It’s a special year for the hops. They have finally learned how to climb a stick instead of sprawling around the ground being eaten by slugs and aphids. I am cautiously optimistic. Ever since I moved them from their previous location, the driveway, they have done nothing but offer themselves up to pests and disease. Apparently being parked on was preferable to the very nice spot I chose by the fence. I don’t even think they noticed that I amended the soil. I’m cheered though, by this new burst of athleticism and if it keeps up I’m going to ask Scooterboy to show me how to make beer.

Now I have to get ready for Angsty’s birthday dinner. It’s weird the way she keeps getting older. Pretty soon we’ll be the same age.

A lilac scented wind blew rain in my face as I walked up Clinton Street after my piano lesson. For some reason I started thinking of cocktails, flowery delicious summer cocktails, and for a second the sun came out and I thought I might enjoy one in my greenhouse this afternoon while re-potting the peppers. Then the sky darkened, the drops got colder, and I started thinking about hot toddies instead and wondering if there was a way to incorporate a lilac simple syrup into a whiskey drink. I decided there was not. I will wait for a day of bright sunshine when there is vodka in the house and also a lemon. In the meantime though, I’ve thrown together a lilac sugar for the rim of this future cocktail. It will be ready in a couple of weeks. Now I just have to pick the rest of these lilac petals, steep them in sugar water, strain, and refrigerate until the sun is out, the lilac sugar is infused, the vodka is present, and I’m thirsty for a cocktail. It will be grand.

Now please enjoy this picture of the handle of my toilet.

Today a very nice plant stand and some clippers came to live at my house. I don’t usually go to estate sales because I find the selling off of old dead folk’s things depressing but this one was at a house I walk by all the time which up until recently contained a little old lady who was quite a gardener. She had a dahlia bed the size of a swimming pool and a bunch of fruit trees. She kept her clippers nice and sharp.

I am also quite fond of a certain purse made of broccoli. I saw it here and that blog contains a link to the gallery, which try though I might, I am unable to link to directly. Happy Friday. I’ll just be sitting here in my stupid hat made out of yarn.

Remember Fanta? Once in a while I like to swill a Grape Fanta. I’ll drink orange but I prefer grape and where else will I get my high fructose corn syrup? It’s not in wine you know. I wish I had cooked up this idea on my own, but I didn’t (except the name, that’s all mine and I will totally name your child or business for you, just ask). I saw it in Maureen Gilmer’s The Small Budget Gardener which I liked way more than I thought I would. I count myself as something of an expert on thrift and miserliness. Case in point, I checked The Small Budget Gardener out of the library and then on the way home kept an eye out for chipped terracotta pots on the curb and in the Vietnamese Church’s dumpster.

I’m far beyond tips like don’t leave the hose on all night, and start plants from seed so I approached this read as a bit of a know it all and was pleasantly surprised. There is a nice section on passive solar and a little passage on using vines for exterior insulation which I enjoyed and she did a nice job of not talking to me like I am an idiot while still conveying sciencey type information. Also, the 6 pages on what to do with sticks made me wish I had bought the book because I have amassed quite a collection. Hands down though, my favorite part of The Small Budget Gardener are the pictures. There are lots and lots of pictures and I am inspired now to make a bottle tree, wire large crystals to trees with bailing wire, and of course make a whole army of Fanta Plantas despite the fact that they are sharp little bastards and will be a bitch to keep watered.