(Wish It Were Really) A Lazy Day

I love tulips--mine are just about done for the season. Wish they lasted longer.


Today's my between-auctions day off--the auction ended at 11 last night. I didn't get home til after midnight and am a bit punchy as a result. 6:30 comes entirely too early.
It's a lovely warm, sunny day and I've been drawing and Etsy-listing, while doing laundry and other domestic occupations. I had an awesome lunch of melon and slices of manchego. I found a really good manchego at the foo-foo grocery near Esther's school--spendy as hell, but SO GOOD. Nutty and mild and WONDERFUL with pears.
I'm out of pears, though. So I had cantaloupe instead.

I went to the nursery a few days ago and spent the last of my gift certificate on some herbs--cilantro and marjoram. I never use marjoram in anything, but it smells so good that I just pick bunches of it.

My lavender is happily coming back--I thought this winter would have been the end of it, but it's in a sheltered enough spot that it has survived. I've got five or six English varieties planted all together under our west window and they smell heavenly.
I'm starting to plan the vegetable garden--I think we probably had our last frost night before last, but I'm not setting out ANYTHING until mid-May. I think I'll do four tomatoes (Jetstar, Beefmaster, probably a Brandywine, and not sure what else), a ton of basil (we go through it like crazy in summer--huge batches of pesto), some Japanese eggplant, probably some string beans, and I'm holding off on melons and squash this year: No room in the new patch for them.

I already planted lettuces and strawberries--I hope they're ready to eat soon!

If I were smart I'd plant the entire backyard with veggies this summer--for the last month I've seen grocery prices increasing steadily. I'm the kind of anal, crazy budget shopper that knows prices down to the nickel and nearly all the staples we buy have gone up by a least fifty cents and some more than a dollar or two. I regularly buy the big container of shredded grana padano at Costco and the last time I went, the price had literally gone up 4 dollars. The big bag of pine nuts that I buy at the start of every summer has gone up 4 dollars also. My favorite bread has gone up, my favorite coffee has gone up, Esther's favorite mac n' cheese...

Okay, enough ranting. I'm sure all of you have been to the grocery store in the last month, so you know the song.

I DID find a great Pakistani-Indian grocery with amazingly cheap nuts, lentils, rice, etc. And they have a HUGE variety of heat-n-eat Indian dishes. They're so perfect for last minute meals, and Esther loves curries.