August...

The last day of August, so we can most likely say good bye to hot steamy weather, which is fine by me, the humidity and me are not good friends.  It's time to turn off the A/C and let in some fresh air.

Not much going on here today, I did find my pedometer, however, it requires a new battery, Hubby is picking one up for me while he is out and about.   Then I can set all of the info ready for Sept 1st.

My tomato plants are a big disappointment this year, we have lots of fruit but, they will not ripen.  They were planted earlier enough, watered and fertilized on a regular basis, they are able to get the benefit of the rain and the sunshine.   When one looks as if it is changing colour little critters help themselves.  Not even going to bother next year, will rely on family and the store to get our tomatoes.

Going to pop a cake in the oven this afternoon.

Dinner tonight, Hubby will be cooking burgers on the BBQ, (he will know soon enough) with a nice big hearty salad, dessert will be a piece of the lemon cake.

Cheers

Calm, cool and collected

Calm yes, after the episode with the Fitbit.

Cool yes,  we had rain and a thunderstorm last evening, no damage to us, however, there were trees down in the city.   If we had another storm overnight I did not hear it.   Looking at the rain gauge this morning, surprised to see we only had  1/2 inch of rain.

Collected yes, ready to start a new day, found a pedometer I bought several, no it must be a lot of years ago.  Just needs a new battery, so once I have that, will re-program it and use it during my walks.

Groceries this morning, prices up again, I wanted some romaine lettuce for a Caesar salad, however, at the price of $5.99 for three small romaine hearts, it stayed in the store and I got an iceberg one instead which will be used in a garden salad and on sandwiches.

Too wet to do anything outside, (I seem to have countless excuses not to do weeding),  tomorrow will be cooler and sunny, so will get at those pesky things then.   Today, I will complete the top of the quilt, another finish.  It will go with me to our guilds next meeting in September.

Dinner tonight, chicken from the grocery store,  cauliflower, baked potato, there is two more helpings of peach crisp for dessert.  

Frustrated, P@#%ed off, Angry

 Yesterday I purchased a brand new Fitbit to enable me to get off my butt and to give me an incentive to start walking as of the first of September.   I need to see numbers so that I can increase my activity on a weekly basis. that's just how I am.

After dinner I started to charge it and get it started.   You must remember I am a woman of a certain age and some of this computer stuff is a bit beyond my knowledge of this new world of technology.   Decided to look at the on line manual.  Found it with no trouble and started to read......  down a couple of paragraphs..... "The Charge 5 will not sync with a computer after October 13, 2022, you will need a certain phone or a tablet".   what the .........    I bought a Charge 5.

I do not have the phone nor a tablet and do not want either, so not going out to buy one, the phone I have is for emergencies, I can live without looking at it constantly.  My trusty lap top does all I need it to do, (obviously not, until yesterday).

   Today I took the Fitbit back and was in not so many words, told I did not know what I was talking about, with regards to the not syncing time frame.  The customer rep called another person over who had never heard of what I just said.  So they called another person who said the same thing, so now I have three people suggesting I am mistaken lying.   A forth person came to customer  service, gets on his trusty phone and finds out I am right.  Who would have known an 81 year Granny knew more than 4 thirty something sales reps.!!!   I got my money back.   

I also learned something too,  the older generation, such as myself, are being left behind, no! shut out of things we would like to do, due to technology we never grew up with and now find everything too much to get our heads around.  I am sure some of you are saying "get with it Granny, learn to use these things".   I get along just fine without it, thanks.

I feel so much better after that rant, thanks to you all for listening.

So now what do I do, have a few days to think about that, and you will hear from me in due course.

Time to start thinking about dinner, have some left over potato salad, so will need to find something to go with that.  Dessert, I have just finished baking a peach crisp, so we will have that with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cheers.

What to do today

 Sunday again, a day of rest,  seems as if all my days are Sundays these days.   

