Heating up!

 Summer has arrived! We've had temps ranging from 25C(77F) to 31C(88F) over the week. That may not seem overly warm/hot for most of you, but as we've been experiencing much cooler temps, the difference is truly noticeable.

I've spent time outdoors, early mornings with my tea, and later, tackling the weeds. We've had a lot of dew in the morning so it is often too wet, at least for me, to get down in the dirt. The garden is starting to look quite tidy or at least half of it. The asparagus is quite overgrown and the strawberries make a thick carpet, hiding some of the weeds. The photo on Wednesday was half of the pickings from earlier in the week. It's a small patch and I expect there will never be enough to do any canning/freezing, but they sure are delicious fresh out of the garden.

The large flower bed, on the other hand, is a jungle of weeds and plants. A number of the weeds are tangled among the rock surrounding the bed and impossible to remove. I've decided to cut back the alyssum (already started), and will dig it and the lilies (we have plenty) this fall. I'll harvest the poppy seeds and allow the lamium and the oxalis to do it's thing. We'll have to move as many rocks as possible - I'm thinking we'll roll them away temporarily - to get at the weeds. 

The peonies are still blooming, though I'm having to remove spent blooms every day. The containers are doing well, with the exception of one of the tall ones. For some reason it wasn't draining and the petunias I had planted in it were drowned by the excess rain. Poor things! The cherry tomato plant is doing very well, and seems to dry out quickly; apparently they are very thirsty.

Eli had twice a day swimming lessons, and day camp on Tuesday and Thursday as well. I drove them in on Tuesday, and while Eli had fun at camp, D and I went shopping. We went to Value Village first, where I found bath sheets, several brand new tea towels and dish clothes and a blanket for less than $15. D found several pieces of clothing for Eli and three bags of "real" Lego. In total we spent around $50 with my senior discount. Our next stop was Sport Chek as D needed a new pair of walking shoes, and found these and two pairs of shoes for Eli for school this fall (indoor and outdoor). She still has an employee discount as she is off on sick leave. I won't tell you what she spent, certainly more than I would have but with her discount, the cost was nearly half of what she would have paid at regular pricing. 

A trip to Dollarama and then to Walmart finished off the shopping for a few items she wanted and a few groceries we needed. It was time to pick up Eli at his day camp. They had taken the children to a nearby beach where the kids played on the playground equipment. With no lifejackets they weren't able to go in the water. That was okay, as Eli was in the pool before day camp and again in the evening.

We also had the contractor out on Monday and a half day on Tuesday. He replaced the screen door on the front porch with a proper door with a venting window. He also replaced and installed door knob kits and dead bolts on the door between the porch and living room, and the side door as well. He and his helper also did some caulking where the gate latch had damaged the exterior stucco, repaired the latch itself, installed a hook in the basement ceiling (after beefing up the joists) for a sensory swing, and repaired the door sill at the back door. He'll be back later this summer to retrofit the garage door opening to put in a header for a roll-up door. I don't think we were ever told that the current garage door is so bent it won't open. D will want to park the car in the garage in the winter, so the work is needed.

We made it to the pool once this week on Wednesday and she and I also got the basement set up again for Eli's play zone. Stanley, the cat also got his very own Catio as he likes to be outdoors. Now, when we try to catch him to bring him back indoors, it's much easier. He still argues, but I've been taking him out in the morning when I have my cup of tea and letting him hang out with me. Eli, decided to try it out too. :)

D took Eli to his day camp on Thursday while I stayed home (out of the heat, as I'd been out weeding and cutting back the peonies for most of the morning). Eli was a tired boy when they arrived home, so he missed out on his evening swim lesson and was asleep in no time. 

Friday, we awoke to a thunderstorm and rain. It didn't last long but remained cloudy until about 9. D and Eli headed to his swim lesson, while I went to pick up a few groceries. The heat and humity was high, the mosquitos and dragonflies were out in force (go dragonflies), so Eli and I spent the remainder of the morning indoors, while his mom went to get her hair cut and coloured. She wasn't happy with the cut at all, as she'd asked to have it cut to shoulder blade length, but the hairdresser took about two inches more.  She won't be able to put her hair in a pony tail for a few weeks but will try pig tails to keep the hair off her neck. It's a true shame as she paid a crazy amount of money for the cut and colour, and while the latter is lovely, the former is not.

I finished two books this week. The first was James Clavell's "King Rat", a story of POW's in Manila during World War II. It was definitely something different, and somewhat disturbing. The second book was "NYPD RED3" by James Patterson. It took me awhile to get into the book and I can't say it was my favorite book of his. I do like mysteries and this had some of that, but I felt there was some unnecessary incidents and the explanation at the end wasn't entirely satisfying.

 

Today we're expecting more stormy weather, but I think we'll head over to the park later this morning where he can play with friends. We live just under two blocks away. I'll get some more weeding done, and there is baseball and football to watch. I've also started a third book and there are mittens to be knitted. I'm certainly never bored, as I have lots to do.

Have a great week ahead everyone!