Spending sunshine

[hrj]

I had a delightfully decadent day yesterday, although I feel like I wasted some of the sunshine. I picked up SK then doubled back to Regan Nursery to do some serious plant shopping. Picked up a replacement for the one miniature tree rose that died, plus a Rosa alba "Maiden's blush" which they claim dates to 1740, although that's not a typical name for a variety that old. (My rule of thumb when buying roses is to look for strains that are at least 100 years old.) Also two replacement blueberries, a couple of English lavenders, oodles of strawberries of five different strains, and a few ordinary herbs. (If I plan to get any of them into the ground before xrian appears for apprentice day I need to get out of bed soon.) Then it was back to SK's place for a French chocolate tasting. We only got through a small fraction of the contents of the two boxes she brought back from Paris, stopping between each taste to cleanse our palates with fresh fruit and hot milk. With a baguette and brie we called it an actual meal. And now it's gray and gloomy again, but not wet quite yet.