What happened?

Is it just me, or has this summer been flying by for everyone? How can it be mid-August already with just a couple of weeks to go before school is back in session?  I know we've been busy, but really?  D has worked all summer with Eli on his school work including French and English language, reading, and math. They've started in on learning about money, too.  He isn't particularly happy doing school work, but is rewarded with an hour of You-tube videos. He'll even do extra work for more time. :) She's hoping that he will have none of the "summer slump" that other students may experience.

I got most of the creeping juniper cut back, but will be digging roots for some time yet. The weeding also continues, and I've started cutting back some of the perennials. The poppy heads were brown so I've cut those off as I don't want them to be seeding in the raised flower bed. The strawberries are on the list to dig up as I'd like to make room in the bed for more vegetables, and will move the gladiolas. The latter will get more sun there; while they've grown quite tall there is no indication of flowering. 

The photo on Wednesday was of a few of the very many lilies we have out front. They line the exterior of the peony bushes. Next year, I am going to try pruning the peonies back early, to allow the lilies more space. This year the peonies blooms were pretty sparse, with a lot of seed pods setting instead. The lilies, though, have been putting on a real show. Bob was close when he called them leopard lilies, they are actually tiger lilies. The ones that grow in the wild are our province's official flower; the flower petals grow upward rather than . These are domesticated and the petals grow downward. 

We had our two trips into the next town over for Eli's day camp. D and I had a very successful trip to the thrift store for clothing. She got two or three dresses, a pair of leggings, two t-shirts and a pretty knit top, while I got two dresses and a knit top. Between the two of us, we spent less than $100. 

After day camp on Tuesday, we dropped D's car off at the dealership (again). They had early replaced some spark plugs, but not all, and one of the ignition coils. The car had continued to misfire when idling, so it needed to go back into the shop. This time, they replaced the remaining spark plugs and an ignition coil. It was ready for pick-up later the same day and she took it for a drive. She's driven a couple more times and all seems to be good. 

Eli had the local library program as well on Wednesday, and on Friday the group went to the spray pad. The park is just a short block and a half walk from our house and the weather was cool, but Eli had a great time playing with some other children. D hadn't gotten around to eating that morning/noon so it was thrilled to find that the Jamaican group had set up a food tent in the park, and enjoyed a meal of jerk chicken, rice, and veg. (I don't skip meals, she does.)

Early Thursday morning, about 1:30 a.m. we had a storm blow threw bringing thunder, lightning and pouring rain. In just about 45 minutes we had an 2.5 cm./1 inch of rain in the gauge. It came down hard and fast, and at one point even a bit of hail. Thankfully, no real damage was done. There were just a few branches from the trees out front on the sidewalk.

That put a kibosh on doing any more gardening/yardwork for me for a couple of days. The ground was saturated! While I did get out, ahead of the rain, and cleaned up the raised bed, I still have weeding to do in the areas that are primarily rock. It's not the most comfortable area to weed. I can't kneel as my right knee won't take it even with a pad, so I sit on my bum on a child's boogie board. I'm not quite to the point my mom was in her last few years, where she would lay on her belly in the garden and pull weeds. On occasion, her method put a scare into the neighbours as they drove by. :)

Out in the garden, the peas are up. I don't know that we'll actually get a crop of them before the first frost but I tried. Our containers of tomatoes are going strong, though a couple of lower branches were slightly damaged in the storm, and are looking a bit yellow.  The green peppers are starting to show some promise, though I don't think we'll get anything the size of store bought peppers. The lower one in this photo is about the size of a fast ball (smaller than a soft ball, bigger than a golf ball).

On another note, the cats have reached to level of tolerance to be in the same room together. Saku still doesn't like it if one of the others jumps up on my/his bed. But Stanley came for a cuddle on Friday, and while Saku looked a wee bit annoyed, he was fine as long as Stanley wasn't too close. We started feeding them together out in the kitchen, supervised of course, just to get them accustomed to being in the same proximity. Then we started leaving the bedroom door open to allow Saku to wander, again supervised. One morning I put the cat TV (on You-tube) on my television, walked out of the room, and came back to find all three watching. Saku was on the bed, Stanley was on the cat tower, and Spencer was sitting on the floor. Okay, then...so I left the bedroom door open overnight and found no fur or blood shed in the morning. By Thursday we felt it was safe enough to leave them on their own while we were away. And again, there was no indication of any kind of kerfuffle. I thought it would take longer for this level of tolerance but I certainly am not complaining. 

Just in time for me to make a quick trip to the city. I'm heading out on Sunday and will return on Tuesday. D has a friend with her two young daughters coming to visit. Three children under ten, and two young women who like to talk, a lot, is more than I can tolerate. In any event, I need a break. Living with one's adult child can be a bit much sometimes. We both have our own way of doing things and expectations and lately these seem to be at odds. A couple of days away should give us both a chance to reflect and re-set.

Today, I'm planning to get a bit more weeding done and I may move some rocks to another area of the yard. There is baseball and football to watch (Go Riders!), and another toque/beanie to finish off. 

Have a great week ahead everyone!

P.S. Maxine's best before explanation reminded me of my mom. When she passed away, we were clearing the fridge of items we knew dad would never eat. The oldest item was a bottle of salad dressing dated 1989. Mom passed away in 2003...