That line reminds me of the poem "Warning," by Jenny Joseph, which starts:
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit
I don't know; I don't much worry about what I wear now, and I don't eat samples in shops, but when I'm an old woman I'll probably have fifteen cats and live on bagels and cream cheese and have stacks of books everywhere and not dust . . . Oh, wait. I do that now. Well, except that I only have two cats.
Sometimes I run a stick along the public railings, and I definitely go out in the rain in my slippers. I don't spit, though.
Anyway, I did bring my lunch today--a bagel and cream cheese--then went out to take a walk. I had gone over to the City Market on Monday to buy some flowers for my desk, but most of the shops were closed, it being Monday--a tradition I wasn't aware of.
So I went back over today, and the shops were open, but no one had any interesting cut flowers, just roses and some stock, I think it was. So I walked over to the nursery on the other street, just to look, and ended up buying some vinca vine to plant with my geraniums, and a couple of annuals that I'd never seen before, a "Sun Chimes Rose Diascia" which is a really unusual almost brick red, and a Torenia, or "Wishbone Flower," which looks like a tiny purple pansy.
I had tried to go to the nursery near my home two weekends ago, but it was so crowded I couldn't even find a place to park, so I gave up. I knew last weekend would be even worse, since Saturday was the day before Mother's Day, so I didn't even try. I bought four small white geraniums at the grocery store; they look just fine and were undoubtedly cheaper.
The nursery where I went today had some really beautiful geraniums, though, and I was tempted. I didn't buy any, although I wanted to buy a salmon-colored one that had a card on it that said, "Unauthorized propagation prohibited," and I was feeling kind of rebellious.
