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!