The Broken Jug

49 but cloudy, showers, and chilly. Continuing the pattern of colder than usual weather--snow on Monday, almost freezing temps for 3 nights in a row. A promise of warmer weather ahead, with 80's this weekend. A real roller coaster of a Spring.

This old pitcher came with an auction lot earlier this month. Logic would say, throw it out. But the lady who owned it before me kept it in a closet with other things she'd cast off but wasn't yet ready to discard. I understand her reluctance. I put it in the trash, then pulled it out again because I could just see it like this:

What you can't see in the above photo is this:

It's badly damaged as you can see, but would you cast it off, or keep it? I know I'm a sucker, and my kids will probably hate me for keeping such things. In fact, in the first photo, the little Majolica pitcher has a large crack and a hole in the bottom, and the teapot is missing its lid. Junk to some, but I see possibilities. They will both be getting plants in them soon.

In other news around here, let's see. I worked at the antique mall Friday, painted a nightstand on Saturday and worked on cleaning house. After much effort, I found someone willing to take a used but practically new mattress that came with a bed we bought at auction. Do you know how hard it is to dispose of a mattress? I don't know if it's like this in other countries, but here in the US no one wants them. I thought some local charity would take it for people whose houses had burnt, but no dice. Everyone is afraid of bedbugs. This mattress was like new, had been in a guest room and rarely used. We didn't need it, as we love our memory foam mattress. Finally a man came and got it for his foster son, so we were well pleased with that outcome. 

Sunday we mucked around a bit in the gardens although it was too cold to do much. Then worked inside the rest of the day, and woke up Monday to snow. It didn't stick but flurried around all day. I brought my little seedlings inside from the greenhouse because I was worried about the cold, and kept them in until yesterday when it was finally above 50 again.

I've also spent a LOT of time on the phone with our cell phone service, trying to get a 25%discount they offer to veterans. It has been a nightmare, and after 5 hours of hassle, required a trip to the AT&T store. I think all the problems caused by trying to get this done are resolved, but we shall see. I highly resent spending time on the phone with reps in India who don't understand what I'm saying, revert constantly to their script and take an inordinate amount of time for every step of every process. In the end, I'm paying more but supposedly have unlimited data and text. I'm waiting to see what happens next, and in the meantime looking at other possible services.

We bought more mulch and began spreading it last night. I also planted a few gaillardia that I found in the clearance plants section, along with some phlox that I want to get started. Sometimes it seems silly to expand the gardens we have at our age, but then there are still flowers I want to see in my gardens, and I'm still plenty able to do the work so for now, I will continue to plant, sensible or not.

I am sure there is other news to share that I'm not remembering. It's been a week since I posted, and the days have been full, but this is enough for now. Stay well, friends, and tell me, what have you been up to?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.