THINGS I did this week

This is Friday and that means Friday Fave Five, an opportunity to focus on what happened during the week that made you pause to be thankful and grateful  Here are mine:

1. The Fourth of July was spent mostly quietly at Willow's Cottage.  Puttering might the the best word to describe the morning.  In the afternoon, we did a few quick choresand tidied up a few things.  The Professor pulled out the grill, and I added a tablecloth to the dining table.  Friends arrived.  We chatted.  We celebrated.  Quietly.

2. One of the things on my Summer Get It Done List is documenting our personal inventory list for our home insurance--what furniture do we own, when and where it was purchased.  You know the drill.  Descriptions, receipts, maybe a photo.  I spent parts of two afternoons writing up a doc. file and reorganizing the notebooks.  Am I finished?  No.  Did I get a good start on it?  Yes.

3. The thing about borrowing books from the library is that when you return them, you find new books to read.  This is not a bad thing. Next up on my reading list:  Bella Tuscany (France Mayes) and I, Claudius (Robert Graves).

4. I have 'this thing' about bunnies.  Where we walk in the evenings, there are bunnies hopping and hiding in almost every garden.  Tall ears; fluffy white tails; brown, tan, grey fur.  I knit furry, wooly and acrylicy bunnies, too.  Here is the latest creation.  This little guy is so new he doesn't have a name yet.  Made of my handspun, hand-dyed wool, he's a very special hopper.  He's on his way to live in San Diego at my daughter Mia's home.

5.  I saved the best thing til last.  Yesterday we drove to the hot, hot interior of Los Angeles County.  Descanso Gardens in La Canada is a delightful place to wander through rose gardens, camellia gardens, Japanese gardens and a large California native garden.  Oak groves are the backbone of many California woodlands and hillsides.

We hiked up the Chaparral Trail past the dry creek beds where in the spring the rain rushes down the hillside and then wandered down through a grove shaded by the high canopy of spreading branches.  I haven't had time yet to finish uploading and sorting the more than one hundred photos I took at Descanso and at Payne's Native Plant Nursery, which was our other destination, but I had to share this unusual sage, Cleveland Sage, with you.  I may be in love...

So that was Willow's Week, the things that occupied my time and interest this week.  You can share your things you did too for Friday Fave Five at Susanne's blog.  Have a great weekend!  Come back during the weekend for more photos of Descano Gardens and Payne's Nursery.

6.  PS:  How could I have forgotten this one??  If you were watching the Mets vs Dodgers game on the Fourth of July, you might have seen some shout outs from deployed servicemen/women shown on the big screen.  One of them was MY BOY!