I had a brief but lovely visit with my friends Richard and Cheri yesterday morning, and I'm grateful for that respite, because later in the day I learned that 25 people have signed up to visit my garden tomorrow evening. Argh. This is turning into a high-pressure situation . . . I still have so much prep to do, and we've got rain forecast for Thursday, and I woke up at 3 a.m. making lists in my head . . .

Today, after my exercise class, I'm going to go straight into the garden and work till I get too hot, and then retreat to my desk. As usual, life does look less stressful in daylight; I hate those nighttime anxiety lists. Richard and Cheri brought me a beautiful Rose of Sharon, so planting that first thing will cheer me up and fortify me for the more mundane chores of weeding and mowing and raking soil and running the trimmer and watering and hiding the ugly junk.

Of course all I can see are the insect holes in the cabbage leaves, and the dog-leg broccoli plant, and the spotty lettuce germination. Let us hope that the visitors will be distracted by the zinnias and the peppers.

In the midst of this garden hoohah, I've got a pile of editing to do, a seminar to plan, and a reading coming up on Sunday afternoon. Lots of deep breathing is in order. I'll get it all done somehow.