A Productive Holiday

 

I thought it only fitting that I get our flag out and flying for Memorial Day. We go with a patriotic/red, white & blue theme up front. 

Once American football season opens, a Buffalo Bills flag goes up.  But for most of the summer, we're flying the flag of our country. And I'd thought about flying it upside down too...

The Memorial Day sale at the Amvets thrift store was 50% off everything.  The box of glasses was the reason I decided to shop today. We are having a party for Tommy's retirement at the end of the month. Cheap wine glasses seemed like a good idea.  We'll have plenty, and at 25 cents piece, it won't matter if any break.  The birdhouse is for a farm-lady friend.  In total, I spent $24 (I rounded up again). My haul was one pillow (for outside), three 100% cotton sheets (for sewing), two men's shirts, a sweater for Tommy, and one for me. Mine is cashmere. Tommy's is cotton with a small amount of cashmere (I think the manufacturer just wanted to say that it was a cashmere blend, so they used the minimum).  None of the clothes look as if they've ever been worn!

Dinner tonight was based on marked down food from Save-a-Lot. The chicken was 99 cents per pound, and the bag of Southwestern salad mix was a buck.  I will be making stock tomorrow or the next day, and we'll have chicken breast for other meals. Of course, the discards will go to Frankie.

We strung lights for our outdoor living room -- the pergola area.  I only had two strands and didn't want to run a lot of cord, so the middle seemed the most logical place to position them.  There's still plenty to do for this space, but we are off to a good start.

I dug out a lot of the garden ornamentation. The posts were painted by yours truly.  While the front of the house is red, white, and blue, the back is black, white, and red.  There's a little blue here and there.  For the first three summers, we had small fencing up around some of the bushes to protect them from our one-dog wrecking crew.  But she's not as much of a menace now, so the entire garden is open to her.  The containers set up against the garage actually sit on three benches that had been around our fire pit. These had gotten chewed by rats, and Tommy hated them after a while. Two benches can be pushed together to make a picnic table. We're just using them as garden shelving.  These pots will get herbs and flowers for cutting.

Is your yard shaping up for summer? If you're in the US, did you do an actual holiday celebration? Or were you like me -- and just working it off?