Saturday 3 September 2022

Keeping up, catching up

First off, a word (or several) about the wordless Wednesday photos. The first photo was taken with my Canon T3i and the second with my cellphone. I was using the 75-300mm lens on the camera and had zoomed in as much as I could from where I stood. The cellphone was zoomed in too, but not to its full extent. To be honest, I was surprised and very pleased at the level of detail in the cellphone photo. The new header photo was also taken with the cellphone camera. I can see myself using it more often and not carrying the larger camera as much. Though if I'm somewhere I'd be worried about dropping my cellphone I'll use the camera.

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September has always seemed to me to be the appropriate time to start a new year. Here in my part of the world, January is merely the midst of the winter season and usually the month with the worst weather (both cold and snow). September on the other hand, heralds the end of summer vacations with folks heading back to work and the children back to school, along with the change in season. One of my fondest memories is opening up that first new notebook to begin taking notes in class. In my work life, fall was also a time when we did a lot of hiring and training. It was a often a time of renewal. 

This year, September is coming in hot. We've been under a heat advisory for several days this week and it looks that it will continue for another week yet. Thankfully, the temperatures are cooling off overnight so the mornings feel fresh. Unlike other years, we didn't get even a hint of frost in late August. Nor is there frost in the forecast. 

I've been picking tomatoes every day and peppers at least once a week. While I don't get the volume of produce to make a lot of anything, I can't keep up eating the tomatoes fresh. This week I made a small batch of salsa (one jar) and a small batch of tomato sauce. A half of the jar of salsa was used in a taco bake - it was delicious! The green peppers are done, and the red ones are just starting to ripen. I used two of the latter in the salsa - they had just the right amount of heat for a mild salsa. The tomato sauce has been frozen and will be used this winter to flavor soups.

The last of the potatoes were dug up as well, yielding about 5 pounds. Enough for a few more meals. In total I harvested just under 25 pounds of potatoes from three containers...not a bad haul. I'm allowing some of the marigolds to go to seed and watching the petunias for seed pods too. I didn't have a lot of luck germinating the seeds, the ones that did have done well (both tomatoes and marigolds). This has the potential of saving me a few dollars at the garden centers in the spring....though I may have to invest in a grow light.

For the most part, it's been a pretty quiet week. I did my grocery shopping on Monday, ran out to Costco to pick up a couple of things for D on Wednesday and while I was there I purchased the first Christmas gift. It's for my son, but in some ways will be a gift for me too. He has remained upstairs since the basement was re-done and the two of us are learning to live in close proximity and with different schedules. I'm an early to bed, early to rise, he's quite the opposite especially on weekends. There are times when one of us disturbs the other's sleep, and it's not always me. I have been known to get up and ask him to turn down his music - the gift is a set of wireless headphones that I hope will be beneficial to both of us.

On Thursday I had a dental appointment for a tooth extraction. I'd had this molar filled twice, the first time over 40 years ago, and the second about 20-25 years ago. About a week ago, the side of the remaining tooth broke off leaving a large hole. To fill it would have meant the entire tooth above the gum was filling so I opted to have it removed. Those of you who have followed for any length of time know I am terrified to go to the dentist. It isn't the procedure itself, it's the needles that are required for the freezing. I swear the needle ends up in my ear canal....at least that's how it has felt. My last few times I've been to the dentist, she used anesthesia. However this time, she didn't have a tech available to assist. I decided I'd have to put on my big girl pants and do what needed to be done. I won't get into the gory details, but everything went well - the dentist did a great job and I had little to no residual pain. I went to bed before the freezing had dispersed and slept for 7 1/2 hours. :)

Eli started kindergarten on Friday - D sent me several photos. He didn't look too impressed. The first day was short, just an hour long so he could meet his teacher and educational assistants. Due to his ADHD diagnosis he has been assigned a full-time E.A. this year. There are two in the class room and I assume they'll spell one another off while being available to other children too. 

I've managed to get a few of my knitting/crocheting
projects completed. My tank top is still on the needles but I've finished the lace pattern and the rest should go quite quicky from there. Three cowls were made up, one knitted, two crocheted and I found another ball of the same yarn when I was rooting through my stash. I think I'll use it for head bands as there isn't enough for another cowl. Almost every day I get e-mails from Pinterest with ideas - usually I ignore them, but I spotted a cute little knitted pumpkin pattern so I gave it a try. I do have a few skeins of orange yarn to use up, but I can't see using it for pumpkins. I'll have to look for another idea for something seasonal; perhaps a table runner. 

