My plan to spend yesterday morning quietly doing this and that outside was shattered by the arrival of a fleet of jackhammers and dump trucks, which spent the morning tearing up the street in front of my house and then repaving it, for no discernible reason. Still, Paul did manage to worm out of the driveway twice and drive away by himself, so at least one of us was happy.

Instead of being outside, I sat on the couch and finished my friend Linda's collection Ballast and started my friend Gibson's collection Deke Dangle Dive. Thus, my morning was not unproductive, but it was certainly dusty and distracted.

Today should be better, distraction-wise, and I'm also excited about the new outside chairs that Paul and I bolted together yesterday: a pair of bright yellow, retro-style metal chairs that look charming in my scatty backyard. They are a perfect match for laundry, a spotty lawn, a concrete fire pit, aging vinyl siding, and a firewood tarp.