Early to bed and early to wise is *supposed* to make me healthy, wealthy and wise

First things first, I've finally set up a semi-decent website:

www.christinaonwheels.com

I'm still fiddling around with colours and layout and all that fancy stuff, so there'll be lots of changes in the next little while. Take a look at it and let me know what works and what doesn't, and I'll continue to fiddle away with all the settings until it finally looks like something cool. Unfortunately, the host only lets me have a static number of pages so I have to link the blog back here. But...working on it!

My job has been so much more rewarding than I ever thought it would be, and it's the little things that make it so. Yesterday, I spent a solid half hour helping a couple plan out what to put in a boxed in container in front of their townhouse. The picture below is a rough idea of what it looks like (I asked them to bring in a picture of it once they're done, so hopefully I'll be able to get that up and it'll look better and more accurate.)



So far, what they've got is three of a dark-coloured, cherry-black leafy perennial in the top (can't remember the name of what they got, but what's in the picture is Actaea Simplex 'Black Negligee'), two Imperata Red Baron grasses, and five purpley-black violas anchoring the front. To add more texture and height, they also picked up black pussy willows to add to the back.

I also had the most charming encounter with a little boy yesterday whose mother came up to me and said, 'Can I ask you a question?' (Side note: you wouldn't believe how many people start off the conversation like that. I love it, because as if I'll say no!) She explained that her five-year-old or so son needed to pick a flower for school because all the kids were going to plant one outside, and could I recommend something. Bending down to his level, I asked, 'What's your favourite colour?' He thought for a moment and replied, 'All of them.' His mother and I laughed, and she said, 'What about your favourite colour?' I can't remember if he said blue or purple or whatever; we were by a bleacher-like setting with poppies on it and I asked him how big the planter was. 'From here,' he said, going from one end of the bleachers, 'to here,' he said, walking ten feet the other way. 'Okay! So you've got a big planter! How deep is it?' With a totally serious face, he tapped each level of the bleachers. 'This, this, this and this,' he explained. 'Different levels?' his mother asked him. He nodded solemnly.

I took him over to the violas (we've got great colours!) and he seemed to like them but wasn't overly enthused. Next, I showed him my perennial du jour, the saxifrage mossy red. Again, he liked it a little bit but not terribly so. Undaunted, I once again stooped down and said, 'I've got it. I'll show you a plant that I can almost guarantee that nobody else will have.' We walked over to the sempervivums and I picked up one. 'This one here,' I said, showing him a sempervivum oddity, 'is my personal favourite because it looks like a collection of plant-y drinking straws.' However, it only captured his attention briefly...until the flat of candytufts caught his eye and his face lit up. 'This one!' he cried. 'Are you sure?' his mother asked. 'Do you want the white one,' he nodded vigorously, 'or the straw-like one? Okay, the white one it is.'

Never mind the fact that I'm outside in the sun all day and go home so tired that I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, seeing the excitement on other people's faces as they find that one perfect plant is what I just love about my job.