Time, strawberry, trellis

1. My youngest child, Aiden, is starting preschool this week. He started at his new childcare centre last week, and in total I will now have FOUR days a week, 9-3, with no children at home. I say 9-3, but of course with travelling time it is a bit less than that, but anyway it is a wealth of time. I have my freelance work, of course, but nothing on hand today; so I have had time to do a little housework, a little gardening, a relaxed morning tea. Shopping, a cafe. Nothing exciting, but I was by myself with no one to look after and no time constraints. Yay!

2. Half a strawberry, warm from the plant. I avoid the half that some other creature has taken a bite of. So incredibly much better than bought strawberries. We haven't had a lot of strawberries in the plant's first year, especially when shared between four people, but they are already spreading vigorously ready for next year.

3. I put up a trellis in the second vegetable bed which is still almost empty, ready for the peas to climb up. The sun is too hot to put in the pea seedlings, they can sit in the shade until later. The first vegetable bed is a riotous tumult of corn, tomatoes, lettuce, chives & squash. A butternut pumpkin plant spreads its arms over all, winding between everything else. A single pumpkin, now bigger than my fist, swells over the side.

Tupperware, free time, taping hope

1. I went to my first tupperware party today to oblige a friend. It all seemed very expensive and I didn't buy anything, but I had a cup of tea with group of nice women (many of us have kids at the same playschool) and the best part was that as a tupperware virgin I was given a couple of little free things: a small long-handled brush, like a big toothbrush, for cleaning inside tall narrow things; and a small square of plastic/rubber that is supposed to give you great traction for opening recalcitrant jars - something I have a lot of trouble with due to my shoulder injury. I haven't tried it out yet. I love free stuff!

2. My son was offered a playdate this afternoon which gave me a couple of hours to finish some reading I needed to do before a meeting tonight.

3. I have remembered that a new favorite show is on tonight in time to ask my husband to tape it for me while I am out. I loved episode 1 of "Raising Hope" but missed episode 2 - and I can't watch it online as the US is too far ahead of Australia and they only have from episode 5 onwards available. I'll see tonights though, eventually.