Mesta Park is all ready for guests to descend for a Saturday in the park, even if my Mesta Festa Chili never made it off the page onto the stove.  

It was just too lovely yesterday to spend the day cooking in front of a stove.  There’ll be many other cold and wet days ahead for that.  And what gardener can resist being outside on such a perfect gardening day as yesterday?   Instead of cooking, I opted to play in the dirt and the new garden beds next door are beginning to take shape.  And then I went to Lowes for the umpteenth time this week — a girl and her neighbors can never had too many perennials at half-price — and then I enjoyed a nice visit with the neighbors.  And after all of these pleasures, I went to bed.  And I went to sleep  as soon as my head hit pillow, full of that good tired soreness.  

My neighbor who lives right next door to Cinderella —  the one who invited me to come up with a list of garden plants for his new front garden landscape —  came over while I was working.  He was checking in for plant recommendations; and with only a small amount of embarassament, I showed him my choices with actual plant specimens.  Yep.  I confess that I bought plants for this nice man too without even being commissioned to do so.  Balloon flowers and Homestead Verbena and Black Blue Salvia and Russian Sage — all blues and purples and it’s going to be lovely in front of his orange shaded brick home.  And thankfully, my neighbor was as pleased as punch with my plant selections.  And had he not been, I would have planted these purplish blue flowers either at Cinderella or given them to Sis.  I can always count on Christi  — who I’ve baptised St. Francis of Rock Creek — to adopt any stray, whether it be plant or animal. 

Today promises to be just as lovely as yesterday.  And again, I’m taking a day off from the kitchen stove.  Lunch will be at Mesta Festa where I’m hoping to grab one or two Big Truck Tacos.  And then tonight we’ll head to Norman for this month’s installment of our family’s moveable feast.  It’s Amy’s turn to host and she is sacrificing her Saturday to the kitchen stove out of love for Bryan’s family — and my husband and I, as I suspect all the rest of our tribe (as all have sent in their positive RSVPs), are looking forward to tonight’s feast and games.   It’s the best of both worlds — home cooking in someone else’s home  — with a slice of Amy’s home-made carrot cake to tip the scales in Amy’s favor.    

From Festa to feast, and all the errands in between, today is shaping up to be full of good things.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.