Yesterday ended up being a bit slower than we'd originally planned. We postponed the botanical garden outing till Monday and instead decided to work on garden beds here. J and H live in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, in a carriage house tucked away from the street. The geography is difficult to describe, but basically it comes to down this: J owns a compound composed of two buildings. He rents the two apartments in the front one, lives in the back one. He is linked to the street by a European-style walkway that snakes between high brick house walls, and the two buildings center around a small interior courtyard. J and H want to turn the sidewalk tree patch into a perennial garden and do some vegetable container gardening in the courtyard. So we went to the garden store for plants and containers and to Home Depot for wood, and then, while J built a frame for the streetside bed, H and I planted tomatoes and peppers and basil and marigolds. There's not much space in the courtyard, and the high surrounding walls affect the available sunlight, but it's a warm little microclimate, well protected from wind, and I think the plants will do well.

Late afternoon, we tidied ourselves up and caught a bus to Chinatown, ate some ramen, and then crammed ourselves into an el car and headed to the baseball park. The White Sox have had a terrible season so far. Bleacher tickets cost $11 each--minor league prices!--so we splurged and got good seats: $30 each and directly above home plate. The view of the game was terrific, and miracle of miracles the White Sox won. It was a really fun evening, gorgeous weather, a beautiful view of the city from the top of the stadium, a cheerful crowd. We were all so glad we went.

This afternoon I'll need to hole myself up in the back room and teach, while J and H finish the sidewalk garden on their own. The temperature is supposed to be close to 80 degrees today, and I'm looking forward to wearing my first summer skirt of the season. Ah, May . . . what a loveliness.