gardening

July 20th & 21st

Days 202 and 203 —  Yesterday — rainy and cool so decided to do more housecleaning.  Took on the main living room.  Got up close and personal with the upper windows and am looking at some re-caulking work and painting before winter.  Those window really need to be replaced, but. . .

Am continuing on my clean and purge routine.  It’s such a great feeling!  The wall unit in the living room where I keep just about everything under the sun was a big job.  I threw out a a TON of outdated manuals and junk that had accumulated over the past 23 years.  I can’t believe how much crap we stick in drawers!  I also packed away some things that just didn’t need to be collecting dust anymore.

When I got to the bottom cupboards I discovered the photo albums we used to put all our pictures in.  Looked through them quickly, got a little teary and though my intent had been to pack them up, I just couldn’t.  It’s wonderful to look back on all those pictures and see the young us.  Tim, fresh-faced with a look of eagerness and excitement in his eyes; Landon, so young with all those beautiful red curls he had as a baby and toddler — and always with a big, beautiful smile.  And, then, there’s the young me.  Looking, I thought, often far too serious, and much, much thinner.  I had smiles too, though, and it made my heart ache (just for a moment) for all those years gone.  I love my family.  I love that I have these pictures of us.  I now have a pile of pictures that need going through and placing in those albums.  Another rainy-day project.

Today was quiet.  Tim had to work and I just putzed about.  At noon I went and picked up my youngest grandson and had him come visit for the afternoon.  We worked in the yard and then I made us strawberry milkshakes.  After we played UNO and he beat me.  Four years old and already a card-shark!  I loved having that one-on-one time with him.  Doesn’t happen very often with any of them anymore.  I’m going to have to work on changing that.

I chose a new book.  It’s Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.  A summer just isn’t a summer if I don’t get at least one SK book in.  He is my writing hero.  This book is a collection of short stories — novellas, really — and I just finished the first one.  1922 is a grim little story about being careful about what you wish for.  Vintage Stephen King.  I loved it,  though some parts were a little squeamish — but then, that’s why he’s the master.

And now, it’s off to bed.  Hope I don’t have nightmares.

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July 3rd

Day 185 — Spent the day visiting with a good friend.  Good lord I didn’t know I could still talk that much!  But it was great.  Took a break from the house and my list of chores, which felt really good.

Got out into the yard for a few hours tonight — pulled a ton of weeds. Now I can actually see things.  Some of my lilies are about to bloom, and things I’d thought hadn’t made it are actually peeking up through the mass of poppies that have sprung up in the middle of my main perennial bed.  I love the poppies — they’re such a happy flower — and they require zero care.  With all the rain we’ve had things are actually pretty lush, plus, an added bonus is that the weeds are super easy to pull.

Started reading the Game of Thrones series today.  On my Kobo.  I”m 26 pages in and loving it.

July 2nd

Day 184 — Scorching hot day!  33 degrees.  So hot you just didn’t want to move.  But, I did.

Took the kids home around lunch time — came back to a too-quiet house.  A messy house, but too quiet.  Got things put back together somewhat then went outside to work in the yard.  Got the weeds sprayed (but after last night’s storm I’m probably going to have to do it again) and did a bit of weeding.

Managed to squeak in some Corona time with my book on the deck.

All in all — a damn fine summer day!

June 27th

Day 179 — Day one of the holidays — and it was lovely.  Got up went for a nice long walk along a different path.  Not the usual 30 minute circuit Heather and I usually navigate when I’m working.  The air was warm, even though we’d had a helluva storm last night.  Lots of thunder and lightning, and, of course, rain.  But, other than a couple of slight showers that was supposed to be the end of the 40 days and 40 nights we’ve been enduring.

I did a lot of little things today — made pineapple marmalade, tidied the house, took care of small chores I’ve been putting off since forever.  I even found time to read my book outside on the deck a couple of times.  (In case you hadn’t figured it out, my deck is my favorite place to be in the summer time.)

For dinner I made crab cakes and salad with asparagus on the side.  Of course, I ate it outside.  Then I finished off a nice little glass of white zinfandel and read a few more pages of my book before going back out into the garden.

I love not working!

June 21st and 22nd

Days 173 and 174 — Discovered a new place for lunch on Friday.  The department I work for took the OT team out for lunch as a year end thank-you.  Very nice.  The place we went to is Don’s Bistro.  I was a little put-out when the Reuben sandwich I ordered came un-grilled, but one bite told me that it was all right.  In fact, it was pretty damned awesome.  (And I know my Reubens!)

The OT I worked with had twin baby girls on Thursday.  They are approximately two months early and weigh about 4.5 lbs. each.  Thrilled for her.  I was really beginning to think there was no way she could continue to walk, let alone work, she was that huge.  But Mom and babes are doing fine, so that’s tremendous.

Last night we went to the Transit Celebration dinner.  This takes place at Ft. Edmonton park.  It was a gorgeous night.  I only wish my son and his family could have been there this year.  Everything was open — not like last year when nothing was open.  Tim and I strolled the streets, watched a short film about the history of Edmonton in the beautiful Capitol Theatre.  A beautiful blend of state of the art technology and old-time theatre design.  We even got to catch a ride on the steam train — the last of the evening.  This gave us a place to get out of the rain and an up-close look at how high the North Saskatchewan River has risen.

Well, here’s hoping the rain has left for good for awhile.  I bought me up a mess of plants and I need to get them in containers and in the ground.

May 26th – 28th

Days 147 – 149 — Sunday — cleaned up my writing desk with the thought of actually writing something.  Later, went to see The Great Gatsby with my daughter-in-law.  A wonderful adaptation of the story.  Baz Luhrman is a genius and Leonardo is probably the best Gatsby ever.  (Never bought Jack Nicholson in that role.)  Nice to get out with Jenn, even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Monday — back to work.  Cloudy, rainy, a perfect day to have to go to a bargaining meeting until 9 p.m.  Want to say it was productive, but. . .

Tuesday — another meeting right after work.  Thankfully I was home by six o’clock.  Scarfed down some supper, did a few email-y things, and then outside to work in the yard until 9 o’clock.  I was so happy I got some time outside.  I’m looking at my gardens and thinking how slow things are coming.  I don’t want to start fretting about not getting my baskets and planters done up, but I am beginning to.  Hopefully, I’ll find some time next week to get to the greenhouse and buy some plants.  In the meantime, I’ll just keep puttering away in the yard.

May 23rd

Day 144 — Managed to get out in the yard for a couple of hours — got some plants in pots and my hostas uncovered from last year’s debris.  Mosquitoes were nasty — tried the Bounce sheet thing — I think it worked?

Had a nice visit with my friend Kathy.  She bought me supper at Tim H’s!  How nice is that?  Was good to just sit and chat.  Been awhile.

May 21st

Day 142 — Ah, exactly one month away from the official start of summer!

Today, working out in the garden I came across a toad.  I picked him up to move him out of harm’s way when I suddenly remembered my grandkids and our frogging foray.  So, I went and got a little container and put the toad in it.  I then drove over to the kids’ house and surprised them.  All three of them were amazed by the little critter.  I had them put on my gardening gloves to handle it (so that they didn’t hurt it more than necessary).  They each took turns holding it and, of course, asked to keep it.  No, both me and their mother said, it wouldn’t live, we have to let it go.  The hunt for a suitable place to let it go began.   Finally, we let it go in the flower garden.  I’m  sure the three of them will go out there tomorrow expecting to find the toad living in their garden.

I’m so glad they live close enough for me to do stuff like this.