We're back home after a trip to Washington and Virginia where we saw wonderful people get married, enjoyed the company of a great hospitable old friend, and wandered until we could no longer wander. The coming home and starting back into well-worn routines was tricky but then I looked in the backyard to find big fat redder than red oriental poppies blooming. These were plants I didn't think much of; bought 'em at a YMCA neighborhood plant sale and stuck 'em into the ground last year but ... they rocked my garden.

Today I came home from work to find some kind of varmit bit the heads off a bunch of 'em but still, I'm happy with my poppies.

One of the finds of my museum-going in DC was Honore Sharrer at the Reynolds center. Big ideas and little brushes. That pretty little housewife made a magnificent painting with so much to tell about America and I spent a good chunk of time looking.

take care,
Rachael