Jaci Dawn

For some reason (stress, probably), I woke up tired and achy all over and lacking in ambition. It’s been a stressful week at work and Monday is another big day, so I think my body is just rebelling. REST! REST! REST!

Unfortunately, Saturdays are usually big days for me: shopping, cleaning, laundry – all that boring stuff that I don’t get to except in passing during the week.

I sure didn’t want to do any of that today!

As it happened, my dearly beloved husband was sitting around the house with not much to do and the newspaper in his hands. He just happened to read about some plant sales happening today, starting with a hanging basket sale in the park two blocks over, to benefit our neighborhood association. (We’re not members of our neighborhood association, but they do things like raise money for playground equipment, hold a huge Easter egg hunt, host a neighborhood barbecue & picnic, and so on. We’ve attended some of the events.)

We meandered over to the park & I picked out my Mother’s Day gift a week early.

I do this every year and I kill them every year, but I can’t help myself. I need flower baskets.

From the park, we decided to drive by a yard sale. We figured it was a drive-by yard sale because the signs were huge and you know that yard sales diminish in size and quality according to the size and quality of the signs advertising them: the bigger and more obtrusive the sign, the smaller and less interesting the sale. This one proved to be a good yard sale – I’ll post pics of our haul tomorrow. $18.

We then drove down to the Stephens-Crawford House plant sale (to benefit the museum). The plants all looked like they were hastily dug out of someone’s yard and potted. I felt sorry for the ladies running the sale and spent a dollar on plants.

Pearly Everlasting starts (I’ve always wanted to try to grow them down at this altitude; now I have starts) and some sort of sedum for the hot and dry spots in my garden beds.

We then planned on checking out the Oak Lodge Garden Club’s plant sale in the suburbs of Portland. But first, we had to check out one more yard sale. My camera battery died, so yard sale photos will have to be posted tomorrow. Here’s a teaser: we picked up a limited edition lithograph by artist John Paul Braman for $5. I love those kinds of deals.

The Oak Lodge Garden Club’s plants were in better shape than the Stephens-Crawford House sale’s were, but most were of plants that we just have no use for in our yard (or that we already have). The exception was the hellebore I bought for a buck. I love hellebores…

What the sale lacked for in plants, it made up for in artwork for the garden: original artwork, some of which I think I can duplicate once I figure out the glue the artist used. Whimsical garden decor made out of old bottles, glass insulators, pieces of china and copper tubing. I have nearly all the supplies necessary and what a great use for old bottles and glass insulators!

There were also some interesting pieces of fused glass garden hangings & wind chimes by artist Denise Weinberg. She doesn’t have a website. But she was present and I had a wonderful time getting to know her. All of her fused glass creations come from recycled glass. Most of her glass came out of the flood of 1996 when people along the Willamette River had water pouring into their homes, destroying patio doors and the like. Denise breaks the glass & refuses it. I like it because it isn’t the normal fused glass look.

From the Oak Lodge sale, we went to a neighborhood nursery. That was very profitable: I picked up two one-gallon containers of hostas. Not one hosta per container, but several per container – another great deal since hostas sell for around $6 each everywhere.

I bet they’re gorgeous when they bloom!

Now that I’ve lined up all kinds of yard work for myself, I need a good warm weekend in which to work in the yard.