Improvement and a restful week

First off, the knee - thank you for the well wishes. J had been massaging the knee for me, but decided that the issue was likely a problem with my hip causing the knee issues. So on Monday she attacked my hip (or at least it felt that way) and in fact, worked on both sides. The muscles extending from the hip on down the left leg were incredibly tight and she located several balls of muscle that were worked out. On my right side, she also worked on the sciatic area. After the first massage I was walking with my knee brace and barely a limp. After a second massage, the improvement was even more noticeable. 

I still can't walk long distances (wandering the grocery store) or sit in the same position for prolonged periods as these activities tend to cause the knee to feel as if it has locked up. Besides icing the knee and hip, I have started doing light exercises to help improve the strength of my knee, both at home and at the clubhouse. We do chair exercises three times a week; they are helping too.

I did my laundry on the weekend as you could see by Wednesday's photo. S and L have been kind in letting me use their washing machine every week. Sometimes I hang the clothing on their umbrella rack at the back of their unit, but most times I bring it back and put it on the rack here.  With warm temperatures and a bit of wind, it usually only takes a couple of hours to dry. My neighbour H has given me permission to use her lines out back to hang sheets as my rack would not work well. 

Most units, especially those in the M section (I'm in R) have space for sheds. The washing machines are plumbed into the shed with cold water only and hooked up to power. My lot doesn't have the space for a shed, nor do I have ample power. Out back I don't have the space for a folding rack to be mounted on the RV. So everyone who passes by gets to see my clean laundry (at least it's not dirty, right?) It's been years since I line dried clothing and I should, but haven't yet, bring out the iron and ironing board as some things are pretty darned wrinkled!

I missed the snow moon at its fullest on Sunday evening but managed to get a decent photo of the sunset and the moon on Monday evening. One of my neighbours, who visits for about a week every month, mentioned that he and his wife appreciate the photos I've posted on FB, especially of the sunset. So these were for them.

The darn power and internet lines made it a bit difficult to capture a decent photo.

The park held it's annual general meeting of the shareholders on Tuesday. I was warned it could be a noisy affair, and it was, especially towards the end of the meeting. It was clear that some participants had not read the reports that were mailed out, or were making assumptions about certain things. I won't go into details - that wouldn't be fair to the residents but I will say it reminded me a bit of a reality television program with some clear alliances. :)

Wednesday, I went to the clubhouse for the morning chair exercises. In the afternoon, I played Canasta with our group of six. The guys beat the gals again, I think we're up the best of nine now, hoping to make a comeback. We'll have to win out the rest of the season at this rate. :)

On Thursday, J and her husband G put on a pancake breakfast for the park. In addition to pancakes, there was eggs, sausage, toast and fruit. The cost was $5 per person, with the proceeds going to the social club. We had a good crowd of 25 or so people, and the food was fresh and terrific! After breakfast I headed back to my unit to count the cash. I updated our spreadsheet and then settled in to watch the Olympics. I was able to catch a bit of the mixed doubles curling, as the Canada-Finland women's hockey game was postponed as several members of Finland's team have come down with norovirus. Finland is expected to play the USA on Saturday, assuming they can field enough players.

My brother and I were chatting one day and he mentioned a salad his daughter has introduced to them. It included roasted chickpeas, along with a variety of vegetables, feta, and tzatziki sauce. It sounded delicious, but I had no feta or tzatziki, and no way to roast the chickpeas.

This is my version. I put a little oil in a fry pan, added the chickpeas, paprika, onion and garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. I cooked them until the outside was slightly crispy (they tasted good right out of the pan!). I added them to a chopped salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, yellow pepper, red onion, and cheddar cheese, with a drizzle of Italian salad dressing. I didn't need all of the chickpeas for the meal, so I'll be enjoying the salad again later this week. 

I've been knitting lots too, and one of the residents has asked if I can teach them. Not sure I can teach but I can show him the basics. I throw my yarn; while I know the continental knitting technique I've never been able to consistently use it. My plan is to show him how to cast on, demonstrate the knit and purl stitches and tell him to watch some videos. He can decide which method he likes best. 

Today I plan to watch more of the Olympics and continue knitting on my project. I will do some light exercises for my legs as well. Gotta keep moving!

Have a great week ahead everyone.

Boring post ahead

Another laid back week, I could get used to this. :) And oh my goodness, the cool temperatures definitely settled in. While we didn't see it here, portions of the province did see frost overnight mid-week. There were many photos of sad cucumber and pumpkin vines on the FB Saskatchewan gardeners group. Here the cherry tomatoes continue to keep on coming, the lettuce hasn't yet gone to seed, but the peas are done. 

