Labor Day

Rob and I were reminiscing about Labor Days from our past yesterday.  I said something about going to a store and he was like, they won't be open, nobody works on Labor Day.  And, there was a time when that was true, but that time is not this time.  And, everybody seems to be having a sale.  

Our plans are small.  A little barbecue, a little homemade peach ice cream, probably a nap.  We've had an adventurous dining weekend, and I think both our stomachs are looking forward to a day without spicy food.  We generally go out to eat on Saturday night.  It's something we started when Sydney lived here.  A chance to get out and take her someplace so we weren't eating every meal at home.  Last Saturday, I took Rob to an Indian Restaurant that I went to with book club.  It's very delicious and very authentic...and very spicy.  They have mild, medium, hot, and Indian hot spice levels.  Their mild is at the edge of what I enjoy, and I can't imagine how hot they go.  

Yesterday we had a congratulatory lunch for Rob's boss who retired a couple weeks ago.  They decided not to have a party, so this was our chance to celebrate with him and his wife.  It was very nice.  We had Mexican food and margaritas.  We came home and took a nap.  Neither of us wanted dinner last night after that.  

Part of Saturday was spent procuring backing for the baby quilt.  We decided the pink I had would work, but we could probably do better.  We walked into JoAnns and Rob pulled a bolt off the rack and we both knew it was perfect.  We looked around, but nothing else measured up to that first instinct.  We bought it and had a nice lunch.  Unfortunately, my brain was not kicked in and I only bought half of what I needed so we had to go back.  And, we had a nice dinner.  Fortunately, the bolt was still in the bins waiting to be put back on the shelf, so no one had bought any of it.  Yesterday, I assembled it and it's all ready for one last ironing and to be pin basted today.  I hope to get a few quilting stitches in before the day is done.  

We had a cooler week last week and I've been slowly weeding out the dead leaves and fronds and the garden is looking nice.  We're supposed to get some rain this week, which will hopefully perk it up even more.  

Neither Rob nor I can believe we're still getting daylilies.  Neither of us can remember ever having blooms this late in the year before.  It's not a big bloom, just a few flowers here and there and they're a little faded compared to spring, but they're there and quite pretty.  

The plumbago is getting started.  I'm hoping I'm going to get a good show, but I also know I've been shading this with an umbrella in order to shade some of the other things around it that were struggling in the heat.  That might have hindered the bloom a little.  Plumbago can take it as hot as Mother Nature can dish it out.  

And, the butterfly bush.  I can't speculate on how large this would get if it was in the sun.  I keep it in the shade so it doesn't take over.  It dies to the ground every winter and comes back huge every summer.  It draws hummingbirds and butterflies.  

My Mom suggested I get a Thryallis years ago.  I'm not sure why.  She didn't have one, but must have seen one in someone else's yard.  Anyway,  I stumbled up on one a few years ago on half price sale and gave it a try.  The first place I planted it wasn't right and I'm not sure why and it nearly died.  I moved it to a new place a couple years ago and it thrived and this year, it's doing great!  The only problem is it wants to lean into the sun and fall over.  I used to struggle to keep it upright but this year, I've decided to just let it be.  It looks great and you can hardly see where it comes out of the ground, so it looks like a short plant instead of a tall one and it's not hurting anything it's laying on.  

You can just barely see the lime tree on the left side.  It's got a bunch of limes on it that are ripe and I plan to harvest today.  Key lime pie next week!  They're so small that I usually get just enough for one pie.  

This is the back of the house.  Sometimes, a little green is all you need.  This is the sunnier side of it (still not much sun).  There's shade to the left and I mostly have large houseplants in blue pots there.  It was all supposed to be blue pots, but my ambitions exceeded my ability to find the blue pots, which seem to have gone out of style.  Things I start to collect have a tendency to do that.  Probably has something to do with me not starting to collect until they've been relegated to the discount stores.  That white pot is new and there's a good chance it will get painted blue, like the one to the left of it.  Painting them has been very successful.  

Everybody have a great Monday.  If it's a holiday for you, find something you enjoy.  If it's not a holiday, I hope it's still a great Monday.  I plan to watch these clouds and shame and threaten them if they don't give up the rain.

Lane