On a totally different note, with the cooler mornings, I've been getting some yard work done but I swear the weeds are popping up every time I turn my back. Between the rain last week and the heat this week, the grass sorely needed mowing. Indoors I've done the usual housework, knitted and crocheted, and watched baseball. 

This weekend will be a football weekend as well with the Labour Day games the focus. Our Riders will play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers here - it's always an important game, but this year the Riders aren't doing well so it may be a blow out. I haven't been as enthused with this year's team - there was a particularly ugly hit on an opposing quarterback by a certain player early in the season. This was followed by racial slurs hurled by the same player in his celebration. The hit took the QB out for most of the season (he's not yet back), the comments were disgusting, and yet the team did nothing about this yahoo. He was fined by the league and suspended for a few games, but in my mind there is no place for this type of behaviour and he ought to have been released. As a result it's put a damper on my interest in watching this year's team. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.

I'm off to water the containers before I sit down to catch up on blog reading, some PVR'ed television, and more knitting.  Have a great week ahead everyone! 

17 comments:

  1. Firm believer that any food we can grow is a huge plus!!!! You have done great. Good idea on the headphones!
    I hope Eli enjoys kindergarten! I agree - he doesn't look all impressed. LOL
    Enjoy you weekend. We are getting rain at the moment and off and on the next few days. No big plans here.

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    1. Thanks Cheryl. I'd be happy to see a bit of rain, as it's getting very dry out there. No big plans here either.

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  2. I hope Eli likes school! Enjoy Fall!

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  3. Had to smile when you said the gift was headphones. Brilliant solution for you both.
    Quite a haul out of your garden. Nothing tastes as good as home grown.
    Sorry to hear you have had unseasonably warm weather also. Guess moving north for me isn't an answer:)

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    1. I'm hoping he'll use the headphones, or I'm going to need to invest in more ear plugs. :)

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  4. You've done well with your harvest! You just can't beat freshly picked (or dug up) produce from your own garden.

    That little pumpkin is so cute. I will be hauling out my fall decorations this weekend, as I'd like to have them up for a couple of months before the Christmas decorating bug bites me. My summer potted annuals are all in the back garden now, some very scraggly because I don't dead-head as much as I should. I have two huge impatiens that look terrific; I wish I could remember which garden centre I got them from, for next year. LOL.

    Good luck to Eli as he settles in to kindergarten. I hope he comes to enjoy it and that he has a lot of fun. I still remember stepping off the school bus on my first day of kindergarten, so proud, thinking I was all grown up. (That probably was the highlight of my school life; lol.)

    I'm shuddering at your dental surgery. I had my third crown done earlier this summer, had three needles for the first appointment for the temporary crown, then just one for the second appointment. Ugh. The dentist (new to me, as mine has retired, though she still co-owns the practice) was good, though. That makes three of my four lower molars with crowns now. I figure I'd better have the fourth one done while I'm still working and have coverage--but not this year, thank you very much!

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the long weekend, even if every weekend is a "long" weekend in retirement. :-)

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    1. I'm amazed at how much I got from just a few containers. Especially the potatoes.
      I'll re-vamp the various flowers (fake) and other decorations next week for fall. I agree, it's nice to have them out before the Christmas bug hits.
      Eli does enjoy his friends and the teachers too, he just get has a hard time sitting still and paying attention. And I think he gets bored too.
      Have a great long weekend!

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  5. I understand and agree with the headphones as a gift. And you are right it is a gift to both of you.
    Eli is just adorable, even if he was a little underwhelmed!
    Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thanks Anne. I think he's pretty special. Enjoy your weekend too!

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  6. No, Eli doesn't look like he wants to be there. Don't tell him there are just thirteen more years of it, possibly another four after that, followed by fifty years of even worse things to take him away from what he really likes doing. Or you can just tell him there are five more days to the weekend...

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    1. Oh John, I'm sorry. I have to suspect you're projecting.
      Eli does enjoy school, at least the social aspects and I'm hopeful he'll find some subject that is particular interest where he can be challenged.
      Fortunately for now, his schedule is kindergarten Monday/Wednesday and every second Friday. So for this year he'll always have a least one day off in between. :)

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    2. I suspect Eli will have a fun time in school; he seems like that sort of boy. I actually had a fun time in school, too. It just seemed to go on a very long time...

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  7. First day of kindergarten! What a big change!

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    1. It is because he'll be attending full days. His mother is already having conniptions over it...she wants him to go to school but is concerned about filling her days. :p

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  8. Cute picture of Eli. I'm sure he enjoys school once he's inside with friends. :)
    Love the pumpkin, you can create so many things!

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    1. Thanks Patty. He does enjoy his friends and his teachers (he's had two years of pre-K there).

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