MarQ1

No, really, these are pansies.

Today was another beautiful day in Brooklyn. I started with a trip to the home improvement center—not the orange one, which in Brooklyn is the retail equivalent of a root canal—where I picked up some planters and a ton of potting soil for the terrace.

Then I got in a bike ride out through upper Park Slope, Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy, and Williamsburgh and back. I have got to get a battery for my watch. I have no idea how long I was out, but I was flying. Not bad for only the second time out this season. My legs will be killing me tomorrow. BTW, no one is ever seeing a shot of my butt in padded bike shorts. It’s bad enough I have to stop at red lights.

After brief rest, J & I went to a local plant shop, where basically no plants are ready yet, save for pansies. Apparently it’s too early for anything but pansies. So we bought pansies and seeds. You’ve seen the pansies. Here are the seeds.

If they ever sprout, I’ll take more pictures. And I finally repotted the kalanchoe. It took an entire 32 qt. bag of potting soil to fill that pot. This will be the last season for the kalanchoe. That pot is too big to bring indoors. I’m sort of betting we won’t get a hard frost.

Note: I don’t like gardening, particularly the dirt bit, but the plants look better than bare concrete. And this is just the front terrace. Next weekend, the back.

Note (another one): to the left of the kalanchoe is a pencil cactus I hate. It has a milky white sap that theoretically causes incredible skin irritation. J likes it, so it’s staying. If I got a cat we’d have to throw the plant out.

After all that potting, I was too beat to cook and we went out to dinner.

No actual knitting yet this weekend, but I did get three knitting books Wednesday: Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann and A Gathering of Lace, collected by Meg Swansen. I’ve plowed Knitting Rules! and skimmed through Knitting Without Tears, but I’m fascinated by some of the patterns in A Gathering of Lace, most of which are way out of my league. One of these days.