Sorta Spring-Like

Gainesville

Glad to hear you survived your ordeal, Mom-- an ordeal indeed. Hope the recovery is quick and relatively painless.

The dress shape is not empire (aka, Jane Austen). It is fitted underneath the black band, and doesn't flare until the hip line, and then not much. Dunno what to call it. I'll try to get Bill to take a picture.

Didn't get out to shop today-- but I did putter a bit in the yard. Got rid of the tomato cages that had been protecting last year's calladiums from the lawn guys and pulled the weeds they were protecting (and got covered in stick-tights, of course). Walked around our property and the lot in back. Beautiful day for a stroll in the woods. I think I'm ready for warmer weather. There was a single tree frog on the glass window tonight, and I found one in the hall-- I gently evicted him with our handy-dandy kit: a peanut can and a manila envelope.

The non-shopping left me in a bind for dinner. I'd found a piece of flank steak in the freezer last week, and had any number of easy things to do with it... but each one turned out to lack a critical thing I usually have on hand, but which was missing, dead or hopelessly expired. Process of elimination took way too much time. I ended up with a very nice basalmic thing. Had left over kraut and a desperation fruit salad (fresh orange, canned pineapple, canned peaches and some marichino cherries). The latter was amazingly good. Once again, a miracle occurred, and we were fed. More or less.

The major purchase from Sur le Table (ie, Amazon) arrived today: a library-style kick-stool. It's red! I wasn't strong/heavy enough to get the two parts to snap together, but Bill did the trick for me when he got home. Already tonight it came in handy: I could find the basalmic vinegar I knew I had in a lower cabinet. Instead of bending over or sitting on the cold floor, I was able to sit on the stool, and found it almost immediately. Hurrah!

I finished Arthur & George today. I did not go back and read the part I skipped. It's a great book, but how can I recommend it when I found a key part of it unreadable? The facts of the story are all true, which makes it all the more upsetting.

Okay, bedtime.