All Good Things Must Come to an End?

Gardenia.  Wish you had smell-a-puting!

 Today is the last day of my annual Birthday Vacation.  I take my birthday very seriously, but I think even my most indulgent friends would slap me if I tried to stretch this any farther.
  I so wish I would have taken a picture of the huck lace on Big Bertha yesterday.  I got exactly halfway through my first napkin, and I am having a great time weaving the pattern.  I can't come next week, so the anticipation will be even greater week after, to see how the whole pattern looks.
  I must confess that Big Bertha is living up to her name.  The first shaft has half of all the heddles on it, so it's plenty heavy to lift, but treadle 2 has every other shaft tied to it, and the first time I lifted it, even Ila heard me curse!  Treadle 7 is hardly any lighter, with all but shaft 2 on it.  And those are the most used treadles, which is why I'm bothering to tell you this.  I got quite a work out yesterday, and was a little worried about being sore, but I took care of that with some hard core yard work.

Natchez white crepe myrtle

  My sister gave me a gift certificate to Home Depot, to buy a ladder to use to clean my gutters, although she didn't want me up on the ladder alone!  Well, the more I thought about it, and as I shopped for taller ladders than I own, I realized she was right.  Better to pay someone unafraid with a tall ladder.  But who?  Anyone know anyone who might want to clean the gutters around my house?  Please let me know!
  So instead, I bought plants.  I got two gardenias, four portulaca, one Natchez White crepe myrtle and one plant I can't remember that had beautiful clusters of orange flowers.  It didn't get planted, so you don't get to see it yet.
  I planted the gardenias on either side of the back porch, so I can smell them when I leave the house.  Next to the one on the right, I planted the Joseph's Coat climbing rose I bought way back in June, when Mom and I drove to Cookville to see Matt and Dana.  It's been languishing in a pot near the water faucet, so I managed to keep it alive.  Next to that, I transplanted the two Clematis I've had by the front door for the past two years.  Poor guys never got enough sun, and while they never died, they certainly didn't flourish.  I'm hoping they and the climbing rose will clamber over the back porch and cover up its ugly vinyl siding.

Joseph's Coat rose

  Tomorrow, I go back to work, to a full hotel, lots of events and high expectations.  It's been a lovely nine days, but all good things...  Bummer!
  And while I dream of my lovely huck lace napkins on Big Bertha, I hope you have happy weaving!
Maggie