vampires vanquished

 I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time cooking… oh, donˋt get me wrong cause Iˋm not complaining, far from it, but I do sometimes wonder how people manage to feed themselves with less effort. It must be a super-hero skill.

This morning I made: 2 batches of egg bites (feta; roasted red pepper cheddar); an onion dip; the filling for jalapeno poppers and mushrooms; and a whole whack of crostini using homemade bread. Carm helped with the crostini by cutting perfectly even slices of bread and then when toasted, rubbing each piece with a clove of garlic - the flavour is fantastic, a perfect way to showcase fresh from the garden garlic. Iˋm not especially efficient so was at it until 2pm. But itˋs not like I had people to see, places to go.

Last night I planned a simple supper… that ended up taking me well over an hour to make! First was the chicken (thaw, slice, marinate), then the zucchini (pick, slice, roast), and finally the garlic herb dip (scour internet for garlic recipes, make garlic compote, pick and chop herbs, squeeze lemon, look at recipes for ideas, stir with sour cream and mayo). Make that 2 hours for our simple supper!!!! 

If meals started appearing like magic I think Iˋd go into a depression 🤪

Yesterday we harvested the garlic - 100+ giant heads - enough for planting in the fall and if Iˋm careful, to get us to the next harvest. Itˋs our best crop so far with big bulbs and huge cloves. In all these years of having enough land to make a garden, I never realized how satisfying it is to glean food from the land. Weˋve been eating summer squash/zucchini like crazy and loving every bite.

One of the branches of the apple tree crashed to the ground yesterday - we had tears in our eyes as we collected a trugˋs worth of half ripe apples before dismembering the fruitful sentinel.

I ventured out of the house a few days ago to go into some actual shops. Iˋm shopping starved and wanted to buy everything. I didnˋt completely lose my mind but it was a few trips to unload the car 🤪😱 

Awesome!

“jumping in the pool right after getting up - before coffee even”

“catching sight of another infant squash”

“trying on a pair of shorts that I bought and finding they were way too big”

“Adia didnˋt grab the food that I accidently dropped in front of her - such a good dog and a far cry from her greedy ways of when we first got her”

"pulling a huge bulb of garlic from the earth"

"picking two big yellow summer squash"

you shouldnt cook bacon naked

 I wouldnˋt have been surprised if a passing car stopped to see what was going on… I was flat on my back in a field of Queen Anneˋs Lace, the celebrant of late July days. I wanted one photo with the flower silhouetted against a blue sky, alas, the sky wasnˋt all that blue but my wet clothes were worth it.

Adia (I almost wrote Kabira) was playing nearby, fascinated by the jumping grasshoppers. Occasionally one would fly away and sheˋd leap and bound after it. I laughed out loud.

The sound of bees feasting on the patch of wild flowers almost drowned out the unwelcome sound from the road. I walked carefully, not just to avoid a sting, but to avoid trampling too many flowers.

Awesome!

“having a shower on the back deck with water warm from the sun”

“puttering around the back deck before I even had a coffee”

“peaceful easy feeling after waking up a little discombobulated”

“knowing that a pot of black beans is cooking in the IP”

“on the same vein, having a fresh zucchini salad marinating in the fridge”

“Carm coming home with bags of the lovely cookies Kirsten brought last weekend”

watch with glittering eyes

 I had a few more ˋmomentsˋ yesterday, these ones cancelling out the hopeful times I had yesterday… on the news they were talking about the Delta variant. It is much more contagious and dangerous than the original covid-19 virus. Cases are rising exponentially in the US, mostly affecting unvaccinated people. The same thing is bound to happen here. Will we be in lockdown again? 

With the dew still on the grass I toddled around the backyard, first checking the zucchini. There are lots that will be ready for harvest in a day or two. Beside it is a sprawling squash plant with only 1 embryonic squash growing. I wonder if there will be anything to harvest as surely some wild thing is likely to come for a meal.

