Five good things, July 23

1. We went to an outdoor performance of King Lear on Thursday night. I think my favorite quote was when Edgar said "Men must endure their going hence even as their coming hither." Sometimes I think about the pains and fears of old age and I thought that was a beautiful way of expressing it.

When the sun sank below the trees at around 10:30 I realized sandals with bermuda shorts was a bad choice of attire for the evening. My feet were freezing. Still, I enjoyed myself very much in spite of the chill. The actors did a great job.

2. Friday after dinner we went to a baseball game. We were given some free tickets. I've never been much interested in watching sports of any kind, but the baseball games have been a lot of fun. We've had such beautiful hot, dry weather this summer, it's pleasant to be outside on the long summer evenings when the sun is still blazing in the sky at 8 or 9 o'clock at night.

Halfway through the sixth inning they invited all the kids in the audience to run the bases. Silas and Micah enjoyed that so much they asked at least half a dozen times when they could go back and do it again. They were proud that they ran faster than Dad. Poor Dad had to try to run the bases while carrying Julian, who wanted to participate but was too shy to run.

3. I'm embracing one of the great joys of being at home all day: having something refreshing and comforting to drink pretty much all day long. Christopher has been programming my coffee pot for me every day so I drink coffee all morning until lunchtime. I rarely get to finish a whole mug before it gets cold, between chores and helping the kids, so I keep pouring out half-filled mugs and filling up a new one. Then after lunch I make a mug of licorice spice tea and carry that around with me while I'm working or whatever I'm doing... maybe sitting out on the grass reading Harry Potter with the boys. At suppertime I have a flavored Bubly water. I'm attempting to try all the flavors of Bubly there are. Currently I have a box of Strawberry Bublys in the fridge. My favorites so far have been Orange Cream and Blueberry Pomegranate.

4. The hanging flower baskets on the porch are doing well. This was my first year planting them. Year after year I've admired my mom's beautiful hanging baskets on her porch, especially the graceful Creeping Jenny. This spring I had some money saved up and was able to plant some of my own! The white petunias have been showing off lately. After many weeks, they are finally thriving. They are called Winter Star, if I remember right. They have a dark purple center. For some reason they did much better than the purple petunias, even with rotating the baskets with the purple petunias to the sunnier spots on the porch and relegating the white petunias to the shady spots.

Hanging Basket

Altogether, it cost about $120 of my savings to plant four hanging baskets with eight large plants from Risse Greenhouse, including the cost of a bag of potting soil. However, the wire baskets (from Walmart) accounted for about $50 of that. In context, to buy a preplanted plastic hanging pot from the store costs $40 and up. Four of them would have cost at least $160. Next year I will have the wire baskets already and it shouldn't cost as much. I think I will try a shade-loving flower, though. Begonias or impatiens were suggested instead of petunias. The Creeping Jenny did wonderful, of course.

5. Two books from this week: Our pastor used rowing as a sermon illustration for his sermon from Ephesians on Sunday, mentioning the book The Boys in the Boat. I just happened to have picked up that very book at the thrift store the week before because I saw it mentioned in a blog, but had not yet started it. So my interest was now doubly piqued and I started reading it that very night. Up to this point in time, if you handed me a book about a rowing team and told me I'd like it, my reaction would have been YAWN. But I have to admit, I've been glued to this one.

I read the boys Paddington Bear for the first time. Just when I would think "This book cannot possibly get any cuter" I'd turn the page and it would indeed get even more charming. Might have to get our own copy after we return this one to the library.

P.S. I have to retract my previous resolve to save money by not buying Swiffer mop pads. I haven't bought any in many months and I'm sure we've saved a decent amount of money. But that was before Eric started eating regular meals at the table. Nowadays, one could start with a freshly mopped floor before every meal and afterward the floor looks like... how should I say this? Like a dumpster tipped over. Like a pack of hyenas tore into a peanut butter and jelly sandwish. Like someone put a watermelon in a blender and left the lid off.

So anyway, I put Swiffer mop pads back on the grocery list. For now.