Small Pleasures

This is the first year Matt and I have lived in this ol' house and we're finding all sorts of sweet surprises popping out of the ground. Like rhubarb. And garlic. And these guys...

Anybody know the name of these? 

And these tulips just opened the other day. That made me smile.

And then they kinda closed when the sun moved

Speaking of smiling, I finally figured out a use for a lunch pail I had picked up at an antique store years ago. I just loved it when I saw it, but didn't really know what to do with it. So, there it sat in a closet. Waiting.

I had some ideas for it--I thought I might put some of my art supplies in it, but I never moved past the thinking part on that one. I also thought I might use it for an actual lunch toting device, but it didn't seem practical. And so it waited.

It's waiting.

A few days ago, I went to grab some of our seeds out of our kitchen drawer. They were kinda shoved haphazardly in there with cheesecloth, straws, dried mushrooms, popcorn kernels and a bunch of other random stuff.. It seemed like the seeds needed a better home. Light bulb moment! I knew where they were meant to reside.

And that made me happy.

seeds + lunch pail = home

And since I pulled out my seed stash I couldn't resist looking at my scarlet runner beans. What beauties they are! And they hold such lovely memories for me.

I harvested them while I was working and living here in the San Juan Islands and the whole experience was just, um, in a word, amazing. So much laughter are in these here beans.

And speaking of seeds, ours have been taking off! I love waking up in the morning and going to check on them and see how much they've grown in a day. Tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers and peppers await us this summer. We're already salivating at the mere thought!

Three cheers for small pleasures.

 Update: In soap related news, my soap is for sale at the Flagstaff CSA! Go on down and get yourself a bar of goodness. And thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.