Partner found some piano scores online and printed them off for me. I love them. It's always fun to get new music. I wish I didn't have so many other commitments and could concentrate more on my personal interests. Some of these interests are things I often blog about: gardening, piano playing, sewing, and painting. Oh, and computer and video gaming. Love the games. And while I don't hate work, it certainly takes up most of my time; time I'd rather spend doing stuff I really enjoy. Given the choice, I think anyone would choose Really Enjoy over Don't Hate. Still, as a realist, I know that work pays for my pleasure. I couldn't afford broadband, watercolor paper, packets of seeds, and so on, without earning money first. Though it's a little disheartening to see how much money I earn versus how much money I need to pay the bills; there's not a lot of surplus. I guess I'm lucky my pleasures are so cheap.

I cut up one of Partner's old shirts and sewed myself a camisole of it. He'd torn through a few of the buttonholes and it couldn't really be fixed, but I didn't like to throw it out. The fabric is soft and 100% cotton. So I tried a little experiment with the help of my friendly Venus de Duct Tape. I got the stripes almost even. At least, they're even in the back. You can see my tan lines a little in the second picture. Last month in London I got a mighty sunburn. I don't want to be tan and I abhor tan lines; I was hoping it would peel, leaving my skin unmarred. This was not to be. At least I had sunscreen in my facial moisturizer and my face was unscathed. Some people say I'm white, or pallid even. I like to say ivory.

I think I'll fix myself up next time I model a fashion creation. I kind of look like I just rolled out of bed without combing my hair. Which is true.

I spent yesterday mostly sewing. I don't understand it, but doing so simply eats away at the time. I thought I'd been working for maybe half an hour and was stunned to see three hours had passed, and half a shirt is what I have to show for it. It's a cute white and red flower print with a Mandarin collar, red piping, and will soon have off-center little red butterfly closures. I used the same blouse pattern I used for the last shirt I made, just removed the sleeves and changed the collar. We went to Ikea the other week and I bought about two meters each of two cute fabrics. And I got Partner to take a picture of me wearing my new clothing. Ok, so it's nothing special. But I made it all by myself and that means a lot to me.

I actually went out in the garden and pulled some weeds today. This is unlike me. I haven't done much gardening for the past month. Summer is, however, more about maintenance than actual work: this is my excuse for not doing any. I deadhead my flowers and that's enough for me. They have gotten big enough so that they mostly suppress the weeds anyway. However, my new asparagus bed was overflowing with volunteer poppies, drowning the poor baby asparagus and I bit the bullet and got it razed. While out there, I picked a variety of bouquets, then took a few snaps for your viewing pleasure.

I'm quite happy with my lilies; they were a new acquisition this spring. I hope they keep coming back. And of course my old favorites, the orange dahlias; what would I do without them? Probably have very sparse flower arrangements. The one you see before you is the pretty much my first dahlia of the season. Oh, and my collection of doilies come from my mother's and grandmother's respective stashes. I love a nice doily.

When I got home from work yesterday I was astonished to see the sofa cushion covers washed, the lawn mowed, and the computer room slightly tidied. For Partner, this is a very big deal. He doesn't normally have this kind of initiative. When I got a full-time job, he promised he would take over half the housework from me (during my part-time years I did most of the household chores). I think he forgot that he ever made such a promise. Or maybe (charitably speaking) he doesn't realize just how much housework there actually is. He does dishes and occasionally sparks up the vacuum cleaner. He used to brush out the toilet once in a while but I think he's stopped doing that. If I ask him to do stuff, he's pretty good about doing it. But it sucks to keep having to ask. It feels like he's doing me a favor when he does it because I ask. It doesn't feel like equal division of labor. So maybe this is the start of a new trend.