musings on the mundane and the grand

Haven't done much this week. I did a bit more thrift store shopping, looking for props for the play and also a table or desk for cutting out fabric. I found some props, but gave up on the idea of a thrift store desk. They were all ugly and really bulky. Instead, yesterday, I went to IKEA to check out tables and desks. I found one that is just about perfect. I would have preferred it in brown, but white was all they had in the size I needed. It was a breeze to put together - the top and legs come separately and all you do is screw the legs on. I pushed the furniture around again in the sewing/guest room to maximize the space between the bed and the furniture. The new table is the sewing table and the old desk (which previously was both) is now the cutting 'table'. I think this set-up will work just fine. Now all I have to do is decide what I will work on next. What I really need to do is finish the cushions for the dining room chairs. I bought fabric several years ago and made one cushion. Never did the other three. They are a nuisance to make, as the seat isn't either round or square, so I have to cut and cover an odd shaped cushion. But I can do this and I will, just as soon as the weather cools off. That front room gets very hot, as it gets AM sun. In a few weeks, it won't be so hot and I can enjoy being up there.

I need to mow the grass too, but again, that is a cool weather job. It it cools off this evening, I'll try to get it done. I use the string trimmer to do the whole lawn, as it is only about 20x15. It's too much trouble to drag the lawn mower up the stairs and through the house or out the back and around the building to my front yard. There are disadvantages to living in the middle of a block of townhouses!

I finally got the black and blue salvia into the ground, in the back yard. This was almost impossible because of the vines and bushes growing over the path. Not only has the gourd vine climbed the steps of the deck, it has also gone up and across the top of some of the bushes. The hydrangea has done its usual thing of growing forward until it touches the steps and the beauty bush has branches arching over the top of the others. All this creates an almost impenetrable thicket on the path between the bottom of the steps and the rest of the back yard. I'm not kidding when I say that my back yard is a jungle!

The paper today is filled with articles about Ted Kennedy. He has been a respected elder statesman for so many years. Our government and many individual people will miss him. It feels like the end of an era for me. I was just starting as a school librarian when John Kennedy was shot. We were vacationing in Venice when Robert was killed. Now, the last of that generation - the last of the bigger-than-life Kennedy's - is gone. Makes me feel sad and rather old.

Well, I must be off to 'work' at the hospital gift shop. I'm one of the younger volunteers at the hospital, which makes me feel young again.