Carmˋs tomato plants look overgrown and wild but there is lots of green fruit hidden among the leaves. Back on the deck I crouched and stuffed my face with little worlds of flavour. Two different varieties of cherry tomato are planted: one with bright red fruit, the other gorgeous orange. Biting down on them popped a sweet yet acidic explosion of flavour onto my tongue.

Music is playing… ˋPeaceful Easy Feelingˋ as I write this. My anthem. The words donˋt all shake out, but the refrain and the notes evoke a, well, peaceful easy feeling!

I was looking for when we harvested the garlic in 2019 which meant reading thru Julyˋs awful events. Iˋm not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears. Iˋd forgotten how hard Spike took Bella and Kabiraˋs deaths - Iˋd forgotten about the nights and days that he lay staring into space whimpering. My memory of their deaths have mostly been replaced with fond remembrance of what good dogs they were and I no longer feel the gut wrenching pain when I think of them. Well… except for today… it seems that I captured my feelings well enough to re-experience, (if only for a few minutes), the anguish. Iˋm glad that Spike canˋt read.

Awesome!

“Spikeˋs head resting on Adiaˋs legs as they both slept peacefully”

“cherry tomato flavour bombs”

“Adia following me as I went about the yard”

“an acre of Queen Anneˋs Lace and purple clover”

“the first giant bulb of garlic drawn from the earth”

“cool refreshing water”

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

bright yellow

 I had a few ˋmomentsˋ yesterday… reading that our city will be out of state of emergency tomorrow was a concrete tell that we might be nearing the end of this. Inviting friends for dinner even though we might have to be inside seemed like a giant step to normalcy. Yes, this hiccup in the timeline might soon be over. At least with family and friends that we know are double vaccinated… friends that are vaccine adverse, well, not. Iˋll soon be able to take my head out of the sand.

The last few days have been rather slow paced with no action of note. Oh, I cleaned ½ the freezer… I vacuumed… and a few other random things that didnˋt require much effort. It takes a long time to recover from company after almost a year and a half of isolation. Iˋm out of practice!

Jo Ellen and Don came for supper tonight - we were outside but didnˋt feel forced there. It was actually a lovely afternoon and evening so we would have enjoyed dining alfresco regardless of any pandemic restrictions.

Carm raked up some of the deadfall from the apple trees today - what a haul! Too bad they were all half rotten or that would have been one heck of an apple crisp!

 

Spike continues to do well, in fact Iˋd say that heˋs even better than he was before he hurt himself. Heˋs running around alert and excited; heˋs perky and happy; heˋs jumping onto the futon and loveseat, although there is a cheater as I put a thick bed for him to get a few inches boost when jumping up. I no longer feel that heˋs on his last legs! Which is a very good feeling. Gosh I was worried…

Weˋve noticed a few little birds on the deck that seem to have a nest somewhere… sure enough a little pair of Chirping Sparrows are nesting in the bigger potted cedar.

Today was joyful, although I did not feel that way at all when I woke up. A trip to the squash bed garnered two golden zucchini or summer squash - they are gorgeous with a colour that makes me almost swoon in delight.

I had zucchini salad in mind and with a few red peppers, some red onion, and handfuls of chopped herbs it is a joyous medley of colour. And the herbs… I couldnˋt decide which ones to use so I picked some of everything, chopped it up and stirred it in. Beautiful! Especially when paired with the last of 2020ˋs garlic. The hard part is waiting a day to eat it :-)

Now… what to have for supper? Jalapeno poppers anyone?

Awesome!

“picking huge handfuls of parsley, basil, thyme, and oregano from my deck planters”

“the smell of chopped herbs”

“bags of herbs ready for the freezer - joy in reserve, ready to be used in the dead of winter when pots of herbs on the deck is only a distant memory”

“icy cold dip into the pool”

“bright yellow zucchini tucked amongst the huge leaves - how can they grow so fast?”

“stopping to marvel at the magic of the earth and sun”

“pushing the shiny red lawnmower for a test strip”

rock on

 With a contented sigh I settled back onto the sofa, window to the laneway in eyesight. Company is coming! It will be another sibling night and Iˋm excited! Dust bunnies have been correlled and beds have been made, supper prep is done, a playlist has been made (oops! better charge my speaker). So we chill until the first car crunches down the laneway.

