Out of the Garden and Out on the Town

Strawberry salad at Bistro Bella Vita

Saturday began hot and rainy. It was great to have a break from all the watering and weeding, even though I spent the morning in the gardens of the 25th annual Ottawa Hills garden tour. It was just 3 years ago that my daughter's garden was featured on this tour and I was weeding and watering like crazy to help her achieve garden perfection, if only for the day. Now she has just 3 plants in a lower Manhattan one bedroom apartment.

Last week Saturday I toured a hosta garden with 750 different named cultivars, sporting red Crocs boots and an umbrella. On yesterday's tour I just got wet, happy to be cooled down by the constant drizzle. Yes, we are having some more hot pre-summer weather.

So O. and I snooped in about 10 backyards to see delights you miss when just driving by. I kept my camera phone dry and zipped away in my purse. Once again Howard promised to share a slip of his special daylily if we would return in July. He is now in his early 80's and still fit, sharp, and enthused about his yard.

If I can take away one good idea, discover one new plant, I call that a success for any garden tour or club event. O. snagged a handful of a new color of lamium and we were promised a piece of that daylily.

So after the two tours I bought a Wheee! hosta at Countryside Greenhouse--which O. and I both found irresistible. She bought a bigger one last week, but hey--it's a hosta! Give it a year and it may be enormous.

My new Wheee!

I was also intrigued by a nice castor bean plant--impressive and a little bit naughty, with its poison beans. Think ricin.

I got home in time to dry out and dress for a play--a 4:00 performance of "The Most Reluctant Convert" featuring the words of C.S. Lewis. After all the walking in the rain (and waking early to dye my hair before the first tour) and shopping, I found myself very sleepy in the dark and cushy theater seats. In fact, I briefly dozed off. As soon as I started breathing heavily (snoring?) I got nudged awake.

Along with two other couples, by 6:00 we were sipping adult beverages (a small glass of wine for me--didn't want to fall asleep again!), eating the above strawberry salad and sharing a delicious pizza with the husband who shared his pork chop dinner with me. And we shared a macaron dessert. The macarons were not NYC quality, but the ice cream was decadent.

It was good to take a break from the rain, the heat, and the weeding, to enjoy some adult company and (wholesome) adult entertainment--even if I briefly fell asleep! And I haven't had a proper meal out since that amazing steak dinner in Fidi on April 21.

Rustica? pizza

Mickey Mouse Macarons?