Iris bloom, plus curb shopping for a birdbath...

The iris are blooming! I think these are the ones my dad sent me, rather than the ones I dug out of someone else's yard last summer (with permission - I'm not quite that gurilla, at least not yet). They're lovely and look very pretty next to the purple salvia, which do really well in that especially-sunny bit of the garden.



While I was running Sunday, I noticed that someone had put a slightly chipped bird bath out at the curb for garbage pick up, and I admired it. A few hours later, we had nothing particular going on, so I dragged Grace with me to pick it up. I loaded it into the car while she melted in embarassment (new for her: she used to be excited about free curbshopping.) I responded by arguing that I was practicing some of the 4 R's, as described by her school: reuse, reduce, recycle, rethink. (Remember when R's stood for stuff like reading? I'm not unhappy with the tradeoff, partly because writing and arithmatic don't actually have any business being grouped with reading as R's - and yet, somehow... it seems strange that the public elementary school is so evangelical about recycling.) This very sensible argument had zero impact on her embarassment, so I guess I'll have to leave her at home or let her skulk in the car during future outings.

At any rate, the bird bath is attractive, and it fills a bare spot that used to be occupied by an equally curb-shopped Adirondack chair I used as a plant stand which gave way this spring.