I was late planting sweet peas, and they are finally blooming. My mother always had these, usually marking the entrance to her vegetable garden. The flowers bring back many memories.

I did spend a wee bit of time a couple of mornings, moving rocks and digging up the flower bed. It's slow going though, as there are rocks under the dirt as well, and some of the rocks are large and too heavy for me to move very far. I suspect D and I need to work together to continue this process.

Both the day lilies and regular lilies are blooming all over the yard. According to Google lens, the lily in Wednesday's photo is a tiger lily. I believe there are wild and domesticated version of these lilies. When I was a child, I remember searching the ditches near the farm for them, but I don't recall my mom growing any. We have masses of them in this yard, along the fence and on either side of the row of peonies. ( as viewed from my bedroom window) Whoever started the flower beds here in this yard had imagination and put in a lot of work. However, the previous owner allowed the weeds to make serious in-roads, while the house was vacant for a year. To his credit, he did hire someone to mow the lawn.

Meanwhile, I watched more of the Olympics. Men's and women's hammer throw was interesting and particularly exciting because both golds were won by Canadians. I've been enjoying watching the various races, the steeplechase was exciting and then sad, as one of the racers was hurt and taken off the track on a stretcher. I do hope he is okay. By end of day Friday, Canada had doubled the number of expected medals, with at least a couple more possible over the end of the event. Good for the athletes who worked so hard to get to the top of their chosen sport.

Eli had day camp on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Because of the cooler weather, they were able to play outdoors all morning on Wednesday, something our (not-so) little guy enjoys very much. Thursday was even more exciting as the program came to our town to visit the arcade - another one of his favorite activities. I took advantage of the time to myself to catch up on some housework, vaccuming the main floor, laundry, and a bit of decluttering.

I ran out briefly to buy a few grocery items - mostly sale items - on Friday, and then spent some time outside deadheading flowers and chatting with my friend S on the phone. She's been quite sick for awhile and has finally convinced her doctor to send it to a specialist. Hopefully she gets some answers to explain the issue and find proper treatment.

I did manage to finish the older children's mittens made - there are five, and have started the baby's. He's about five months old, so I need an infant size. Free patterns for thumbless mitts seem to be hard to come by and are generally knit with two needles. I prefer four double pointed needles so I don't have to sew up seams. So, I'm playing with the number of stitches and the size of the mitt - I've already frogged it twice. Wish me luck!

The warmer temps are expected to return early next week. In the meantime, I'm enjoying not needing to use the a/c. A night or two of open windows cooled the house down nicely. We've nothing specific planned for the weekend. More Olympics, baseball, knitting and perhaps some park time is likely.

Have a great week ahead, everyone!

A restful week

I'm trying to recall what happened this week and the short answer is, not much. I spent a LOT of time watching various Olympic events. I caught the 2nd half of the women's Rugby 7's. (I'm not even certain I've written that correctly.) Our Canadian women were in the final playing New Zealand. I've not watched rugby, ever, but the game was entertaining and while N.Z. prevailed, our women played well. 

Gymnastics is a big draw in our household as both my children participated as children. D continued into her teenage years, competing in T&T (trampoline and tumbling), as well as coaching younger athletes, and at some point did some judging at various meets. Watching with her is interesting as she points out every miniscule error where I see nothing. Two our women's team made it to the all-round final, though did not medal. 

I missed the diving events which was a shame. One of the athletes in the men's synchronized diving is from my home province. I did manage to watch some of the swimming including the final of the men's 200m butterfly where Ilya Kharun of Montreal won bronze. Summer MacIntosh of Toronto won a silver and two golds, setting an Olympic record in one of the events.

Canada typically doesn't perform as well at the Summer Olympics as they do in the winter. I guess having cold and snowy weather for nearly 6 months of the year would give us a slight edge. But by the end of the week, Canada had a total of 11 medals. Preliminary estimates were 12 so the team will likely exceed that number.

Other happenings of the week: Eli had day camp on Monday - I went with he and his mom. There was a little shopping done, then we sat in a church parking lot and read until it was time to pick him up.

The heat continued with temperatures near 30C(86F) most afternoons. I would take Stanley, the cat, out with me in the morning. He'd enjoy his catio (he's in there but a black cat doesn't show up well), while I drank my tea, watered and dead-headed the containers. One morning, I picked up the piles of weeds into garbage bags, while D whipper-snipped behind the shed and near the garage. We only have garbage pick-up every two weeks, so I've been stacking the bags and putting one or two in the bin for pick-up. The daylilies started opening this week, as you saw in Wednesday's photo, and are beginning to put on a real show. The regular lilies are close to opening too. From what I can tell, they too will be orange in colour.

