Secateurs and Other Things

Yesterday, when I went to buy a pot and a tomato to put in it, I also wanted some secateurs. Secateurs are what English people ask for when they want short-bladed pruning shears. So, I was wandering about the garden section of Home Depot and came across two men who worked there obviously on their way to somewhere else. I said, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the secateurs?" The minute I said that, I thought, "Oops! " but before I could say pruning shears, the shorter of the two men, the one who spoke with a Spanish accent said, "Follow me, please" and took me right to the spot! I was most impressed! I now have some nice strong secateurs and later today I am going to cut back to the ground the vine that grows up the side of the deck and wraps its tendrils around anything it can get into which now includes the bird feeders I have stored on that side of the deck.

The people who work at our branch of the Home Depot seem to be  few and far between but my experience is that when you can hunt one down, they really DO know what they are doing. There was an older lady in the garden department who regaled me with stories of her tomato plants growing in pots and then not only told me what I needed but told me to wait there while she got what I asked for!

We are having really strange weather today. This morning, it had rained so I wiped the wet chairs on the deck and put the pads back on them. Then, after I had put the umbrella up, I closed it back down again and Fred put it on the ground because the wind was gusting and we have already taken part in the "Flying Umbrella" experience.  It is chilly {Fred went to sit outside a bit and wore a jacket} and occasionally sunny. I don’t like it when it looks nice enough to sit out but really isn’t.

What I am reading:

• I am reading yet another Heironymous Bosch book by Michael Connelly. This one is The Last Coyote. It is the one where he solves the mystery of his mother’s murder thirty years after she is killed. I am reading so much Connelly partly because I like his work and partly because I bought two anthologies with three books in each at a really good price for my Kindle.  It is easy to tell these books were written a longish time ago because in the first two books, he and his partner had to find public telephone and now he has worked his way up to a mobile in this book.

QUOTATIONS:

"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."

Michael Jordan

None will improve your lot If you yourself do not.

Bertolt Brecht, 1933