Lake Lewisia #568

It had seemed a risk, unacceptably huge, to offer only five seeds, but quantity had earned the creature no benefit, so it selected just a few perfect seeds and folded them into an envelope made from the nicest scrap paper it could find. It couldn't even bear to watch, to see if he tossed them like the flowers that came before, and only oozed out of the storm drain much later. When it did, it found a new clay pot set just beside his front door, with little mounds of hidden seeds freshly watered, and the creature squirmed in triumph and affection.

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LL#568

Today's Keyboard Smash

The fabric store I prefer, which is an hour away, is going out of business. Which sucks, because that leaves me with only a Michael's for my craft needs going forward. They're selling off everything, so we made a trip out to it. 20% off isn't that great, but it must be working out okay for them: even though they aren't scheduled to close until November, the place is looking picked clean already. Lots of stuff was missing in part or in whole.

I wanted to get some fat quarters for a project, and what little they had left was all totally unsuitable. I did pick up a bunch of black felt, which is going to be used for Halloween costumes and decorations.

I also bought myself some nicer watercolor paints. I had been hoping to spring for some Daniel Smith's at last, but this place doesn't carry them. What they had was Grumbacher Academy, which is apparently a decent student-grade watercolor. It's still going to be a step up from what I've got, which are...not good. I get frustrated practicing my painting because the paints just don't behave like they're supposed to. I know it's a bad craftsman who blames their tools, but when watercolors won't blend or bleed or do any of the things associated with the medium? Well, I might be practicing art, but it's hard to say I'm actually practicing watercolor.

They were sold out of a ton of colors, so I couldn't get too carried away even if I wanted to. I had looked up some information on good watercolor triads, though, so I could get the most out of only three tubes of primary colors. (Okay, four--I got some Payne's Grey too.)

The big find, though, was one of the display racks. All the furniture and display pieces are marked for sale as well. A lot of them are, not to put too fine a point on it, kind of shit. I have a real bad reaction to tables and things that wobble if you touch them. But I found this one metal rack and, well, I did tell you I wanted some shelves for the plants, right? It's tall but relatively narrow with four shelves. The cool thing is that all the shelves fold up, allowing the sides to fold in, so it collapses down completely flat. Which was great for when I needed to carry it three blocks and up stairs to the car it needed to fit in. XD

It is, sadly, a rather revolting shade that might be intended to be robin's egg blue. It's got a faux distressed finish, so it's ugly blue with fake rust, which BLEH. But that's nothing a can of spray paint can't fix at some point. I'll post some pictures of before and after once I get it painted.

It's not for the cold frames--too tall--but it will fit very nicely in the office. Which means I will no longer have plants precariously balanced on the window sill and a side table (and all over the floor when they come in for the winter). I shall have shelves! I'm really excited about it. Store closings always serve me really well for this sort of furniture. I have some clothing shop racks instead of having a closet. A display rack (for Burt's Bees products, if I remember correctly) from a bookstore for my DVDs. Things like that.