight. A lovely summer evening full of laughter and friendship.

P has a very bountiful property. The soil is so rich that everything she plants grows in enormous size and health. I envied her clematis and the red wiegelia Red Prince. Both of us had purchased and planted elderberry (two) in our gardens in the past week. We didn't know the other had done so until yesterday. P's rhubarb was the size of a volkswagon and I should have pulled some stalks for a rhubarb pie. But I was busy drinking gin and tonic.

G goes back to work on Monday after 4 weeks of leave of absence and vacation. He was feeling very fatigued and less than cheerful about his employment. The rest period (time out) helped we hope. He has weeded garden beds, built the new stoop step, and dug out and built steps where the lawn slopes down to the vegetable garden. He used big timbers for the steps and filled in with bricks. It's very nice and easy for me to walk down into the garden without slipping on the grassy slope. He also put in a nice brick floor in the tiny greenhouse which holds heat from the sun. We have the air conditioner in the window so we can remove humidity from the house. Ready for summer.

We planted some of the squash seedlings, carrots and radishes. I still have beans, soybeans butternut squash seedlings, Delicata squash seedlings, cucumber seedlings,beets, lettuce and red italian onions to plant. I also have leeks which I have never tried before. G planted the savoy cabbages. I need to buy more soiless mix and get my peppers and eggplant into the big black plastic tubs I saved. Quite a FULL garden this year. The raspberry bushes are going strong and the blueberries have blossoms and berries. Next year I will have some elderberries for a small jar of jam, I hope.

I work two more days and then have three days off. The temporary work period is coming to an end and some workers have been given their two week notice that they won't be needed after the 28th of June. I haven't been notified. Yet. There haven't been any real surprises in who he is letting go. There are people who WORK and people who work. I can see the process he uses: giving everyone a chance to show what they can do, how much responsibility they can accept and how they follow through. The ones who do, are staying. The ones who walk around with a cup of coffee? Not.