I took a MUCH needed day off today and gathered the younger two boys and went to a mountain man rendezvous. I gave the boys each ten dollars to spend. I thought they'd buy a coon skin cap or a foxtail or something like that, but each boy bought a jaw harp and has been twanging it ever since. I actually enjoy the sound.

That's a wonderful discovery you made, SRS, of that lovely garden. I think it is especially nice that you told the man. So often things like that go unacknowledged, even if they are appreciated. So thank you for that example.

I decided the parking pad out back, though convenient, is rather a waste of space. It has a tallish row of chokecherry trees providing lacy shade, a fence on two sides, the shed on the other, and of course the entrance itself. So I think I'll try parking out front for awhile and reclaim the space in back for a type of patio. Whatever rules of Feng Shui I know (and I don't know many) say that entrances should be attractive, so instead of parking a big hunk of green colored metal at the back entrance to the house I'll make it a more appealing space. I had no sooner decided this, when serendipitously my neighbor offered me his picnic table and benches. With Ben and Will's help we quickly turned the parking area into a plant-filled space with the table and benches in the center. NOW the important thing will be to make time to use it---just to sit, even, and read or write or knit.

Eiseley