Happy Monday!

It's almost noon; let's see what I've accomplished today (I use that term rather loosely):

• walked (with baby bear, of course) to Kroger to buy a $1 9 lb. bag of potting soil (didn't want to spend more in gas than the dirt cost!) Those of you who live in the country, feel free to roll your eyes at $1 for 9 lbs of soewhat decent dirt.
• stopped by starbucks while I was down that way... I couldn't resist, especially since I tucked cash in my pocket as I walked out the door. Their caramel frappuccino is worth every penny. They didn't have any used grounds for gardens in their bin yet, though. Bummer.
• walked home... that made over 2 miles round trip, maybe closer to 3?
• moved mulch aside, added soil around the hostas, black eyed susans, asiaatic lily young calla lillies, all of which seemed to need a little extra good dirt in this drought.
  
• re-positioned mulch to cover the soil.
• (baby bear "assisted", including eating a little bit of dirt in the process.)
• drew shapes on the sidewalk and let baby bear scribble with her sidewalk chalk.... for well over an hour. She even said all of their names and frequently stepped on the drawing when I called out a specific shape. A neighbor girl, who is 8 or 9, came and played with her, giving me the chance to spray the dirt off my dirty hand spade, baby bear's "tools", and our buckets.
  
• watered & photographed flowers and veggies

Technically, the berries and honeysuckle are not on our property. They are in that undeveloped part behind our lot. Sometimes I whine about the cliff, but today I remembered that there is nothing like the sweet scent of fresh honeysuckle wafting across the yard. And if the area behind us were developed, we might have nosy neighbors breathing down our neck, or stinky dogs barking through a fence. (I have nothing against dogs in generaal, I just don't want stinky ones next door.) I remembered summertime walks to the Bay, when we would stop and suck the honey out of the flowers on our way. And I wonder if perhaps I'll get a few minutes to pick ripened raspberries and try my hand and Gramma M.'s frozen berries in syrup recipe. I think the birds are enjoying the berries- I've seen a lot of cardinals frolicking back in the trees.

The dishes and various other indoor chores are waiting. And as far as I am concerned, when you have a cooler (80-ish?), partly-cloudy day in this part of the country, you take full advantage of being able to enjoy the outdoors.

3:37 update- got the dishes done and the floor swept, and dinner is planned- bowtie noodles with meat sauce and FRESH from the garden-pot green beans.