It seems crazy that itˋs taken so much time to get ready but I suppose the house needed more care than normal. And Iˋve pre-made much of the food… and perhaps Iˋve made too many things. But itˋs what I love to do :-)

Itˋs now Sunday afternoon and the house has that sort of silence that only happens after a bustle of people has filled the air for hours. Itˋs a bit of a sad quiet but also rejuvenating - the emptiness of breath leaves room for a renewal of spirit. The silence opens its arms to embrace me, luring me to close my eyes to dream about the next time.

Our celebration last night ended an hour into today - some went to bed earlier but the hard core celebrators stayed up. I donˋt know why, maybe the dynamic was better, but we stayed gathered around the island until it was almost time to go to bed. The island drew us close together as we threw our heads back in laughter and gyrated our hips to the loud music.

Our bums were numb from the stools and stomachs were full of munchies when we started gravitating to our respective rooms. As I lay down in bed I thought to myself that “Iˋm wide awake and will never fall asle. and I was out cold.”

The morning started slowly for most of us although Kirsten and Shawn snuck out early as they had plans for the day. Eventually, everyone else emerged bleary eyed from lack of sleep (the coffee machine worked overtime this morning). A swim soon seemed like a great idea - it wasnˋt long before we had a good whirlpool going - we had some energy at least! Breakfast followed and then after a leisurely digestion everyone was on their way back to regular life. And silence descended like a thick fog.

The dogs were exhausted today - Spike couldnˋt even make it to his little bed!

 

Awesome!

“the corner of the hayfield is thick with purple clover and white Queen Anneˋs Lace”

“Adia running over to dance with me”

“a clean house”

“listening to a few favorite songs as I built the playlist”

“Shawn & Olafˋs picks matching up with mine”

the smell of clean

 I wasnˋt exactly fuming, more bemused and slightly annoyed, that the best we could come up with for our anniversary was sitting on the couch watching CNN. Gosh, what a celebration! Segue to this afternoon... I was floating in the pool after a day of working together to get our house pre-covid clean. With sudden insight it was clear to me that having a celebration on the day did not mean as much as a day spent in shared labour. No paper card could say ˋI love youˋ better than the smell of pinesol clean floors. 

Iˋve actually spent a bit of time in the last week getting the house cleaned up. The second spare room looked like it belonged in a hoarderˋs house… now Iˋve shifted the bulk of it down to the basement… step 2 in leaving the house… I did make a mistake when designing this house - no linen storage. So where do you put the spare comforters, pillows, and blankets?

We didnˋt keep up with the dust over covid. At least not the whole house at once!

Carm picked Pat up yesterday to bring her over for a visit. She seems to be doing well given the severity of her surgery. It was good to spend some time with her.

Canada has been forging ahead with vaccinations… letˋs hope we donˋt open up too early. The US has cut restrictions and are having an upsurge in every state.

 

Awesome!

“picking brilliant yellow zucchini from the garden - the first!”

“getting back into the pool when the water is warmer than the air”

“a sparkling clean house”

“little fairy lights - fireflies on a rope”

villetta visits

 We had a few days at the villetta this past weekend. As always it was a wonderful time with lots of laughter and visiting. The weather was even fantastic.

Saturday we had an outing to a nearby artisan village for some awesome gelato… I had lemon curd w blueberry and a chocolate mousse. Oh yeah baby! It tickled the taste buds in the most marvelous way :-)  The small cup had me reeling with sugar, I donˋt know how others managed the medium size!

After we were hopped up on sugar we wandered up and down the street, deeking into shops as we went. I havenˋt been out much for the whole pandemic so I was excited to be in the real world while at the same time freaked out by all the people… the village was crowded with tourists like us, getting out for a change of scenery on a nice summer day.

