Frank!

Last week, Apartment Therapy posted a must-have item:



What could be more perfect? Lego and Falling Water. There's also a Guggenheim set. Where's Robie House. I'm sure that's next.

And one more...

Crazy! Yet another tea book - this one focusing on tea and tea-related customs in Europe (read, Western Europe), fittingly called:

The two that got away and the four that didn't...

Somehow this weekend was a banner weekend for finding new tea books!

On Saturday I journeyed up to Doylestown to go to the Tile Festival at the Moravian Tileworks. Since the last time I spent any quality time in Doylestown, the persistant rain prevented any significant amount of strolling through town, after my tour of the festival, I parked the car and wandered for a while. Of course, it being me, I parked right in front of the independent book store in town, the Doylestown Bookshop, where I found three tea books:

Tea by Sarina Jacobson



Tea for You by Tracy Stern



Tea; the Essential Companion



Today after work, I spent some quality time in Border's and found yet another tea book: The True History of Tea by Victor B . Mair and Erling Hoh



Despite the riches listed above, at two shops I found two additional tea books, but did not purchase them because I was convinced I had them already. Time to update the tea book database. Time to figure out how to carry that list around without resorting to excess electronics (not possible, I imagine). And time to retrace my steps to find those books again, or simply look forward to the thrill of coming across them in some completely unexpected place.

On the shelf...

This idea from Design*Sponge struck my fancy today:



Simple and elegant, combining the best of my grandfather's shelf of screws and nuts and bolts with tea. But where can I put it?

Not dead...

That's me, and my garden...

Summer begins this week as far as I'm concerned. Free evenings to fill (okay, free evenings that are already filled), time to work on projects, crafts, house, social evenings... Time to marvel at the fact that I didn't kill all of the plants in my garden. In fact, some of them seem quite happy!

Last Thursday evening, after about 75 straight years of rain, the sun came out, and with it my camera to document what was there. The images below were taken then and this evening.

Last summer the City came and planted trees along my street. Since then, I've wondered what kind I have. Now that the tree is in leaf and in flower, I know! It's a crabapple. The blossoms just now are white and lovely. I think at some point, maybe in the fall, I will move the tree to the center of my lawn, and move the lilac that's there to the back (though I hate to hide it).



Isn't it beautiful! It's even more beautiful than the picture let's on. This past weekend I was in Ann Arbor, MI, where it was prime lilac time. And we're not just talking bushes here, but groves of stunning purple flowers that you could just bury your head in and inhale. Mine will be like that soon (once it's a little taller).



I have a second lilac that was quite happy in a pot over the winter. I hope it will be just as happy in the backyard where I planted it. This one is a white lilac variety from Monticello. If it blooms, I'll post a picture.



Last year, Liz gave me a whole bunch of cuttings from things in her garden. The one I know made it is the azalea above. The one thing I didn't know until today was what color it was. As the photo doesn't quite show, it's a pale purple, with large flowers. I'm hoping it will grow and spread to fill that back corner of the yard. And finally...



Susie send me some renegade bulbs from the Netherlands that were specially treated to bloom this year. And what do you know, two of them did. This picture cannot do justice to the beautiful, dark purple blooms. I hope more of them come up next year!

But wait! There's still more. I have a Monticello Apothecary Rose in and leafing nicely. No idea what the bloom will look like, but stay tuned. And today, hidin under a clump of weeds, a hosta.

If I have time this weekend, I may find a few more things to pop in the ground. High on my list at the moment are these flowering shrubs: hydrangea, peonies, viburnum, lantana, and more roses!

Happy Spring!