Friday, March 27, 2020

Arabis


For me, yesterday was kind of like the movie "Groundhog Day." I was back at Sainsbury's in the morning, because of course I forgot some stuff when I went the day before. I like the orderly, crowd-controlled way we're all doing our shopping now. It's nice to stand in a well-spaced line and walk through aisles that aren't packed with people. Anyway, I got my eggs and potatoes and Dentastix and then decided to drop by Homebase on the way home.

Only...Homebase was closed. Apparently some time between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning they decided they weren't an essential retailer after all. Not only were they closed, but they were giving away all their seasonal plants in front of the store. I saw people leaving with carloads of primroses, pansies, and hanging baskets. Now that £1 I paid for a flat of primroses the day before looks like a rip-off! Everything's relative, right?

Anyway, I picked up another polyanthus and a flat of something called Arabis, or rock cress (above). I've never heard of it, but I like it. I also grabbed a pot of sad-looking daffodils that I figured no one else would want.


While I was doing all this, Dave was planting our little fig tree. You may remember I rescued it several years ago, and it's been living in a big pot on our patio, but it was getting increasingly root-bound and last year it didn't look as healthy as the year before. So we decided to put it in the ground.

While I potted up the Arabis, Dave took care of the fig and put the sad daffodils at its base. They'll come up fresh and new next spring.


Then Olga required a walk, so she and I went back to the cemetery. We heard the turaco again, and Olga had several good rolls in the sun.

I kicked off a cataloging project for work -- basically revising the Dewey Decimal numbers for books in our Lower School to make them simpler. I have to keep doing something for the school during this time, to justify my salary. I have a few other library-related tasks lurking in the wings.

Oh, and I mentioned the free plants from Homebase to Mrs. Kravitz. She leaped in her car and drove over there, and returned with what must be 100 plants:


I don't see how she's going to be able to use all those. (I take back what I said yesterday -- that it's impossible to have too many primroses.) If I were a betting man, I'd bet they're going to sit on her patio in their pots, unwatered and untouched, until they die and she throws them all out. I've seen it happen before.

Some people, when you say "free," go a little crazy.

16 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

FREE! Night of unbridled passion with Mrs Kravitz.

What? No takers? Crazy!

Moving with Mitchell said...

Oh, dear, I don't much like Mrs. Kravitz. Then again, I don't think I'm expected to. On the other hand, there's Olga!

Ms. Moon said...

For some reason the thought of her picking up all those plants and then letting them die makes me feel sick to my stomach. Perhaps I'm seeing a metaphor here that I shouldn't.

Marty said...

Mrs. K is going to need her own 40 acres and a mule to plant all that!
BTW, I just read somewhere that with all the staying home and baking going on now, the next shortage may be eggs. Good thing you picked some up.

Anonymous said...

I like seeing Dave planting that fig tree. Really a lovely photo. I'm mad at Mrs K and she hasn't even let the flowers die yet, and I don't even know her!

The Padre said...

Olga Is Too Damn Cute - What A Pose - Roll On Girlfriend - Roll On

Cheers

Edna B said...

I'm loving your new plants. That Mrs. Kravitz is something else! Olga looks like she's really enjoying herself wiggling in the warm sun. Stay safe and have a wonderful day. Hugs, Edna B.

Red said...

I never thought of what some of the losses might be as I'm so sheltered. we are a long way off from gardening and I hadn't thought of what might happen to plants.

The Bug said...

Mike keeps going to the store foraging like you are. I'm so grateful - that's the last thing I want to be doing!

I've just remembered that I have some flower seeds that I picked up last fall & have done nothing with. It's probably too late to plant them now. Darn it! Well, I'll check the packet & see...

My life so far said...

Your neighbor got a lot of free flowers. I hope she does take care of them. The rock cress is lovely, as is Olga.

John Going Gently said...

Some people are just greedy

Sharon said...

You are so right about the "free" thing. The thing that cracks me up is that it's usually the people who can afford things that go crazy. The poorer people take things in moderation.
I just returned from a trip to the grocery store and I found the whole experience to be a bit depressing. Empty shelves and disinfected carts....it's starting to get to me.

Catalyst said...

I've decided to stay away from stores until this virus passes, even though we supposedly have only a handful of cases in our county. With Judy's amd my advanced years we're in a prime age to get this thing and die of it. So, no sense pushing our luck. We can shop on-line and then get the groceries loaded into our car outside of the store. Easy-peasy.

ellen abbott said...

nice that they gave away all the plants instead of just letting them die. 5 confirmed cases in my county now, one in my general area. life is still pretty much normal except for it being so damn hot!

Penelope said...

I think Mrs. Kravitz didn't get enough hugs when she was growing up. There is a sad story there.

jenny_o said...

How frustrating to have missed the giveaway by one day, and even worse to know that Mrs K may never even get that boatload of plants in the ground ... Good air in, bad air out, breathe :)

I'm getting a bit impatient for spring. We've had around 13 inches of snow in the last three days. Of course, it's melting quickly in between storms, but still! We will likely have at least one more storm before spring comes here. It will be good to get rid of boots and scarves eventually.