I planted this lilac bush several years ago and it’s been growing steadily. I find it’s impossible to get a good photo of it, but I will say we have more blooms this year than ever before. I took the advice written in a comment here a few years back; cut off the dead blooms sometime in June and the bush will bloom profusely the next year. It’s actually taller than it looks here, but I was shooting uphill.

And so starts my daily visit to the bush, stopping to inhale that incredible scent.

Oh my heavens.

I took a trip to the nursery yesterday – foolish me. It’s the weekend and I knew better. We live in an area where city dwellers have weekend homes. So…the weekend brings an influx of people and on a gorgeous day like yesterday, a place like the nursery is flooded with people, ready to beautify their properties. Nevertheless, I was there, so I bought a few things; some topsoil, some more geraniums, some more lobelia to fill another pot. My hanging plants are not in yet, darn it! Now I’m afraid they didn’t order them, but truth be told, I think that this delay is normal – they aren’t in stock until the first or second week of May.

I wasn’t going to drop by the antique barn, but the traffic was so heavy, that it was easier to turn in that direction and I was able to get a parking space, so I stopped in. The antique barn is in a complex with other shops and it was crowded there, too. As was the barn. I walked through both floors and was intrigued by some items, but not enough to buy them. I stopped in my friend Sidney’s space, which is always lovely (that’s where I found the egg cup cubby.) She has such a great eye. There’s a photo of her space in my IG Stories. Sidney has recently moved to New Hampshire and spends most of her time there, so she is only going to have a booth in one space, which is another antique shop that I frequent. Though I’ll miss her at the antique barn, I’m glad she will remain at the other shop, where she has more square footage.

When I got back, I potted the flowers – again, in the wind – and cleaned up the porch. I swear, every day becomes windy lately, and pollen is everywhere.

Today, our big event will be stopping by the post office, the little hardware shop in town, and grocery shopping. And getting gas. (Don’t be jealous.)

I’ve started The Cutting Place, a mystery by Jane Casey, an excellent author. She writes police procedurals.

Don and Dan are working on an album – their new name is All the Way to Redding, which celebrates their long distance collaboration. Dan lives in Redding, CT. Anyway, I’m quite enamored of one of their newest endeavors, a piece called Starry Eyed in Nova Scotia. If you’re interested, here is the link. Words and music by Don; Vocals, ukelele, guitar – Don; bass and lap steel – Dan; produced, arranged and mixed by Dan. And the cover art is by our friend Jeff McCarthy. Jeff is a well known actor and he’s also a wonderful artist. When Don told him what he envisioned for the album cover, Jeff created a wonderful painting. Side note: Don knows Jeff because they were in a production of The Front Page  together. I worked with Jeff several years before at the Huntington Theater in a production of Arms and the Man. Theater is a small world.

Okay. Have to get going.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.