She took Eli to the pool too, while I stayed at home catching up on paperwork and watching more Olympic programming. I should have been knitting but instead turned my focus to Ancestry. I'd renewed earlier in the month with a reduced cost, and decided to catch up on the hints and other information. 

While searching for information on one of my paternal grandmother's nieces, I came across an interesting article that outlines some ideas for re-using and recycling household items:

Cut old rubber gloves from the wrist up to create sturdy "rubber bands". It was recommended to keep these in a jar and shake a bit of talcum powder in the jar to keep the bands from getting sticky.

Wash and rinse milk cartons and use these to freeze summer berries (I suppose these could be used for other items). Staple shut the tops and stack in the freezer. Saves using freezer bags, but if bags are used, cut up old panty hose for bag ties - no wires to puncture other bags.

Store your patio umbrella in winter in the one leg of a pair of panty house, using the second leg to tie around the bottom of the umbrella. 

I wasn't able to find anything about my relative, as the person referred to in this article was definitely not her. But it was a fun read, nevertheless.

I did go for a short walk on Friday afternoon. We live about a block and a half to the Post Office, and one the way home I dropped in at Home Hardware on my way back. Whoo boy, was it ever hot out there (30C/86F)! I was glad to be back in the a/c at home. I did run out to put the faucet wheel back on one of the outdoor spigots with a screw I picked up at the store. 

Today, I've no plans to do much different from the rest of the week. More Olympics, baseball and football, back to my knitting, a bit of Ancestry, and time with my grandson are all on the agenda. That reminds me - one evening he and I were telling a story together. We were on a train ride to Ohio where, according to him, there are many haunted houses. Who knew?

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Blinked and I missed it

 Again, this week, time has gotten away from me.  On Thursday I thought it was Wednesday and only realized the actual day when I noticed the neighbours had their garbage bins out for pick-up.  I still haven't figured out where I lost a day.  My daughter thought it might have been Monday since it was a long weekend but as I told her, for me every weekend is a long weekend.  

So what did I get up to this week? The regular stuff like housework, grocery shopping, walking (all indoors this week due to the smoke outside except for today), and some crafting.  I'm getting so tired of the haze from the forest fires and I have a perpetual sore throat when I'm outdoors for any length of time. I did some yard work on Friday morning and spent two full hours deadheading and trimming back plants.  I try to deadhead every second day but obviously I haven't been doing a great job of it.

My tomatoes are ripening on the vine and so far I've picked four from the plants.  There's probably close to 60 tomatoes yet to ripen, and my peppers are doing great.  I have a couple of unknown peppers, one looks like a jalapeno, the others I know are a variety of long red ones, and then there are a half dozen greens, one that is a good size while the others are still tiny.  I have high hopes they'll be ready by the end of August.

On Tuesday I headed out to Value Village as it was senior's discount day.  I didn't find what I went looking for, a pillow, but did pick up a housedress (with pockets!), a tee shirt, both for me, and a fitted sheet for my daughter for around $12.  Score! At Salvation Army I found another pillow for $1.99.  I had taken the little pillow I made, that was meant for Eli's dad, to Eli last weekend.  He loved it so much he has refused to give it up.  So D sent me home with a bunch of sleepers Eli wore when he was a babe, and I'll make another pillow out of those for J.  At some point, I'm not at any rush.

I managed a couple of "this close" to finishes this week too. The first is this tank top for my daughter.  I know it looks a little uneven in the photo but I've counted the stitches on both sides numerous times, so it's simply the way it is hanging on the hanger.  The straps are not yet sewn on to the top, as I'm waiting for my daughter to visit (later this week) to get the proper fit.  I had taken it with me last weekend for her to try on before I finished the mesh top and straps and it fit nicely.  I also added the band at the bottom as she prefers a longer top. I think it will look good with another tank top underneath too.

My other almost finish is this top for me.  It's difficult to tell, but the panel in front is attached to a peplum on the sides and back, so it's very flowy...which I appreciate.  The back needs to be taken in, as it's just too large - I've got that figured out and will finish sometime this week. I learned some things as I worked through this pattern.  First, it takes me much longer to sew a project than I realized.  I thought I'd be able to finish it in a couple of days, and it actually took me closer to three days.  Second, I need more practice sewing with knit material.  The stretch got to me a few times - I found myself stretching the material as I sewed, not a good thing. Lastly, I learned that sewing requires much patience, which I haven't much of, but I do enjoy it nonetheless. 