I have made a resolution... starting September 1st. I am going to walk every day, now matter what the weather, if may not be for long some days but it will be a walk.  I have been very lazy about doing this for the past little while.   There are several walking/biking paths around the area, so some days will need to take a short drive to access them, as I can't do it from home.   Doing different walks will not make it so boring.   I will take a small back pack containing my phone, in case of emergencies,  tissues  for my nose, especially when it is cool, a couple of ASA 81 mg. just in case, (don't forget I am in my 81st year, it could happen),  and when paths are not the best under foot, my hiking poles.   My Fitbit quite working several years ago, I found using it gave me an incentive to make sure I got the allotted steps in.  So plan on getting another before the 1st.  Wish me luck, I intend to post my steps on here so that I have something to look back on at the end of the months.

Cheers

Then

It must be almost September as we had a heavy dew this morning, so Hubby needed to wait until the sun burned it off before he cut the grass.  It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky so it really didn't take too long.

Laundry taken care of this morning, so we are all spic and span for another week.  Washed the kitchen floor and did a good clean on all the appliances, kitchen also nice and clean.

We had an early lunch and went to the cinema to see a live streamed show from Maastricht where Andre Rieu puts on his show with his Levi Strauss Orchestra in the square which looks as if it is in the center of the city.   The show was three hours long with a 15 minute intermission.  Loved every minute of it.  Of course, no shows were conducted during the past two years, so he did a better than ever show.  If you ever get a chance to see his performances you must do so.  Today, his orchestra, singers, guest tenors, sopranos along with a 150 man choir and marching band certainly provided a moving and emotional show.  

Pizza and salad for dinner along with the remaining two vanilla mousse was on the table tonight.

Had a lovely day.

Cheers.

Late Post today

 Yesterday, I visited my sister "B" her arm is so much better now, but she still needs to do some exercies.

We wanted to take the convertible, but as soon as we got it out of the garage, grey clouds let loose with drops of rain, we hummed and hahhed  about going.  So I looked at trusty computer weather site and there was only a small patch of green over our city, green mean light rain, which nine times out of ten evaporate before it hits the ground.   We decided we were not made of sugar and would not melt, so off we set,  a lovely sunny day and hot all the way to B's house.   

Had a call from DD1 and she invited us to a family BBQ,  recently I was simmering about my family not calling or visiting, some for months and some for almost a year.  I boiled over  the other day and it looks as if I got some results.  Feeling so much better.

My son texted me today, he had the opportunity to get tickets for a golf tournament in the UK next year and asked us if we would like to be travelling companions.    Hope it happens, its a long way off, so fingers crossed.

Not much else happened today, did a couple of errands and sewed in the afternoon.  The dreaded quilt top is almost finished.   All most contemplated suicide with pins and my seam ripper, as it was so frustrating.  Everything about this top is out of my comfort zone, so struggled with it from the get go.

My friend, who was in hospital for 5 weeks with Covid messaged me today, she is home, but still very weak so it will take baby steps to get back on her feet.  She is very lucky to still be here, she said, as she felt she was not going to survive.  Apparently a kidney is still working, definitely a plus for her. 

Dinner today was salmon, rice, broccoli and a small salad.  Dessert vanilla mousse.

Just looked at this post  ...Not 51 weeks........only 5 weeks.  still a long time.

Rain all gone.....for now.

 After another soggy day yesterday, we have some lovely sunshine and white fluffy clouds floating across the sky, much of the same for the next couple of days, so hope to be able to get out in the garden and do some work there.  All of the flowers are looking revived from the drink of rain they have had, and so have the dandelions.  Going to keep Hubby busy getting ride of the second crop.

Weekly groceries got this morning, last week I mentioned some of the prices were down, a different story this morning as big increases for the fresh veg.   I am afraid it will continue to go up due to several things, some of which is the end of season coming up now for local stuff and new crops just starting in the southern hemisphere.

Going to do a few errands this afternoon, such as, pay my Visa, take library books back and just wander around for a hour or so.   Nothing in particular needed to buy today, however, I do like looking at things.

How about you, do you window shop  thinking you might see something that  you might like or go into a store for a particular purpose?

Dinner today will be chicken, no asparagus in the store, so will have another veg. not sure what yet, however, we do have corn on the cob, so that should be eaten today.    Dessert, not sure about that either but, there will surely be something.

Have a great day. 

