I got myself a couple of new books on Monday. They're both books I'd been thinking about for a while, perusing them whenever I passed through the bookstore and saw them on the shelf. Halfway through Monday afternoon I remembered I had a full stamp card (worth a reasonable discount at our bookstore) and decided it would be a good time to get them.

The first one is a cookbook - The French Country Table - and if I only ever make the sweets in it it will be worth it. Chances are I'll make several of the savouries too though - my mouth was watering while I read through recipes. One of the sweets I'm most excited about is the Rhubarb Clafoutis. I make cherry clafoutis every summer and it is one of our favourite desserts - simple, fruity, not too sweet - but last fall Rob's mum gave me a big chunk of her rhubarb plant and if it takes off we'll be able to eat rhubarb from our own garden this summer.

Book number two is Front Yard Gardens. Our house is set back a long way from the street and the previous owners put in a long strip of grass in the space between. It's almost three times as long as it is wide (or at least looks that way from the street). We really want to have a nice front yard but I had no idea where to start let alone aim for. This book is great. It's written by someone who lives in Canada and has examples of gardens from all over including Edmonton which is close enough to our climate (i.e. it gets as cold just not for as long) that suggestions for plants can actually be considered useful.

Most of the book is not suggestions for specific plants though, it's more about planning types of plants (trees, shrubs, perennials etc.) and how to group things together to go with your house and neighbourhood and stuff like that. There are even examples of creating gardens that are interesting when covered with snow! I'm very excited to see this year's snow finally disappearing so we can start playing around with ideas and take a good look at what we've got to work with.

I promised I would tell you about this pile of goodness yesterday but I took a pretty fantastic slip on our fresh ice and by the time I could be writing I was so stiff all I wanted to do was nap. Today my shoulder is a little sore and my knee is Technicolor (yes I managed to bang both) but I am otherwise just fine - all the more so for a bunch of freshly washed and pressed new fabric residing on my shelves.

My parcel was from The Workroom in Toronto and I had mostly forgotten what I'd ordered so it was pretty exciting to open. Inside were two big pieces of bamboo jersey in black and a lavender grey (love!), another big piece of Nani Iro in a deep eggplant purple with polka dots, half a metre of a Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley print (more lovely grey), Stylish Dress Book No. 3, and a fat quarter of "The Owl and The Pussy Cat" from the new Far, Far Away Collection by Heather Ross that was a treat from Karyn (and is super cute!).

The jerseys are destined to become a few new tops; I'm hoping to copy out those patterns in what remains of this afternoon. The Nani Iro print will be October's sundress. I'm debating which pattern I'm going to use; the one I really like calls for a zipper down the back and the double gauze just seems too light to have a stiff zipper stuck in it. We'll see - maybe the dress will go over my head without needing the zipper. The Hope Valley print was just for fun and my charm quilt; I've already cut out my square (plus one from "The Owl and The Pussy Cat").

The Stylish Dress Book is part of a series that I've been eyeing for ages. I'm so happy to finally have one of them. Karyn had all three at the workroom when I called but I could only justify getting one at a time. You can see pictures from inside all three books on Karyn's blog. I picked this one because I particularly liked a dress with a cute, cowl-like neckline but now that I've looked through it there are several I'd like to make this year.

I'm drinking tea right now. This book always makes me want to have tea; it's just mentioned so often. It also makes me enjoy housework and really want to make preserves.* This is one of my favourite and most frequently read books as shown by the faded spine - it used to be pink - and worn corners. There is something so fantastic about Anne and the ideas she embodies. It was given to me as part of a box set sometime between age ten and twenty. I can't even remember who gave them to me now but I'm very glad they did.

Do you have a book you read over and over?

*Right now I'm thinking of trying out a recipe for Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles but a bit unsure if we can finish off that much watermelon without drafting friends to help.