Well, I didn’t get the Tipsy Knitter socks finished last night during Lost, although I knit before, during and after. I still have about 1/2 a pattern repeat and the ribbing. Then done. That’s a hard show to knit through, though. I had to keep stopping and paying closer attention. Some questions got answered. Only to raise new ones. What was with that ending, eh? It will be a long Lost-less summer.

So, since I have no pictures of the socks, I will give you more pictures from my garden.

When I was a little girl, my great aunts - my grandmother’s sisters - lived together in a little house. Or at least most of them did. Aunt Allie lived in her own apartment. I used to love to visit Aunt Allie because she baked her own bread, She would make special little loafs just for my brother and I. She baked them in a muffin tin, so they came out looking like little chef’s hats. It was the best bread I’ve ever had - flavored by memory, I know. And her apartment was on the parade route, so we would always visit her on parade days. I’m not sure why she lived alone, but the location was certainly good.

Aunts Bertha, Bess, Florence and Jose, who were all either widowed or had never married, and who were all childless, lived together. Some day I might write more about all of my great aunts, who were truly great. But this is really about their garden.

In the back yard, they had a bleeding heart bush. The climate there must have been better for bleeding heart than it is here, because their bush was as tall as me (not that tall back then), and mine isn’t even knee-high to a toddler (at least this year). I was always fascinated by this bush and by the heart-shaped flowers. Every time we would go to visit, I would ask if it was blooming. And if it was, I had to go out to the back yard and just be with it. Since I’ve grown old enough to have my own gardens, I’ve always planted some.

The Aunts also had a really cool little tractor sprinkler. You’d lay the hose out where you wanted to water and then set the tractor on the hose. It would follow the hose, watering as it went. I loved that thing.

Helga writes:

If you like the tea pot (I do, too!) go ahead and google “Siglinda Scarpa” and check out her pottery You will LOVE it, I’m sure. She is a (formerly) Italian artist now living and working in the USA.

I did and I found this site. And I love it! Thanks for sharing that with me Helga.

Shelly said:

Blogging is kind of like writing a book don’t you think? A tiny little bit, but over time a real body of work.

I guess you could think of it that way. But writing a book has always seemed to me to be… work. This is more like having my brain leak around the corners and catching the drips, except with more pictures.

The second picture is for you, Shelly. I took that picture yesterday. That’s my gallica, blooming away! So it’s time to visit Heirloom Roses!

Please report on what’s new this year! I must be able to squeeze one more rose in my yard… just one…