Monday

39°f, or 4°C. Sunny, thin clouds. Rain expected tonight.

A few things currently blooming:

Volunteer columbine, which has scattered itself around my flowerbeds, much to my delight.

Late snowshoes, an oldtime variety I dug up from around an old house 50 years ago, but somehow they died out. So last year I found the bulbs online.

My clematis, about 30 years old, and has never gotten very big because it is under a maple, but it is always so pretty.

It stayed right chilly all day yesterday, finally reaching 50° by 5 in the evening. With the strong breeze, it made working outside a bit brisk. I wasn't out much, as my day was another that did not go as planned. Nothing big, just a series of things that needed to be done.

Like paperwork. How I hate it,  and how I let it pile up! I am determined to do better, so am trying to do a little every day. Yuck.

And mopping. The floors! How dirty they can get. We are in and out many times a day--i actually counted one morning and was astonished to find that we were in and out the doors 30 times before noon. So I mop regularly, especially the porch and kitchen, and yesterday I washed the rugs too and hung them.outside to dry. Our floors are pine, well worn. They need refinishing but I doubt we will ever do it as then we would have to be careful...and with the way we work, that just wouldn't happen. 

Our house is lived in, comfortable. I doubt anyone but us will ever live here; when we are gone the place will probably be torn down and a new house built by whoever gets this place. Resale value isn't something we worry about although I know that sounds crazy. But this place, built 50 years ago by 2 people who had no idea what they were doing, has issues and inconveniences that most would not put up with--and that would be expensive to retrofit. So it will remain a place where you don't have to take off your shoes, you can put your feet up, sit in the kitchen and drink coffee or tea while I cook, and just relax. Not classy,  but homey.

What else yesterday? Let's see...Larry dug sassafras at last (after my determined reminders!). I had to show him the tree, and stayed on hand because I wanted him to be careful and not dig too many roots and hurt the tree. He can get overzealous sometimes. So I cleaned the roots and brewed the tea, which is now in a gallon jug in the fridge. Yum. Sassafras tea is considered a spring tonic by mountain folk.

What else was Larry up to all day? Weedeating,  getting our friend's tiller running, then a trip to town to pick up booth stuff from a picker. He was ready to stop by 6 and got the firepit going.

While he was in town I  brewed the sassafras tea and made a casserole for dinner--macaroni with leftover taco meat filling, shredded cheddar, sour cream with chives that we bought by mistake but have found quite nice, and leftover cooked kale. Believe it or not, it's delicious.

Then it was on to pricing a table-full of recent finds for our booths, a job I hate but must be done. 

One of our finds, a pitcher in the bubble pattern by Anchor Hocking,  from the 1950s,

and another, a 1958 Pyrex promotional casserole and carrier, in the pattern called "mod kitchen".

Then put the first coat of paint on a cabinet we got last week. And finally outside to pull a few weeds before joining Larry at the firepit to wind down the day. 

So not a bad day, and a few things pushed forward. Today, maybe I can finish tilling and do some transplanting I thought I would get done yesterday. Or will it end up as another this and that kind of day?

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