Dear Plain 'Ol Grammy,

Thanks for the lovely hand-written letter you sent, and the money you sent for marigolds. I was actually pretty excited to have a couple dollars to spend on flowers because I just finished this book called Carrots Love Tomatoes, and it's all about companion planting. They suggest planting marigolds in your vegetable garden to kill nematodes in the soil. I went to the garden center yesterday and all the plants were reduced price!

I bought:
2 pony packs of marigolds (the circus marigolds are SO pretty!)
2 chives (which are good for your roses)
6 strawberry plants (are mutually beneficial when planted with bush beans)
1 spearmint plant (repels ants, and thus aphids. improves flavor and growth of tomatoes)
1 thyme plant (good anywhere in the veg. garden)
1 sage (improves growth of most vegetables in the garden)
and 1 seedum "voodoo" (which was just really pretty and goes in the flower garden)

I planted all of these while Luke was sleeping in the afternoon. It felt so good to add to my garden. These were all things I had on my list for next year, but I was able to put them in now! I am especially excited to see the chives help keep aphids off my roses because they are covered in buds and I don't want them to get eaten.

This afternoon I am going to Winnipeg for allergy tests. I'm glad to finally be tested and maybe discover some things about myself, but I never enjoy that much driving by myself. I'm considering going to the library this morning and getting a book on tape. That really helped Derek and me get through the long drive from California to Manitoba. We listened to three books on CD. That kept us awake in the warm afternoons.

I love you Grammy. Give Bud a kiss, and Blue a hug from me! We are all looking forward to seeing you in July. I show Luke your picture and say, "Graaa-mmy", and he says, "Gaaa-ng". He can't say the "y" yet. He does the same thing when he says "Daddy", it sounds like "Da-dn".

Missing you,
Laura
PS- This is Luke in a toque my friend Katie made him. I am excited to try the pattern you sent for the scarf. It looks beautiful.