When I picked up Kit Laughlin’s Stretching & Flexibility after work yesterday, I thought that I should look back at all the things on my wishlist and see how I’m doing. Here’s the summary:

• Subscription to Scientific American Mind. Still open. Shipping costs are increasing at the book shops, making the subscription make a bit more sense.
• Chef’s knife. Check.
• Stretching & Flexibility. Check.
• Book ends. Check.
• Le Petit Prince. In progress.
• Guitar tuner. Check.
• Decomposure – Vertical Lines A. Check.
• Malajube – Le Compte complet. Check.
• Grand Theft Bus – Birth of Confusion / Flies in the No Fly. Neither.
• T Leaf Tea. Lots.
• Sinfest books. Pretty please…

I think we can take an implication from this that I tend to get what I want. Some things have been pushed down the priority list and some things get caught in the spur of the moment and never actually get on the list. All told, I’m not doing too bad.

I wish I could say the same for my list of things to do.

It started with a brief discussion and quickly turned into action. Most things don’t happen that way, but it worked nicely today. My flatmate and I had brunch and went down to Palmers to get some things organised for a small herb garden on the balcony. It’s true that there isn’t a lot of space available in apartments, but we happen to be lucky enough to have a large balcony that catches sun from early morning through mid-afternoon. Conveniently, there’s also a shady side for the things that don’t like a lot of direct light.

We arrived back at the house with a nice array of small items, all edible. Thyme and coriander are in one planter, basil and parsley in another. Mint is in the shade, a cherry tomato plant is shaded from wind but not sun. A tabasco pepper lives alone and a lone strawberry plant should be a god-send in the heat of summer. If we had more space, it would be nice to have rosemary and fresh garlic tips and chives, but we need to keep some room for pulling out the beanbag and reading in the sun.