A Sunny Birthday

By golly, Sarah Jane will be 21 tomorrow. Seems like no time at all since she was just expected. For once, her birthday is in balmy weather; we had seventy-degree warmth today, and sun all day tomorrow is expected, too.

Just the same, I spent time today digging up gladioli and canna and leaving them out to dry. The little geraniums are upside down in the same box; I understand that if I dry their roots until next spring, they'll leaf up again. Could be I'm mistaken. We'll see. The turned dirt gleams in the piles of leaves. This really works out, as a way to get those beds cleaned out and ready for next year. Planting new glads in a drought year didn't pay off particularly well; while I enjoyed myself in Cape Cod, a couple of the new ones bloomed, and their bulbs look pretty good, but a lot of them never made it. Even if I'd been here, I don't think I would have given them the huge amounts of water that a normal summer yields. The older bulbs bloomed early, I'd put them in earlier, and they look okay. Maybe it's too dry near the house every year?