happy day

Today was a very good day. Started this morning by going in to Chapel Hill for a conference call. Which went very well. I had an allergy attack in the middle of it, but luckily someone else was doing the talking. I was able to sneak out of the room and blow my nose before anyone asked a question that I had to answer. And I managed not to sneeze at all (I have a very loud sneeze that would have been heard even from the other room).

I was supposed to have an art car meeting at lunch, which I blew off so I could work. I felt badly about it especially since the guy I was meeting didn't get my message and waited for me at the restaurant. That sucked. But still, I'm really glad I stayed home because the tree guy showed up during that time. He said that weather permitting they'll get it done Saturday, so we'll be fine for Tropical Hurristorm Jeanne. And he's not even going to charge that much since we want to keep the wood. We'll split the big logs for firewood and I guess we'll rent a chipper and turn the branches into mulch. (Get your Fargo jokes out of the way now, folks.)

Then my afternoon meeting cancelled on me, which meant hours of uninterrupted time that I could work! During the day! Got a lot done too. After work I spent some time clearing overgrowth out of the way so the tree guys can get to the dead tree. After that it was to the mail center, where our hydrangeas had just arrived. Yay! Six hydrangeas to go in front of the house, all different varieties. We ordered plants that will all be about the same height, but the flowers will be different shapes and colors. (By which I mean, in neutral soil the flowers would be different colors. I'm aware that in our acid soil they will all be blue. We'll probably lime the red ones so they stay red. I think the white ones may stay white on their own.)

We're going to plant them on the weekend. So in the meantime I unwrapped them, set them under the eave of the house where they're shaded and won't be pummelled by Ivan-related rain. Then mounded mulch up around the pots and gave them a good watering. Actually only two of them were in pots; the other four were wrapped in plastic wrap. I loosened the plastic wrap around the top and poked a drainage hole in the bottom, but left them in the plastic for now.

The nursery packed them really well and shipped them fast. I have nothing but compliments. My only disappointment was that the invoice says "Thank you for your order, enclosed find a gift Dianthus." But there was no dianthus in the box. Bummer! I'm not going to say anything to them, since it wasn't part of my order and the extra plant wasn't an advertised special offer or anything. But still, it would have been nice to get a free flower.

By then it was time to leave for Chapel Hill again, where I met Gina for an evening of photography fun. She has the same camera as I do, so we walked around taking pictures of the same things and comparing our settings. It was awesome. I learned so much. The camera can show you a histogram for each image. I knew how to read a histogram, but I didn't know what to do if there was a problem with it. (Or as I said at the time, "I know what it means, but I don't know what it means.") Gina showed me what was a great histogram, what was acceptable, and what to do about bad ones, like how to move the data further to the right to brighten the image. I still don't know how to increase the contrast in an image that is all in the middle of the histogram, but I guess that will come with practice.

Besides the photo lessons I had a great time just walking around Franklin Street and talking. Considering that Gina and I have only seen each other a handful of times in the past 15 years, it's amazing how much we have in common. One thing we discussed was our shared tendency towards information overload. Which is interesting because I had talked about the same thing with Lisa a few days ago. If I am delving into something new, whether it's gardening, photography, or even just buying an iron, I want to know everything I possibly can. I tend to research things to death. Too much information can lead to paralysis, but I feel much more comfortable making decisions based on information, rather than jumping in and learning as I go. I guess it's the "J" in me, if you want to get all Myers Briggs about it.

Good food was had as well. I highly recommend the grilled brie and bacon sandwich at Carolina Coffee Shop. Mmmm, melty. And that new ice cream place which I don't know the name of. They mix stuff into the ice cream on a marble slab. The only problem was that I asked for a small and they gave me a medium. When I pointed it out, they charged me for a small, which was cool. But the medium was too big and though I tried not to eat too much, I didn't stop in time. I don't feel sick or anything, just a little overfull (and sugar-shocked, probably).