Iˋd like to go back on a weekday when the weather isnˋt quite so great as there were a few shops I would have liked to linger in. One had a plethora of necklaces - I have a bit of a thing for them. In another shop I saw one with a huge fern dangling from a black cord. Oh how my eye fastened on the glorious embellishment… Shenna was with me and agreed that it might be a bit big for me and that maybe if I were closer to 6ˋ than I am to 5ˋ it might have been a better fit. 

Shenna was perhaps a bit reluctant to insert her opinion but hopefully sheˋll learn that Iˋm not too sensitive and would way rather hear the truth! 

The dogs did well in the villetta - Adia wasnˋt crated once, even when we went on our outing. When we came back I peeked through the window and she was sound asleep… so not fretting too bad. Spike was mostly on his leash when we were outside - his hearing seems to be getting worse - he has trouble identifying where my voice is coming from. Sometimes he gets it right, but I figure thatˋs when heˋs somewhere where my voice has always come from the same place so he looks out of habit. Other than that he was perky and bouncy.

The keyboard on my new tablet is still massively irritating. How long will it take till my fingers are used to pressing shift 2 for double quotes instead of shift some other key that is by my right pinky?  And the at character - well, right now none of the keys seem to work if Iˋm in google docs…  so I couldnˋt write a url if I wanted to :-(  Why would a big company like Samsung do something so stupid?

Trudie & Leo came by this afternoon for a spur of the moment visit on the back deck. Carm had to move his chair around to get enough shade but otherwise it was a nice place for a visit.

Iˋm getting obsessed with thyme straight out of the pot.

Awesome!

“Grace telling us she was hungry for her breakfast - ˋare you hungryˋ she asked?"

“getting the motion sensor light installed on the back of the camper”

“having a nap when we got back home”

“the lemony creaminess of the gelato”

itˋs about thyme

 I was out of the house again yesterday… first to Mom & Dadˋs for a short visit, then to FreshCo, a grocery store that is slightly on the dangerous side. Luckily it wasnˋt busy so I didnˋt feel like I was dodging Covid. We are slowly resuming old activities… masked of course.

Iˋve been harvesting heaps of herbs and including them in everything Iˋm cooking. Today I grabbed a handful of tender and fragrant thyme. Stuffing my nose into the bouquet almost buckled my knees in ecstasy. They were fabulous mixed in with garlic rice.

A few days ago I did a rough chop with handfuls of basil and parsley, then a spoon of chopped garlic and a smother of olive oil for a rustic ˋpestoˋ to add to burgers and sandwiches. 

Carm braved the wicked heat of the capiscum and chopped dozens of red Thai peppers to suspend in some oil. A small jar is stashed in the fridge, itˋs ruby red contents at the ready to add a teaspoon (or less!) to anything I cook.

Last night we had our first bacon & tomato sandwich of the season… oh, not from our tomatoes yet but it was still delicious. Strips of bacon, tons of mayo and a smear of pesto, on top of homemade bread - oh yeah baby!

Thereˋs a bit of rain coming down, much anticipated and wished for this week as the earth is crying with thirst. The forecasts had constant rain all week but the sky cried dry tears until now.

Awesome!

“the fragrance of a handful of fresh thyme”

"The same thyme stirred into rice"

"Shampooing my short hair"

mr puffy head

 Bread still warm from the oven and slathered with butter and raspberry jam… ambrosia - a good reward for the rodeo we had with Spike this afternoon. 

His hair was getting a little long so rather than wait another week I hoisted him onto the table and then Carm held him firm while giving him a kong with peanut butter. Spike panicked a few times up on the table - he was dotted with blood as the clipper blades nicked the myriad of little age warts… itˋs a miracle that he doesnˋt bite us. Heˋd had some CBD but it was clear that today it wasnˋt enough so he got ¼ tablet of trazodone. It helped a bit. On the last freak out we let him outside to relax for a minute and he peeˋd right away… so he was obviously even more uncomfortable. But itˋs all done and heˋs even been subjected to a bath. 

I will have to pin him down again tomorrow to trim up his puffy head which has turned into a giant blonde afro.

After the ordeal (cause itˋs no fun for us either) we jumped into the not quite icy waters of the pool. Ahhhhh…. joy….. and even better with short hair :-)

More animal torture was on the calendar for today… Adia had to go for a mani-pedi, not her favorite activity.