Catching up

Friday was a lovely day, so we decided to go to the local base ball diamond to watch the inter county game, which was the last one before the finals.   It was nice to just sit and watch the game for a couple of hours or so.  Unfortunately, our "Majors" lost 2- 0, but they are still in the finals.  Glad we took our cushions to sit on as the seats got very hard on the tush also took our sweaters too, as it was quite dewy and cooled down as the night wore on.

Saturday, was laundry and sewing day for me as it was a wet day, no working outside.  Got a lot done on the quilt top, so happy about that.  Hubby cooked a steak on the BBQ and there was enough left over for our dinner on Sunday.

Sunday, heavy rain showers left almost a 3/4 inch of rain the gouge.   Everything is looking nice and green again.

That brings us to today, Monday,  it is cloudy again and more rain is forecast, so not being done outside today either.   Some housework needs to be done this morning and then going to see if I can finish the top of the quilt.  

On Friday, my GD "K" had to attend a three hour exam for her to qualify to study for her PhD, received a message,  "I passed, now start in September for my PhD".  So proud of her.  Also received another message from GD "C' she has a new part time job at the airport where she is studying flight training, apparently doing a job I don't quite understand what it is but has something to do with airplane ramps, I have asked a question regarding that, so hope to find out more.   Also, so very proud of her.  I hate to think what these two girls would be doing if there were not here in Canada.

Update:

I was in the sewing room most of the afternoon, got a lot done, however, the colours and pattern is way out of my comfit zone, so having a lot of frustration to get it to look OK. Just thinking too much, should go with the flow and not worry about it.

We have had some showers and thunder rolling around but none of the storms came over us.  

Pork chop, squash and corn on the cob, dessert lemon poke cake and vanilla ice cream.  

 

 

Caught in the rain

Yesterday, Hubby worked at his daughters in the morning and after lunch he wanted to go and visit his sister.

She has been ill with Lyme disease for many years, it was first diagnosed as MS., so the medication required for Lyme was administered much too late to do any good.  So she still suffers all of the effects of the disease with very little hope of improving, in fact, as she gets older she seems to be suffering even more than she did. 

Of course, the sun was shining , not too hot and there were a few white fluffy clouds so we took the convertible, it was a lovely ride.  After several hours of visiting with A. it was time to return home, the sky was full of a clouds in the distance and the weather forecast was for thunder storms with hail and high winds.  Time to go.

We were about 25 miles from home and the big drops of rain started to fall, so a quick exit from off the road to put the top up.   Thankfully, we did it just in time as the heavens let loose a short time later with heavy rains which made it difficult to see the road.    By the time we got home the storm had passed and the sun was shining.   

Hubby has a Dr. appointment this afternoon and has just complied a list of questions to ask regarding the results of tests.  Hoping all the results are good.

Garden is looking nice right now due to the rains, lawns nice and green, and will need to be cut on the weekend.   

I want to get into my sewing room for an hour or so this afternoon, need to finish a quilt I started at the guilds sewing day last week.  Need to get it done by our September meeting, but also need to get the two blocks done for the regular chemo quilts we do.  Also need to bind another quilt by the end of Sept.  Now the weather is not as humid I can sit outside and do the hand sewing without getting too hot.  Lots of "needs" there, but I seem to work better under some pressure and a looming deadline.

One of our guild members is involved in a quilt show in October, so want to get a couple of wall hangings done so that I can show them then.   So a busy time for me to be in the sewing room.   That is OK, as during these hot humid days I have been doing a lot of  deep house cleaning, so now just need to do a daily skim over to keep it clean.   This gives me more time to sew.

Must gt moving, so done much so far today, not much to do really just been fluffing around.

Another rain

 Yesterday started off nice and sunny as the day wore on clouds gathered and at dinner time we had a brief thunderstorm, only two claps of thunder but, almost an inch of welcome rain.   The ground is looking good now we have had several good down pours.  Grass is green and the garden looking great again.

We have been having some cool evenings and mornings, not liking that one bit.   I complain about the heat,  but just hate the cold that will be coming too soon for my liking.  At the present time the sun is shining but there is a risk of more thunder storms later today.

Hubby is currently helping his daughter, this afternoon he wants to visit his sister.   Another drive out in the country.  

