Purple Things, or Eight Hours Later

We have tiny little violets blooming in a corner of our garden, which is a nice surprise. I'd seen plants with leaves that looked like they might be violets, but I wasn't really sure until the flowers showed up.

And here's one of our purple crocuses. We have three so far, including one that appeared in the middle of the lawn. I'm always afraid I'm going to step on it.

I did decide to make myself scarce for lunch with Dave's friends yesterday. My cold has persisted and I didn't want them to sit there and worry about whether they would catch it while I sneezed dramatically all over the food. So I took Olga for a long walk through the West Heath, Sandy Heath and Hampstead Heath Extension.

She found lots to keep her busy, including plenty of squirrels to chase. When she got overheated from all the running, she'd collapse into the mud to cool off. Needless to say, she required a bath when we got home.

Dave's friends arrived at noon, so I left at 11:30 a.m., planning to return at 2 p.m. and meet them briefly before they departed. We figured they'd be here two or three hours. But as it turns out, my efforts to keep my cold from them were completely unnecessary because they stayed for eight hours.

I repeat: EIGHT HOURS.

Apparently they weren't at all concerned about catching my cold.

I had hoped to have the afternoon free to lie in bed and read, but alas, I was entertaining. This was after cleaning the house all morning and the aforementioned two-and-a-half-hour dog walk. Do I sound aggrieved? I guess I am, a little bit.

On the plus side, his friends were nice enough and Dave's vegan butternut squash curry turned out well. He decided to skip the falafel, but we have about eight cans of garbanzo beans stacked up on the counter so I'm guessing it will be on the menu sometime this week!