I still haven't worked on Eli's sweater but I did get up to Fabricland on Tuesday to pick up buttons for it.  The buttons are on my end table by my chair.  This week, right?  We'll see.  Instead I've started pulling out the indoor carpet in the unfinished area of the basement. It's old and dirty so it needs to go.  The rug was glued down, making it somewhat difficult to remove in one piece so I'm pulling the top layer and then will scape the foam backing off the floor later.  I've got an area about 10 x 10 and have half the top layer pulled.  I wish it would just peel off easily but it's taking some major effort on my part. I only do about 10-15 minutes at a time because I'm old and out of shape and get winded. 

I'm also working on decorating a Christmas stocking for Eli.  I purchased the stocking at Dollarama last year after Christmas and it's been sitting in my craft room since then.  I needed some felt for the project, and had stopped at Michaels as the selection at the $ store was limited, and of course, some sale yarn may have jumped into my cart.  So now I have more projects for this winter. Not that I didn't already have more than enough things on the go.  I really should take the example of a couple of bloggers that I follow and sit down and make a list and remind myself not to take on any more.  Even when the price is right.

Oh, and I thought I'd mention the cat litter cleaning.  One of the comments last week was I must have a lot of cat litter.  For those who haven't been a reader for a long time, I have two cats; Sasha who reached the age of 21 in May and continues to be quite healthy if not a little deaf*, and Saku who had his 13th birthday in March and continues to be a loveable pest.  Unless you are Eli, who calls him, "Saku, that mean kitty".  It's true Saku doesn't much like the kid and the two tend to steer clear of one another.  There are three litter boxes in the basement for the two cats and I clean these daily.  Let's just say the output is quite impressive. I probably should clean twice a day, but TBH, it's not one of my favorite chores.  *Sometimes I think Sasha feigns deafness, as he can hear the cat food can being opened from a fair distance.  

Beyond that, I've been watching a lot of the Olympics.  I stayed up late Thursday night into the wee hours to watch the bronze medal baseball game between the Dominican Republic and Korean teams.  I watched several of the games over the week and was quite impressed with DR, and thrilled when they won the game in a dramatic fashion, scoring 5 runs in the 8th inning.  Korea had been ahead by one run and got two more back in the 8th but DR shut them out in the 9th.  At the same time I kept an eye on the Brazil/Argentina volleyball bronze medal game.  It came down to the wire with Argentina on top.  The coach was overwhelmed.

Speaking of overwhelmed, did you see any of the gold medal soccer/football game that our Canadian women won over Sweden.  Phew, what a game!  It came down to penalty kicks after regulation time ended in a tie.  (And it might not have, had a video review overturned the ref's decision not to call a penalty on Sweden.  One of the young Canadian players got the tying point on that penalty kick).  After the first round of five kicks, the teams were tied again, and it was down to sudden death.  The first team to score would win.  Again, one of the younger players came through and scored for the Canadian team!  I'm surprised some of you didn't hear me screaming from here.  

This week the Canadian football league was back in action too.  Our province's team won their first game of the season, but they tried very hard not to.  The first half they were leading by 31 points, the other team scored 29 in the next two quarters while we only managed two additional points.  Thank goodness for our punter...he really made the difference for us.  Ryan used to play for the Seattle Seahawks and he certainly has the ability to kick.  He was born and raised here and I believe he plans to finish his football career here in Canada.  

Well, this certainly turned into a rambling post.  Sort of like the rest of the week.  I'm planning a day trip this week out to a nearby nature reserve - we're supposed to have a couple of cooler days and my son is working from home; getting out of the house for a day will be nice. We may even get rain on Monday, fingers crossed!  It's been over two weeks since the last rainfall and it's sorely needed.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

For the love of the game

When I was a kid I used to say I was born in a curling rink.  Not quite true, and although my birth story is quite unusual I won't share it with you...at least not now.

I was less than a year old when my parents moved from a small town to the farm where I grew up. I'm not sure when they started curling but it wasn't long afterward.  In the farming community there was a single curling sheet rink and every Tuesday and Thursday from after Christmas until the end of March, the bus would drop us off as our parents were either curling or playing rummy and chatting with friends waiting for their turn. We kids would skate on an outdoor rink, buy treats at the concession (25 cents for sandwiches or a piece of cake or a cookie), or just get into mischief.  The women of the district took turns making the items for sale and club used the proceeds to buy supplies.

When my Dad turned 60, he took over the ice making from Walter who was well into his 80's by then.  The curling rink (and Dad) were even part of an episode of a CBC television program, the name of which I can't recall.  One of my daughter's earliest memories is going to the rink with Grandpa, watching him light the stove to warm up the seating area and playing with a few toys while he flooded the ice.