The heated discussion I had with him last week must have sunk in.   The first verbal disagreement we have had in six years.  It cleared the air, so all is good.

Not much else happening today, which is just fine with me.  The dust will wait until tomorrow or even the next day, it's not going anywhere.  

Have a great day no matter what your plans are.

Out and about

 We took some time during the past couple of days to go for a daytime drive.   On Sunday, we drove  to a lakeside town, it is a lovely little place, with lots of "artsy and crafty" shops.   However, the street was all under construction, (it's construction season here in Ontario), so we opted not to venture there, a lot of traffic and people milling about.  So we went to the pier, walked the length and found a bench, not very comfy but it was nice to sit and watch the sail boats coming and going and young people swimming.   

We stopped for dinner on the way home.   Nice day out.

On Monday it was such a lovely day we took the old convertible and visited Hubby's cousin, had a lovely visit with her and  husband, ate some of her chocolate goodies and had a coffee.  It was getting late when we started for home so stopped and ate dinner out again.   Later in the evening, my son phoned me for a chat,  I was in shock,  I hadn't spoken to him since the beginning of May.  I suspect DD1 had something to do with the call, as I had expressed my disappointment regarding no communication.  I enjoyed the conversation and hope it is not as long  before I hear from him again.

Today, Tuesday was grocery day and was quite surprised to see some of the prices had come down a little, not much, mind you but down.   We were going to visit Hubby's sister, however, the weather did not look too promising for a convertible ride, so decided we would go another day.  It is a good thing as we had a mild storm come through, not much thunder and lightening, but lots of rain.  Will not need to water the garden and pots tonight.

Finally, our tomatoes are starting to ripen, the squirrels have discovered them and now eating them.  If it's not the deer it's the squirrels or chipmunks.  They need to eat too,

Going to finish this and get into the sewing room for a little while.

Back amongst the living

I have been AWOL for awhile as I had nothing but moaning and groaning to write about and no one wants to read all of that, so had a rest from blogging, however, now back.

It has cooled down somewhat, in fact, we have had a couple of really cool evenings and overnight temps.   Makes me feel like doing more work outside.   Our flowers beds and hedges have been neglected during the past few weeks so the weeds have had a hay day growing thicker and taller every day.   So, yesterday we both tackled those pesky weeds and everything is looking as if someone lives on this property again.  Its amazing how neat and tidy it all looks now.   Today, we need to take all of the garden waste bags to the recycle depot this afternoon when it opens.  The only job left now is to spread woods chips on the big flower bed.

On Thursday, we had visitors,  a granddaughter and my five great grands came for the afternoon.   They live in a small house with very little back garden, so here they could run, roll down the little hill next door and burn off a lot of energy.  She always brings a picnic type lunch for them and of course, I had ice cream.  They were here for three hours of fun and it was so nice to see them after not having them visit for a year.   They hope to be able to visit again before they go back to school in September.

On Friday, my quilting guild had a sewing day.  We had a lot of fabric donated to our group so a day was arranged to use some of this fabric, and we made quilt tops for a charity, in due course they will be sandwiched and quilted.  Some will go to recent Ukrainian immigrants, and others likely to the chemo unit at the hospital.  A nice day to do what you lie doing with people of like minds.  The social aspect of a day like this is what I missed during the passed couple of years.

My dear friend who had a kidney transplant a few years ago, is now in hospital with Covid and not doing very well at the moment.   Hoping she is going to be OK.

Today, would have been my Mum's 105th birthday, in the past we would always have a birthday/family reunion on or close to this day.   And what sometimes happens the get togethers of her families is no more.   Shame really, but it is what it is.

We did go for a ride in the convertible after dinner last night, mind you we did need a sweater on before we returned on the homeward trip.   We saw a hot air balloon, have not seen one for a few years, so we followed it, until we lost sight of it as it was landing,   I would think the insurance for the rides would be expensive for the operators these days.   Quite a few years ago, my children and late husband gave me a ride for my birthday.  Thoroughly enjoyed  it, so peaceful up there.  

Well that's all for me today, must get these achy muscles moving.

Have a great Sunday.