We picked the first cherry tomatoes! And there are tiny yellow zucchini peeking out from under giant leaves. The miracle of earth and sun.

Awesome!

“dipping my head in the cool waters of the pool”

“Spike zooming around after his bath”

“red orbs of flavour bursting in my mouth”

“looking out over our property - peaceful easy feeling inducing”

shorn

 Four hundred and eighty three days worth of hair fell to the floor today. My last haircut was just before the pandemic started and finally today I sat in the barber chair again. I used my Momˋs lady for the first time and I think she did a bang-up job :-)

Itˋs been a week of firsts… yesterday we had our first dinner guests in 473 days (not counting the sibling bubble last summer). Friends! Oh sure weˋd had a few visits in the laneway but yesterday we moved the party to the back deck and I served supper out there. Iˋd forgotten how mellow and relaxed I used to feel when supper was on the table.

(the weird smudge on my face must have been a reflection but this was the best photo I had)

Iˋm getting used to the new keyboard BUT there are some things that are minor irritations. For example the ˋ key is a backwards quote - to get the real quote I have to choose a non standard key location. I generally touch type without looking at the keyboard so to change the automatic motions is a big deal. The question mark is in a weird place too.

But the screen is fantastic! Zooming with Olaf last night really showcased the marvelous picture. He and Steph could almost have been in the room. Alas, they werenˋt… but it was the next best thing.

After schlepping my vacuum back and forth from the camper to home we decided to fork out for one that could live in the villetta full-time. We found something on Amazon for less than ½ of what a Dyson cost so with some apprehension, shelled out the dough. It arrived yesterday - after it was charged up I did a trial run - it did a good-enough job and will be more than adequate for the camper, but it is clearly the poor cousin of the Dyson. 

Weˋve been leaving Adia loose when we leave the house, for short periods at first. Today was the longest and she was great. We didnˋt have the spy camera on (remember for next time) to see what sheˋs up to, but nothing was wrecked and she wasnˋt hysterical so I consider it a win :-)

Awesome!

“gathering around the table with friends”

“a new cordless vacuum is always my awesome”

“getting a hair cut after so long”

walking down the basement stairs and having the lights come on automatically”

“getting home and finding no potty accident by Spike”

“getting home and finding nothing wrecked by Adia”

“the apple trees are groaning with the weight of apples”

the key to happiness

 This morning I spent over 2 hours trying to find out how to access the “/” key on my new tablet keyboard. Very frustrating and no clear answers on google. I was lucky enough to kludge 2 suggestions together to make it happen.

So yes! New, giant tablet that barely fits on my lap. The screen is enormous and wonderful. The pesky keyboard is huge too and Iˋm having to do piano key exercises to get my fingers to stretch that far. 🤣

Seriously.

My muse still hasnˋt returned. She seems to desert me when my mood is fltting from good to bad - thanks a lot eh! Usually as Iˋm going about my day I pay attention to whatˋs happening around me to help pinpoint a few interesting (to me anyway) things to write about. These days my mind is blank - except when itˋs trying to slip to the negative. I suppose Iˋm working so hard on keeping centred that I have no brain cycles left.

Nothing interesting has taken place in the last few days though. We did get our eyes checked and I almost went into Costco but my eyes were so fubar that I decided not to. Itˋs been hot and itˋs rained. The barrels are almost totally overgrown.

One good thing though: Spike seems totally back to normal, even getting on the little sofa a few times. On the hot afternoons he sometimes wants help getting on and off the front deck, but otherwise heˋs doing the stairs well. He doesnˋt seem so old.

Today we did have a lovely few hours doing an outside visit with friends. It seems rather jovial and strange to be with a group of people. We were all fully vaccinated and outside so it seemed pretty safe.

Awesome!

“seeing Spike get up on the loveseat - his domain”

“watching the rain come down to soak the parched earth”

“going for a quick dip as soon as I got out of bed”

“picking herbs from my awesome herb pots”