Saturday

Saturdays are about as close as you can get to being a kid again. Today was entirely fun from start to finish: 

An unexpected morning call from a friend who moved away years ago.

A surprise porch visit from Freda after she went to the opera on screen.

A driveway visit with Jan and Harvey, swapping news and thrift store finds and seeing Harvey's new Mercedes. 

Three thrift shops and one bag of beautiful bargains: six new Vietri soup bowls and a little pitcher, each piece five dollars.  (The online retail prices ranged from $50 to $95 each!) 

The weather was perfect, so I spray painted two sun-faded plastic chairs a bright cherry red while the clothes were washing.  

The yard was looking forlorn after all the frozen plants were cut back to the roots, so I watered all the roots just like Joy told me.  Also, following her suggestion, I put the hose on the base of the pecan tree for two hours of slow drip. 

I just closed out the day by watching a two hour class teaching us how to make a complex Chinese thread book.  The outside is one big folded box; the inside is a series of increasingly smaller boxes, all made of paper.  (Did you know that paper was invented by the Chinese around AD 150?)

Historically, Chinese women made these multi-folded books to carry their sewing needles, threads, and patterns.  When they visited friends to sew together, they could fold up all their supplies in these beautiful paper books. 

I will attempt one tomorrow after I make a birthday cake for Elena who turns 11 on Monday!