Blood-dimmed tide

Or rosy glow...

I found it. The original colour. Perfect match. The bright pink is no more. The semi gloss is gone. I bought the paint at American Hardware on Court Street, where the garden section is dominated by Miracle Gro, Moss Killer and Roundup. The counter help, with food between all its teeth, leered at me when I asked about organic products and soil. I took my Benjamin Moore Roseate and ran.

I painted all four walls, covering the orange and the remaining cream, and, reaching between the vicious little prickles of the New Dawn, was nipped, bit, pierced, torn, scratched, lanced, sliced, ripped, gouged, hooked, slashed and cut. I looked like a chainsaw massacre victim - I was painting in a bikini and dripping with sweat in our weird little high summer today, but most of it was just paint. It's in my hair.

Estorbo spent most of today flat on the floor inside in disbelief, looking for the zipper to his fur suit. But as soon as the terrace was put to rights again he was out there, and seemed to approve. I like it too. This pink has more gravitas.

I bought this juice at Sahadi's. I'm not a juice person. But it was mulberry juice, which I'd never seen, and it was just over $3, which is really cheap. And I adore mulberries, mostly as a memory. I used to pick them from Mrs Du Toit's tree next door in Bloemfontein - a whole bowlful, for family dessert after family lunch (we were the 50's frozen in time). The juice bottle said product of PRC, which I had to look up, as I imagined it had come from Middle Eastern fruit, or ex East Bloc. Nope: People's Republic of China. Hm. Silkworm food?

OK, so the juice was doctored. It was 6 o'clock juice with a squeeze of lemon and a shot of vodka and lots of ice. Fat smile. It was a hot day.

Then I shelled some fava beans for supper with artichokes, and considered the week ahead.

Busy week: finally the planting of the rest of a SoHo garden that has been years in the making. Not a huge job, but with many twists and turns. Mostly perennials, which are being bought tomorrow and planted Tuesday: lots of Iris ensata, calamintha, gaura, geraniums, veronica, nepeta, interesting alliums, pennisetum, Japanese ribbon grass, and a little lawn; and roses and boxwood. Trees - maples, magnolia, lilac and cherries - were hoisted last year and planted, though the magnolia's colour is apparently not what was expected...so we'll see.

A couple of new designs to start thinking about, too, and then on Thursday: the Median!