Author: Ariel Benjamin

I decided to take a trip to Paulino’s to pick up some supplies. Dana had been there once last year but I had never been there. It’s an unobtrusive building in the middle of a mostly industrial area north of Denver. I walked around the store for nearly an hour before I returned to the front of the store and grabbed a basket. There were a few staff members wandering around the store but they were mostly talking to each other and during my hour they never approached me to ask if there was anything I needed. I came to the store needing long garden stakes (5 or 6 feet). I decided to also pick up three basil plants and some potting soil. I brought my items to the checkout, paid, and left without much in the way of communication with their staff. The supplies there were nice and seemed inexpensive and plentiful but the staff there wasn’t particularly engaging.

I returned home and staked up the roses which are starting to lose their pedals. Strangely the roses in the back of the house, which I’ve been completely ignoring apart from a trimming early in the season, are flourishing. After staking the roses in the front I went inside and transferred the basil plants to a beautiful silver three pot planter Dana bought me for my birthday last year. I added some miracle-gro potting soil and after filling in the empty space with soil, added water. I need to figure out where the plants should sit. For now they’re just on the counter in the kitchen but will need to be someplace with better light. Not sure what I’m going to do about that yet. I’ll have to work that out.