Single-handedly rescuing the economy

Yesterday M’hijito and I went out and spent enough to bring the entire global economy back to life. Well…at least to revive the value of Lowe’s stock.

The Investment House that I so recently was fretting about has needed decent window coverings since we bought it. The previous owner, who rented the place out, had installed cheesy plastic miniblinds in all the windows. In the south-facing front windows, they not only do nothing to block the heat from the summer sun, they seem to assist it in radiating into the house.

M’hijito has long wanted wood blinds, set inside the casements. We checked out the faux wood and found the price is about the same, so we ordered up some real ones that roughly match the color of the salvaged French doors that now form the visual and design centerpiece of the front rooms.

They should look pretty nice, and I think they’ll help a bit with insulating the windows (we really can’t afford to replace the windows with double-paned numbers; certainly not in a style that wouldn’t compromise the house’s historic character). Since we installed a high-efficiency air conditioner and packed the attic with insulation, we’re hoping this will help to drop the gents’ power bills into the almost-reasonable range this summer. Hope so: the price was bracing.

Could we stop at dropping 8 1/2 bills on the decor? Hell, no!

From the window-covering department, it was off to the nursery, where M’hijito unburdened himself of a nice slab of his annual bonus and I continued to get rid of my tax refund. He bought more stuff for his elaborate vegetable garden project, and I found this incredible echeverria with blossoms that look like gold lilies-of-the-valley.

Naturally, I had to have a pot for it. Right? A crackle-glazed pot from China. Of course.

And naturally oneecheverriacalls for anotherecheverria, so of course I had to buy an elegant but less floral hen & chick. And it needed a pot, too. Naturally. And some dirt to fill the pots.

None of these were especially expensive, but they add up.

March is a dangerous time for the gardening Arizonan. The temptation to buy plants is well-nigh overwhelming, partly because the weather beckons you outdoors and partly because any plants you’ve already got are rewarding you with astonishing frenzies of bloom. Check out this thing, which apparently is a freesia:

Do I recall planting it? Nooo…. It must have been one of those extraneous bulbs that I stuck in every pot and flowerbed I could think of. A few weeks ago I found it sprouting in a dried-out pot I’d stashed in the pot shelves behind the shed on the side of the house. Dragged it into the backyard where it could get some water, and voilà! Who’d’ve thunk it?

The atmosphere is so heavily perfumed with citrus and jasmine that in the evenings you can smell it inside the house with the doors and windows closed. The lime has so many blossoms it looks like it’s been snowed on. The roses have run amok. The cassia are still covered with brilliant yellow flowers. And it is not possible to resist gardening.

Think I’ll name that gorgeous echeverria Michelle Obama… The other one can be Barack.
😉