Oh, also I got a job

I expect yesterday was Staunton-version Earth Day or some such because there was a sort of Earth-jamble attachment to the stalls at the downtown Farmer's Market. In it there were a lot of exhibits and activities which, since they were designed to amuse children, naturally attracted my attention.

I made this sort of arcane-looking pinecone bird feeder and I was so damn proud of it. The man at the booth complimented it extensively, and if you're reading this, you know how deeply susceptible I am to flattery and increased awareness of perceived victories. ("Ohh I guess I *diiiiiid* do a good job at thorough peanut butter coverage!") Since I was outside all of yesterday, I didn't get to see any birds use it, and so this morning, I excitedly leapt out of bed to check it for delighted, complimentary birds.

IT WAS GONE. :< Only the dangling string remained. Damn possums.

The people who were manning the pinecone birdfeeder activity were from the Augusta Bird Watchers Club. I talked to them at some length as their weird hobby feeds strongly into my desire to go outside and quietly look at shit, which is already one of my favorite activities. Still, I felt a little reluctant, but the man said something compelling. He said "I wouldn't have gotten into it so much except for it being some of the best group of people I've ever met." Which is a little how I've felt about my own stranger past times.

I hope you like gardening pics because that's mostly what the rest of this post is.

I like my window sill. Basil coming up, a couple little herbs waiting to be eaten, and the jar is some vodka I'm distilling with lavender. To drink it.



Here is a better picture of the cut flower on the end of the previous picture's row. Chinese Red Lantern Columbine blooming and Japanese Painted Fern. And um, um, Mouse Ear Hosta. In case you were wondering.

Bleeding heart is blooming.



I think this is hands-down the creepiest artifact I've ever unearthed in my garden. Our house is a hundred some years old, so the garden has a lot of little medicine bottles, bits of bone, white fragments of china and iron implements I've dug up when I made the beds. But. Yes. That is half of a porcelain doll face.



My blue pansy opened while I was working.


My camera's specialty is for blurred, half-eroded pictures that often take a few seconds after I've posed for them. I think I was in the middle of taking my hair down. My long, long hair.