Gorgeous Sunny Saturday

After rain most of yesterday, and torrential rains overnight, it is sunny and in the 70's.  I went out to the back garden, squishing through the grass.  The weed cover is so dense I only manged to clear about a 2 x 2 foot square.  Then I went around to the front, which is in full sun (except under the ornamental crab apple tree).

Every time I managed to get up a dandelion -- root and all -- I thought of it as tossing one more problem on the rubbish heap.  I cleared a lot of tall grass up against the house and it was around then that the sweat got into my eyes.  I hate that.  Of course, you can't wipe your face with your muddy gloves, but from experience, I know that I have to wear two pair of gloves.  I either use disposable food handling gloves or, today, my under gloves have rubberized palms and are reusable.  I do this because I hate it when the soil stains my nails!

Speaking of a pair of gloves: I am so annoyed with ads that offer me two pairs of something.  Don't they know that it's a pair? Obviously, they don't, but I wonder how much these illiterates are getting paid to write this ad copy.

It tickles me that I'm NOT the demographic marketers are targeting when, in reality, I probably have a lot more disposable income than a 20 something.  That 20 something has student loans, a car loan, rent, etc. Oh well, I guess it is true that I need to get out more if my amusement is spotting grammatical errors in online ads.

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I am totally hooked on "House of Cards."  I've been watching it on Netflix on my computer, which is not very comfortable.  But my friend's husband, the Computer Whiz, couldn't figure out how to get Netflix to my TV and also be able to switch back to "regular TV."  He rigged something with an XBox to their TV.  It seems to be the incompatibility between the Internet (PC) and the TV cable.  My other friend who got me hooked on Netflix has a dedicated Apple TV.  Sheesh.  Emily said she'd try to walk me through it over the phone, but my brain has melted in the sun so that will have to wait until later.

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So I went to see "Harvey Allen, A Living Pioneer Valley Icon" at the Library today.  If you Google Harvey Allen, you can see the movie too.  It was great and Harvey was in the audience.  He goes to the South Amherst Congregational Church which is where I met him.  He's a very nice man who does lots of the cooking for the huge (3 seatings) church suppers.  The next one coming up is asparagus, chicken salad, strawberry shortcake.  His trick is to put some stems in the bowl (it's served family style), then some asparagus tips, then LOTS of butter.  It's yummy.  (He says the tips cook quicker, so he cooks them separately.)  He worked in food service for many years in various places.  But now he's really into conservation.  Check out the movie if you get a chance.

French Lilac to the Left of the Main Library Door

Flowering Dogwood to the Left of the Main Library Door