all that glitters

With sleep still in my eyes, I stepped out onto the back deck to water my colourful pots. Even before coffee! The sun was already beating down, but gosh it felt so wonderful, bordering on pef.. Could there be a more peaceful moment than doing a bit of container gardening? The deck will be riotous with colour in a few weeks. 

It was a scorcher today - hurrah! But not too hot to have a socially distant visit with Trudie & Leo. I set up our chairs along the laneway in the shade of the apple trees. It was actually rather lovely, and I think that going forward, even after covid-19 isolation, we’ll gather with friends here. Oh, and the black chairs are pretty comfortable.

Exceeding their estimate by 2 days, Amazon delivered my new sequin jacket this afternoon! Now you might wonder why I need such a sparkly jacket, and really, where the hell am I going to wear it… but putting all that aside, I love it! I foresee a trip to the grocery store or Costco with jeans, white t-shirt, and my sequin jacket (once it’s cool enough). And of course there are zoom parties. I can dress up for those. Or I can just sashy around the house bedazzling Carm.

22C/72F - I was hot enough after our company left to slip into the glacial pool. It took a minute to get up my nerve, and I did it the hard way (inch by inch), but in the end it wasn’t too bad! Back and forth a few times, and all the way around twice. I was glad for a bit of Norse blood, although to be fair, Carm with 100% Southern Italian blood went in too.

Headline tonight: Ottawa has a march against racism. 1,965,551 cases with 111,385 deaths in the US. There are a total of 94,335 (93,702 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 7,703 (7,636 yesterday) deaths today.

“When we are fairly observant and overly patient, a vibration of happiness might crop up unwittingly, as we capture the “timelessness” of a lucky moment and a sparkle of a stray instant, unexpectedly, enraptures our life in a blaze of color and splendor. ( "Happy days are back again")”

~Erik Pevernagie

promise of freedom and justice

I was freed from the confines of the gate today! Carm played golf and when he got home I got dressed up (!) for a trip to Costco - my first since the beginning of March. I wanted a few pots of geranium for the front deck, and something tall for the other planters. Found the geraniums - a pretty salmon pink - but nothing tall. Tomorrow we’ll have another outing to a local nursery.

Costco is pretty good about having people wear masks and of course we were wearing ours. I’m not sure if it was the mask or the fact that I’d only had yogurt to eat all day, but by the time we were standing at the cash, I felt faint and had to ‘get outta dodge’.

We had a lovely visit with Edna and Andy last night. We travelled together last year on a cruise through the Panama Canal and had such a good time with them. Sadly, we would have been meeting in person today had the pandemic not turned the world upside down. The annual Titanium reunion would have been this week. We are missing everyone! I hope things will be back to normal next spring. 

We agreed that if camping resumes we might get together this fall. We have camping booked from mid September to mid October down on the St. Lawrence - I hope they join us for a few days. Maybe other people too ;-)

While Carm golfed this morning, I got on my grubbies and spent some time in the garden - feel free to mark this day on your calendar. I had to weed around my mint, the mint that is integral to my  summer mojitos. Sadly it’s not doing that great. I think the patch doesn’t get enough sun so I (gasp) cut back my lilac a bit.

Yesterday Carm had brought home a giant flat of bright pink petunias so I planted them in pots on the deck. I have a few leftover so I might tuck a few around the tomatoes.

Headline tonight: Protests continue across the USA. 1,922,968 cases with 110,130 deaths in the US. There are a total of 93,702 (93,063 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 7,636 (7,497 yesterday) deaths today.

“And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? ... It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”

~Martin Luther King Jr.

peaceful revolution

Granules of sugar stuck to the floor as I pioretted around the kitchen making a Burnt Sugar Cake today. Oh yeah baby… sugar in all its forms mixed with a bit of butter and vanilla. The cake part turned out especially moist while the icing was a bit gritty but still heavenly.

I normally only make this cake for either Dad or Carm’s birthdays - Feb and March - as it really is a winterish sort of confection. Today’s gloom along with my gloomy mood made me decide to go ahead and bake a pick-me-up.

It cleared up later in the afternoon so I walked around the house with the dogs, enjoying the life bursting from the earth and trying to let the force clear my mind and boost my mood. You can almost hear the trees growing, and the grass, well, we can see it grow.

Our ‘party’ with Olaf last night lifted my spirits somewhat and luckily today Kirsten, Mom, and I had a get together in the afternoon. I feel a bit better but still somewhat cranky - too many dishes and do I really have to make supper again? Time for a take out night I think, although I believe there are enough leftovers for tomorrow night - I’ll make Carm heat everything up and I’ll sit like a Queen, maybe sipping bubbles.

80 days.

Headline tonight: Protests continue across the USA. 1,899,452 cases with 109,049 deaths in the US. There are a total of 93,063 (92,410 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 7,497 (7,395 yesterday) deaths today.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

[Remarks on the first anniversary of the Alliance for Progress, 13 March 1962]

~John F. Kennedy