ah, balmy summer
Yes! I love the heat. Gimme sweltering heat anytime, over cold weather! The only caveat might be if I have to be somewhere, on time, looking somewhat cool, calm and collected...That's what air-conditioning in the car is for, right?
We are drawing the drapes on the sunny side, and opening windows and doors on the shady side of the house. So far, we are quite comfortable, but I do notice, I need to slow down, or I'm sweating in no time! How vulgar, eh?
I spent a delicious day, pretty much all to myself yesterday, puttering in the garden, weeding, putting in a rose bush, lavender and thyme plants. It's crazy to be planting things out with the worst heat of the summer upon us, but what's to be done? I cannot resist refurbishing the beds, I am not satisfied to just daydream about what they might be like...I have the plants sitting in pots drying out anyway. Everybody is better off if I just go ahead and plant them out, I'm sure you'd agree. Sure, they'll need to be babied a bit. I accept that.
The dogs have decided the space under the deck is perfect for getting some shade, yet remaining close enough to the activities to monitor the action. That will have to stop, because in going in and out, they walk through the newly renovated flower beds around the deck...!! Extra tomato cages did not work. Boards and bricks did not work. Chicken wire might be quick and easy. Better yet, some wooden trellis? Maybe later, when our landlords repair the deck. Chicken wire it will be, for now.
I also resettled some of the patio blocks yesterday. They had decided to slide under the steps of the deck, leaving a weedy gap between them and the rest of the patio, and were tilted at a crazy angle. That was quite back-breaking work. By six o'clock in the evening, I couldn't decide if I was just tired and sore from all that work, or hungry, or dehydrated, or suffering from sun stroke, or crazy, or all of the above! After an easy supper of a huge taco salad and a glass or two of wine, I felt much better. Just a little stiff and incredibly tired. This morning, I feel marvelous and very pleased with myself, thank-you very much!
My parents left day-before yesterday, after staying with me for nearly a week. They were on their way back from a therapeutic visit to Finland, which my father is able to enjoy because he is a war vet. Suffering a little from jet-lag, and adding to that some rather cool weather during their first couple of days here, my mother came down with a nasty head-cold. She insisted on pushing herself to socialize, bake etc., unable to allow herself to sleep when the urge hit. Finally, she was forced to rest for the last two days or so. Spending a whole day in bed, watching the wind rustle the leaves of the trees outside my bedroom windows, listening to the birds, in my mind anyway, had a huge role to play in Mom's recovery.
Dad, on the other hand, had allowed himself to sleep, dozing at the oddest moments, slowly getting up to speed again. By the time they left for Vancouver, Dad was getting in his daily 3-4 mile walk, enjoying the scenery, the wildlife, and the massive "cottages" of Sturgeon Point.
I made the mistake of chatting as I'm wont to do, about the daydreams that fill my head about flower beds here and there about this place. Bam! Dad got it into his head to help and got busy cutting down a small maple that was in the middle of what I envision might be a rock garden some day. Trouble is, our axes are quite dull, and we don't possess a chain saw (not that Dad favors chain saws anyway). Also, Dad's vision has never been the same after an intraocular bleed after cataract surgery (he jokes that the surgery was a success as far as the cataracts were concerned). Dad has trouble with depth perception now, so the ax work, he said, looked like a beaver had chewed at the tree. I finally found him a saw (a saw that I only use to cut my handmade soap into bar-size pieces)that was a bit more effective and down came the tree, very accurately calculated to fall between the existing trees and away from the garage and greenhouse. (Dad reminisced about a tree-cutting job that paid part of his way through college.)
Dad also sorted out some lumber I recycled from my old raised-bed vegetable gardens from my old place, stacked the usable wood out of the rain in the garage, and helped me build a pea-fence for the peas to climb.
I feel terribly guilty for working him so hard and I must remember to be careful next time when I talk about my garden daydreams, but I honestly believe he enjoyed himself. I know I certainly enjoyed working side by side with him.
