seldom do people so pamper me in my flower obsessions as they have this past month! first my flower-riddles scarf (i do wish i hadn't left my camera at home. it looks like this only in navy and deep purplish-red.) then von, who always used to criticise me (economise! it's because you're always buying flowers that you're broke! i'm not lending you twenty dollars for food because you went and spent your stipend on flowers!) gave in and sent me katharine white's gardening pieces, onward upward in the garden, ("happy birthday. trenchant commentary about gardens and permanence and the passage of time may well follow.") which e.b. white had compiled after her death, as well as howard bjornson's very unusual book of weeds (my loves just look at the photographs!) which i had admired for several years in postcard form. then heath, gallant and indulgent as ever, presented me with a bottle of perfume when he came in - creed's 2000 fleurs. ("i don't know if there really are 2000 flowers in this, but i think there will be enough to keep you happy.") then margaret h. presented me with some purple tulips on sunday, which have now opened up (as have the freesia buds i was keeping in the wings) and they are all dancing on my window sill. thank you, my dears. not simply for the things, but for thinking of me, and for the willingness to indulge me.