My parents didn't only curl at this venue, but also curled in various bonspiels over the winter in the nearby towns and villages.  Between the curling and hockey (my brother participated), I don't think I'll ever get the smell of rink burgers and fried onions out of my system.

You would think that with all the time spent in the rink, I would taken up the game but that never happened.  In fact, I was quite bitter as a teenager about all the curling.  My mother was quite a competitive curler; she and her team even made it to the Northern Provincial event a couple of times in a bid to reach the provincial tournament.  But what irked me most was that the town's women's bonspiel ran every year during the week my birthday fell. As a result I never had a birthday party or even a cake, until one of the neighbour's brought one to the small curling rink when I was about thirteen.  If you've followed me for very long, you may know that I don't celebrate birthdays, I have a "me day" instead. Call it residual angst from my childhood.

So how on earth did I fall in love with the game?  Well, in 1989, I was working for a bank here in the city.  Our managers bought a number of tickets and offered them to employees to attend the Brier in Saskatoon (about 2 1/2 hours drive from here) on a lottery basis.  I won two tickets for a full day's draw and called my mom to ask if she wanted to attend...of course she did!  We met at my sister's in Saskatoon the night before, and Mom and I spent the day at the rink together.  In that one day, Mom shared so much of her curling knowledge and didn't mind when I asked what were likely very foolish questions.  That was the beginning of my love for the game.

In 1998, I invited my parents to Regina to attend the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final.  The arena had added extra seating - we were sitting in what must have been the most uncomfortable seats in the venue but I still have wonderful memories of that day too. Watching the teams dance to the music during the television time-outs was just one of them.

A few years later, the Roar of the Rings were being held in Regina.  This is the event that decides the Canadian men's and women's teams to participate in the Olympics. I purchased the tickets for the full event, knowing there would be some incredible curling. I wrote my final exam for my professional accounting designation the morning of the first draw; these tickets were meant to be a gift to myself for making it through the program.  I took the week off work too.  

When I reached my seat for the week for the second draw of the day, I found two couples seated next to me.  The two wives didn't attend every game but no matter who was there, someone was always willing to answer my questions.  One of the women had actually participated in the Dominion women's curling (the precursor to today's Scotties), and the man in the other couple had participated in the men's event several times as the representative from the Northwest Territories. 

They were all so knowledgeable and I learned so much that week, especially about the strategy of the game.  It intrigued me then and that interest has stayed with me ever since. When people refer to curling as chess on ice, there truly is an element of truth to it. The really good curlers are always thinking two or three shots ahead. 

As I noted in my last post there have been many changes over the years. Some of these were to make the games more entertaining, and others to correct some issues that arose due to improvements in the equipment.  Think of it as a golf game - I'm sure at some point the length of holes had to be increased because the technology of the clubs allowed for golfers to hit farther.  Curling has put away the old straw brooms in favor of brooms covered in synthetic fabric.  Curlers no longer have to deal with bits of straw on the ice, but rather contend with the new directional brushing that is possible with the newer brooms. (Basically what that means is the stronger sweepers can pretty much sweep the rock to any part of the ice.)

Curling is definitely a world-wide sport.  In many countries such as China, Japan and Russia, the players are selected to participate, and are supported financially as they train. Other countries provide some funding for their elite teams as well - there may only be one or two teams at that level.  In Canada and the U.S. the curling federations support the teams who become the country's representative but most of the funding for the various teams comes from corporate sponsorship.  And those sponsors want people to watch the games - hence the need to change the rules to ensure it is more exciting game otherwise there would only be the diehards like myself willing to watch. 

The next big world curling event will be the Olympics in Bejing in 2022. Curling was part of the first modern Olympics in 1924 but was not included for many years after that.  Our Saskatchewan women's team led by Sandra Schmirler, won their way into the Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan where they won gold.  Sadly, Sandra lost her life to cancer just two years later.  

In 2018 the gold medal team on the men's side was John Schuster from Duluth, Minnesota.  His team is quite colorful and definitely fun to watch and not only for their ability to curl.  The women's side was won by the Swedish team led by Anna Hasselborg. They are still a young team and will be a force to reckon with for many years yet. She's at this week's event with her husband and her nine month old daughter.  

Okay, that was a whole lot of words to tell you how and why I enjoy watching curling so much.  It's been a journey from that one sheet curling rink, to various events across our province, and now in the comfort of my armchair.  Just don't ask me to sit in the hack and throw a rock. :)