Granddaughter is coming for another overnight visit. I will be paying Canadian Tire a visit to buy a wading pool for her and some chicken wire for me.
We are drawing the drapes on the sunny side, and opening windows and doors on the shady side of the house. So far, we are quite comfortable, but I do notice, I need to slow down, or I'm sweating in no time! How vulgar, eh?
I spent a delicious day, pretty much all to myself yesterday, puttering in the garden, weeding, putting in a rose bush, lavender and thyme plants. It's crazy to be planting things out with the worst heat of the summer upon us, but what's to be done? I cannot resist refurbishing the beds, I am not satisfied to just daydream about what they might be like...I have the plants sitting in pots drying out anyway. Everybody is better off if I just go ahead and plant them out, I'm sure you'd agree. Sure, they'll need to be babied a bit. I accept that.
The dogs have decided the space under the deck is perfect for getting some shade, yet remaining close enough to the activities to monitor the action. That will have to stop, because in going in and out, they walk through the newly renovated flower beds around the deck...!! Extra tomato cages did not work. Boards and bricks did not work. Chicken wire might be quick and easy. Better yet, some wooden trellis? Maybe later, when our landlords repair the deck. Chicken wire it will be, for now.
I also resettled some of the patio blocks yesterday. They had decided to slide under the steps of the deck, leaving a weedy gap between them and the rest of the patio, and were tilted at a crazy angle. That was quite back-breaking work. By six o'clock in the evening, I couldn't decide if I was just tired and sore from all that work, or hungry, or dehydrated, or suffering from sun stroke, or crazy, or all of the above! After an easy supper of a huge taco salad and a glass or two of wine, I felt much better. Just a little stiff and incredibly tired. This morning, I feel marvelous and very pleased with myself, thank-you very much!
My parents left day-before yesterday, after staying with me for nearly a week. They were on their way back from a therapeutic visit to Finland, which my father is able to enjoy because he is a war vet. Suffering a little from jet-lag, and adding to that some rather cool weather during their first couple of days here, my mother came down with a nasty head-cold. She insisted on pushing herself to socialize, bake etc., unable to allow herself to sleep when the urge hit. Finally, she was forced to rest for the last two days or so. Spending a whole day in bed, watching the wind rustle the leaves of the trees outside my bedroom windows, listening to the birds, in my mind anyway, had a huge role to play in Mom's recovery.
Dad, on the other hand, had allowed himself to sleep, dozing at the oddest moments, slowly getting up to speed again. By the time they left for Vancouver, Dad was getting in his daily 3-4 mile walk, enjoying the scenery, the wildlife, and the massive "cottages" of Sturgeon Point.
I made the mistake of chatting as I'm wont to do, about the daydreams that fill my head about flower beds here and there about this place. Bam! Dad got it into his head to help and got busy cutting down a small maple that was in the middle of what I envision might be a rock garden some day. Trouble is, our axes are quite dull, and we don't possess a chain saw (not that Dad favors chain saws anyway). Also, Dad's vision has never been the same after an intraocular bleed after cataract surgery (he jokes that the surgery was a success as far as the cataracts were concerned). Dad has trouble with depth perception now, so the ax work, he said, looked like a beaver had chewed at the tree. I finally found him a saw (a saw that I only use to cut my handmade soap into bar-size pieces)that was a bit more effective and down came the tree, very accurately calculated to fall between the existing trees and away from the garage and greenhouse. (Dad reminisced about a tree-cutting job that paid part of his way through college.)
Dad also sorted out some lumber I recycled from my old raised-bed vegetable gardens from my old place, stacked the usable wood out of the rain in the garage, and helped me build a pea-fence for the peas to climb.
I feel terribly guilty for working him so hard and I must remember to be careful next time when I talk about my garden daydreams, but I honestly believe he enjoyed himself. I know I certainly enjoyed working side by side with him.
Granddaughter is coming for another overnight visit. I will be paying Canadian Tire a visit to buy a wading pool for her and some chicken wire for me.
posted by Kati at 10:30 a.m.
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