I mentioned to a dear friend that Jonathan was going away in Sunday morning and that I would finish my night shift on Saturday morning. She encouraged me to make the most of it and that we do something meaningful together. I woke up from my sleep around 2 pm on Saturday and first off we walked to our garden to see if any seeds had sprouted. None yet but it's still early. Then we headed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, one of the wonders of St. Louis. It is filled with beautiful plants and flowers, meandering walkways and hidden benches in quiet forestry spots, as well as actual vegetable gardens where you can look and learn about having a garden at home. We are trying out "square foot gardening this year. Here is theirs:

Just look at that beautiful spinach below the mustard greens!!! I hope ours looks half as good eventually.

We wandered and basked in the sunshine and talked and connected. We also became members, which we've been planning for a while. So, if you come to visit us, we'll likely take you here.

Above is a mini-bamboo forest!!!

What garden would be complete without a statue honoring science? ;)

After all that walking, I realized I'd skipped lunch AND it was 4:00. Tea time!!! The London Tea Room, a St. Louis favorite of mine has moved to Tower Grove, mere blocks from the botanical gardens. This place is run by Brits and it's wonderful!!!!! We had a basic pot of tea and a scone and relished the simple Britishness of it.

From there we had the audacity to continue our decadent adventure and made our way to south city and a French rooftop restaurant/bar called Vin de Set. More conversation, laughter, plans, and of course a glass if wine by the setting sun.

Finally it was home to make that spinach lentil beet salad previously gushed about in this blog.

We had 8 hours together and made the most of it. I guess there are some perks to having a family of two at present.

Hopebench