clearly i'm still kind of in love with having a mantle on which to put things. see the many many tulips. ben knows what he is doing. (and this morning i was gifted with a new richard cheese cd as well.)

notice that burled wood vase there in the middle, with the single tulip in it. a birthday gift from a very special knitting blog friend! i sincerely love it and look forward to keeping it nice.

the gift i gave ben this morning (we have a gift for each other in the morning and then another in the evening) was not very photogenic. i made a "bouquet" of seed packets on sticks. the seeds are all edible and ornamental gourds and pumpkins from rare nonhybrid stock. i also got him a set of vintage brass skeleton keys -- these, too, we have use for in the garden. we will be overhauling all of our garden spaces in the front and back this spring, and will be adding a new category here to document that work. gourds, pumpkins and keys are all a part of it!

tonight's menu is paella, and pot au creme au chocolat, which i will be making today before ben gets home.