Another Pleasant Valley Sunday...

It's a beautiful morning...cool and sunny.  The lavender is prolific this year.  I've taken two cuttings so far, and the plants are still sending out spikes.  I love walking past this barrel of lavender...it smells so good!

No big plans today...coffee and the newspaper on the front porch are the priorities right now.  Lettuce, basil, and cilantro seed-sowing, and that's about it.  Pleasant day...

Gloomy Sunday

I love Sundays...especially when I have no big plans.  Today is going to be filled with puttering, movie watching... Ides of March, knitting, necklace crafting, and of course, laundry and getting ready for the upcoming week.  There's a roast in the crockpot, plenty of loose tea to be brewed, and maybe the promise of a small cake to be baked from a recipe from Miette.  Tea and cake while watching Downton Abbey...sounds delightful!

And here's the cake!

Yellow cake filled with Tangerine Ginger Curd, frosted with 7 Minute Frosting, topped with coconut.  Yum!

How I Spent My Sunday...

It's a beautiful day today...so unlike yesterday.  Yesterday I was content to just cocoon and stay under the radar...flipping through books I've brought home from the library (pretty good ones, too...The Jewelry Architect, Potted Gardens, Garden Whimsy, Home Herbal, Cooking in the Moment, DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner, The Kitchen Garden Cookbook, and my new favorite The One-Block Feast).  The One-Block Feast has a blog on the Sunset Magazine website and can be found here.

 I can't wait until our Farmer's Market and Locals Only Market start up for the season.  This year I'll  be doing some "farming" in the backyard, too.  I currently have quite a crop growing in my front window...parsleys, sage, rosemary, oregano, tomatoes and zucchini.  I purchased a two-part galvanized laundry sink at the antique/flea market in Owensboro a few weeks ago and that will house my herb and lettuce gardens.

My three small things for today:  (listed before the day actually started)

• Finish getting the sunporch ready for the season
• Move the galvanized "planter" from the dining room to the garden area
• Sow lettuce seeds

And as they say on TV, here's what really happened:

• Transplanted the sage, small tomato plants, Irish moss, Rabbit's foot fern, and sedum;  moved them to the sunporch.
• Planted the pelletized seed I purchased from Cook's Garden.  Soon (within 3 weeks, or so they say...) I'll have pots of lettuce looking like this:

So the galvanized planter is still residing in the dining room "warehouse", and although I spent some time sprucing the sunporch, it's far from ready for spring and summer enjoyment.  Since I ended up with a fresh new mosaic, I've joined the Little Red House link party hosted by Mary.  Visit & enjoy!

With the 10-day forecast looking mostly like warmth, storms, and clouds, I'll have plenty of time to finish painting and doing other inside things.  Carpe diem.

Sunday Puttering

It's a multi-tasking Sunday...the kind of 'catch-up' day that I like. While the dishwasher, washing machine, and breadmaker do the hard stuff, I'm going to be in my little corner of the dining room (the new craft nook) and make eyepillows and sachets. I spent a little time last night putting a few more items behind the curtain, and I came across a few things that had gone missing. It's always an adventure.
After my puttering for the day is done, I'll sit down with the knitting (I'm hooked on making wash clothes), and watch the second season premiere of Mad Men on AMC.