I’m having a lovely lazy week after having handed in the completed manuscript of the first of my two books to my editor on Monday; a little gym time, a little nap time – I don’t even know what happened to the rest of the time! I made jam (ummmmm, peaches) and browsed in the garden like a hungry deer… beans, peas, purslane and alpine strawberries aren’t even seeing the inside of the kitchen yet. A little watering, a little weeding, a sweet pea bouquet or two…this is summer and I’m very nearly rolling in clover I’m so happy to be home and present to the simple stuff of everyday.
Yesterday a friend and I got together for lunch and garden gawking. We rambled through her garden, exclaiming over the beautiful big-leafed Rhododendron she rescued from a demo site a few years ago and marveling at the giant variegated pokeweed (I know many think this is a weed but ’round here it’s an exotic – difficult to find unless you receive a precious start from a friend who has already made the big score from a friend of theirs; the epitome of a pass-along plant).
Somewhere along the way I brushed against a lily and swiped my white linen pants with vibrant orange streaks of lily pollen. That’ll teach me to clean up and leave home! We’ve all done this, although generally I christen my nose with the staining grains as I bury my face in their heady perfume, and we all know what an obstinate stain you have on your hands, or nose, or in my case – backside! You know those times where you say “somewhere I read…”? Well, somewhere I read to rescue pollen-stained fabric by lightly tapping the stain with adhesive tape to lift the pollen off fabric. Riiiiight… in my mind I’m already thinking about dying the pants lily-pollen-orange… but really, it worked!!! Not just kinda worked – completely worked, gone, clean, saved! I kept craning my neck all afternoon expecting the orange stripes to reappear but they’re really GONE!
Now I know this is simple stuff, really quite mundane (unless they’re your favorite white linen pants!) but that’s my point. I learned something I needed to know and most of all, I’m quiet enough to celebrate the fact. Plus, the whole experience reminded me I need to order lilies for my new garden. Today’s “lazy” will involve perusing bulb catalogs and compiling shopping lists much longer than I can afford to order.
P.S. Not sure if the tape works on noses…I’ll let you know.
