Rainy day back door pictures.

 Suddenly I put together a planter and I’m suggesting the back door be the new backdrop for all Tales of Me and the Husband photos going forward. Martha Stewart of gardening, that’s me. But really, it was more fun then I ever could’ve imagined going to the nursery (Kane’s in Danvers!) and taking the clumsy cart through the aisles of perennials and annuals in the heat of a June day last week. I remove the little tag stuck in the dirt.  Words and phrases like “hardy” and “zones 10-11” and “full sun” and “deadheading not necessary” are starting to swirl around in my brain as I pluck each container from its resting place and arrange it on my cart. I push them all together as close as I can and squint my eyes to imagine how they’ll look in one pot together. Once home, I nestle each one, careful to arrange the varied colors and shapes, separate the ones that will trail, the ones that won’t, just so in the most complementary ways. I back up a little bit to assess. Once done, I nearly spun around in a circle in my backyard, palms up to the heavens. Instead, I yelled for Steve to come and look. I thought I had arrived as the true woman of the house when the Dutch oven was the best Christmas present of all time, but nay, it’s now. This planter has given me new life. I am a gardener. Just wait till those potato vines start growing and inching towards the ground. And for a sunnier day when those portulaca are really open. Flowers, glorious flowers! I ordered a second planter, taller and skinnier than the first, because it really needed a friend. Back to the nursery I will go. “Weren’t you just here?” they’ll ask. “I live here now.”We have been managing to keep the television off almost the entire day most days and, more than perhaps any parenting success ever, this is the one of which I am most proud. Raising good, kind people who make eye contact and say thank you? Psh. Kids not asking for television is the one that will put my name in the history books. I’m having Parker read 30 minutes a day, both for the summer reading program, and also for… his brain. And that has to happen before TV ever goes on. By the time it happens, the day is well under way, and we’ve all forgotten about the TV anyway. There is no truer statement–out of sight, out of mind. They just aren’t asking. We’ll get more than our fill once winter rolls around again, so I welcome the opportunity to firm up their little brains now before they become television-mush again in January in New England. We still read together at night, but I want him to do it on his own too. Yes, I get plenty of “I hate reading” but his earnest mother will not let up on this one. Reading and eating vegetables. These are my non-negotiables. (Perhaps photos against one’s will, Anders might add?)They’re pointing at the portulaca! Every morning we talk about how the little flowers close up over night and open throughout the day as it gets warmer. I find it very endearing, and portulaca is quickly becoming one of my favorite plants for this cute little here-I-am! show-offy debut they do every 24 hours.My simple gold cuff bracelet (and so much of my other jewelry!) is from Heir Raleigh and right now they’re doing a 20% off with the code SUMMER20 and I WOULD MOVE ON THAT. I love their jewelry so, so, so much. Okay, I also love this very, very much. I asked the boys tonight, “who’s your best friend?” and when they pointed to each other, my heart did a somersault. Perhaps they thought of my question as more of a threat–“you’d best say each other”–but if I ask enough, it’s inevitable, right? I hope they are lifelong friends.  This is really our best work.P.S. I just got a new door mat — not before these pictures were taken — but it was $13! And free shipping! So I’m obligated to tell you that. It’s from Pottery Barn. And planter from Rejuvenation if you wanted one of those too. Oh, and the glasses. I love them. Thanks, Felix Gray.