Homo Depot

We always see "family" at the hardware store. Today, it was two middle-aged women, one with an Human Rights Campaign (HRC) yellow equal sign (one of the most closeted GLBTQ symbols in America) hat on, and her sweetie. They were loading up a flatbed with all sorts of garden supplies and clearly did not need the help that young men kept proffering. I just love dykes sometimes. And so I told her I liked her hat and we shared notes on flowers. It's as close as we come to a secret handshake.

We also saw playgroup friends whom we hadn't seen in awhile. The kids had on their special project aprons and their parents raved about the weekly project for children. We might have to try it sometime.

Otherwise, we spent the time overloading on garden supplies and hardware, just like we always do for our first trip of the season to the hardware store. We got a new grill and accoutrement, some mulch, some edging stones, flowers (let's call them volunteers, since it was more for fun, knowing full well that it could freeze and the flowers--pansies, petunias, and marigolds--could die), and two little American flags, the kids' 79 cent bribe for behaving.

Next, we picked up grilling ingredients--zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, black bean burgers, chicken (which Mama marinated in coconut milk!), corn on the cob, even bananas and s'mores. Yum! Everything was tasty on the grill (even frozen black bean burgers are great), but the corn on the cob was just a revelation. So sweet. And it wasn't even particularly good corn. Plus leftover fassolia (a stewed giant bean dish; more on that soon) and some watermelon lemonade we made yesterday. It was a delicious meal . . . . and a great afternoon cleaning, planting, and playing.