Wow, time flies . . .

Actually, it both flies and drags. This week passed faster than I thought it would, but at times I still thought it would never end. I guess I was just ready for another long weekend.

After three days of record-breaking heat, we've cooled down into the 60s and 70s again and have had some much-needed rain. I've had the windows open the last couple of days, and it's been wonderful. The birds are really enjoying the cool weather--the birdfeeder had a visit from a very vocal Bluejay this morning. I got a really good look at him, too, but he flew off before I could grab the camera. Hopefully he'll be back soon. I'm not getting very many birds, but the ones I've seen have been mostly cardinals and bluejays, so I guess they may be scaring the other birds away.

I bought a few tomato and yellow pepper plants this week. One of the tomato plants is about two feet tall, already caged and bearing blooms and fruit. The other two are grape tomato plants and are about 10 inches high. I potted them this morning. The pepper plants will have to wait until Tuesday when it's payday. Everything else looks pretty good. I think I may have lost one of my gerber daisies, though--I forgot that the planter didn't have any drainage holes, and it was drowning. I've cut it back and have poked holes in the bottom of the planter, and hopefully it will come back. My little eggplant has doubled in size this week. I can't wait to see how it does.

As for knitting, I'm past the heel and on to the leg of my sock. I need to get my shawl out and work on it for a while--I've neglected it lately. I want to try and finish the fiber on my spindle this weekend. I need to start spinning again--I miss it!

I've been reading the Saturday Morning Gardening Blog at Daily Kos this spring. Check it out--there are lots of beautiful photos from readers' gardens. There's a new diary every Saturday morning.

I've been trying lots of new wines lately. Of course, this results in trips to the liquor store where I come out with a box full of bottles and a much lighter wallet. Still, I think it's probably more healthy than just drinking sodas, right? I'm just finishing up a bottle of Tidal School Raspberry White Zinfandel. This is an Oklahoma vineyard located in Drumwright, and this is a great wine. It's not too sweet and not too dry, great for warm weather days. Another wine I think I'll like this summer is the Gallo Cafe Chardonnay. Again, not too sweet or dry, low alcohol content--I think it's a really good table wine, and inexpensive as well.

Addendum: As much as I like the Gallo wine, there is a serious problem with their synthetic corks. I've opened two bottles of this and broken two corkscrews in the process, one of them a metal one! I've e-mailed them to let them know what happened. The corks are extremely hard, and one of them almost felt like it was glued into the bottle. I may not be buying any more of this after all.