My Day

 It is evening as I finally sit in front of my computer.  I was sitting on the porch enjoying the cool air and also the silence.  All day the noise of the construction continued. In the picture you can see a crane lowering a set of metal stairs down to the second floor.

Tomatoes are loving the sunshine .

 

I made 4 little jars of blueberry jam plus a jam pot for the last bit . Almost immediately I noticed fruit flies hovering in the area so I quickly made a fruit fly trap using apple cider vinegar in a glass covered with plastic wrap in which I made a couple of small slits.   I'm happy to see it is working and there are victims floating in the vinegar.

My helpful gardeners came for an hour or so before lunch. They are putting down cardboard in an effort to keep weeds down in some areas especially near the fence ( where it won't really show).
Now the day is about done and I'm going to read until my eyes start to fall shut. Somehow I don't think that it will take long.

Thanks for visiting.

 

Signs of Autumn

 

 The mornings are cool and there's a feeling of Fall in the air. This morning the thermometer read 10C  which is about 50F. The chilliest morning this season.  The sun shone and we reached 21C. I puttered outside and DH washed the truck.

These are a couple of pictures I took in the dining room. Just a few hints of September.

 

 I know many of you are waiting to get out anything Autumn-ish.
We have a long weekend coming up with  Labour Day next Monday.  I believe the U.S. also has a holiday on Monday. Anyone else?

More birthday wishes have been coming via the comments and I just want to say THANK YOU. You're all too sweet.

Thank you for coming by and reading my ramblings.   GM

 

 

Cake and Flowers

 The family came to celebrate my birthday. The weather, which had been very wet, was mostly clear and a pleasant 21C about 70F  so we were very comfortable sitting outside.  We couldn't remember when all 5 siblings and all 5 grandchildren were together. All together with partners I think we were 17.

Since there's really nothing that I need ( and I am trying to get rid of a lot of stuff) I was the happy recipient of lots of flowers.  Eldest Daughter took a small red wagon that had Merry Christmas written on the side and transformed it. She had everyone sign their name on it to make it truly a treasure. She filled it with plants and set it between 2 jugs of yet more flowers.

 

 There were gorgeous bouquets for the tables in the dining room and sunroom.

No party is complete without cake. There were bought ones and...

 these lovely cakes made by the DIL who has the talent to create miniature masterpieces. Each cake was a different flavour and all were delicious💗.

It was definitely a day to remember.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes here on my blog.  I appreciate every single one.

 

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A Good Day

A lovely morning to go to the nursery and admire all the beautiful flowers  DH drove and patiently waited for us to walk around and look at the Fall arrangements.  Here I am with  Eldest Daughter  Shannon  on the left and her daughter Kate on my right.

 I chose this basket of Fall Mums with a few other flowers tucked in. I put it on the porch, out of the weather.
It was a pleasant way to spend the morning of my birthday.  On Sunday the family will come over and  celebrate my 79th. Hard to believe I'm going into my 80th year!!! How did this happen?

 

 

 

  Thanks for visiting

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Digging Continues

 

 

Digging up the street continues and work slowly moves closer to our house. I don't know if I'm better off watching what they do out there or not. I mean, they'll move whatever they need to in spite of me standing there and moaning. Getting off our street is difficult. The workers are on both ends of our short street now.

 

On to a more cheerful subject, Eldest Daughter is painting flowers on my very old milk can. It's already looking so nice. I don't know where she got her talent but it wasn't from me :)

 

 Thanks for coming by.

Digging up the Street

 

Terrible pictures but I didn't want to go outside and be too obvious that I was taking pictures. This is the scene right in front of our house as the workers replace the water pipes down the middle of the street and off to each individual home. We built the fence and lattices knowing full well that we were a couple of feet onto city property. It remains to be seen how they will deal with our "obstructions".

 

It was a chilly 13C (55F) when we left on our walk this morning. Sunny sky and a high of 24 predicted. Perfect weather. AND we had a good rain on the weekend. We're so thankful ( and so are all our plants, I'm sure).

I tried a new recipe. Lemon/Raspberry scones. Well, I read a few recipes on the internet and figured out how I could tweak my regular scone recipe to create the lemon and raspberry kind. It was easy and they look much like the ones on line.  Here are mine (yes, those are my ordinary scones on the right. DH's favourites)

These are the ones shown on the recipe Ridiculously Easy Lemon- Raspberry Scones. I didn't use that recipe. It called for cream which I didn't have in the house. I just added lemon extract and thawed raspberries to my usual recipe. The glaze makes  such a difference. It consists of icing sugar and lemon juice.
Tasty treats for my coffee breaks this week.

Thanks for visiting

Morning Glories

 

 As they do most Fridays, Eldest Daughter and Youngest Son came by to work in my garden.  I had done about an hour of deadheading and weeding before they arrived, nothing strenuous. They did all the hard work.

The Morning Glories are taking over and very soon going through the arbour will be impossible. The left side of the arbour was supposed to be Sweet Peas and they may be under the mass of Morning Glories. Who knows?  The Rudbeckias have also self-seeded right up to the side. Beautiful chaos 💗.

 

This Hydrangea is nowhere near the Morning Glories, in fact it's in the front garden not the back but look at this...  ( I spy a poppy in there too).

Thankfully it was not too warm today but tomorrow will be a very warm one. Maybe the last one of Summer?  Or is that wishful thinking?  I'm ready for Fall.

Thanks for coming by.

Quiet Wednesday

 A beautiful walk again this morning. The lake was quiet...how I wish the city had removed more of the water lilies before they returned that machine. They only had it 3 days.

 

 

Several requests for the savory Monkey Bread recipe.  I don't think Middle Son used a recipe.  He used an ordinary recipe for buns and when they were ready to form he dipped them into a mixture of butter
( or margarine) and finely chopped garlic. As he layered them in the pan he sprinkled them liberally with cheese.    He's quite creative when he bakes ( except for bread for which he sticks to his regular recipe.)   We agree that anything homemade is going to taste at the very least edible and sometimes delicious.
On the subject of baking I think I'll be doing just that on the weekend when we're (hopefully) having a rainy day or two.

Thanks for visiting,

Edible Creations

 

Back in Spring I showed a picture of some tiny cakes that my DIL made and decorated with icing succulents.

 She's done it again. This time it's a birthday cake for a friend. Isn't it amazing? 

I bake quite a bit but I don't have the patience ( nor the talent) for such creations.  Middle Son bakes for his family on the weekends and he likes to make interesting creations such as this Cheesy Monkey Bread which I assure you was so tasty, filled with cheese and garlic. That man loves garlic. I'm thankful that he so often shares with DH and myself.
 

 We're enjoying a week of much cooler weather and it's delightful!!  I feel much more energetic when it's not so hot.

Thanks for visiting today,  GM

 

 

A Short Post

 

 I changed the look on the sideboard from Spring/Summer.....

 ....to late Summer.

 I notice that the stores are all displaying school supplies. I always looked forward to going back to school. New scribblers, new crayons.....Crayons were only .96 so I got a box just for old times sake.

Oh the thrill of lovely crayons, not yet broken in half and losing their paper wrapper.
 

 Thanks for coming by today,   GM

Autumn Flowers

 Friday again and Eldest Daughter and Youngest Son came to do garden work for me. I had already done about 40 minutes of light work but they got right into the digging up of various plants that had outgrown their spaces.  Strange how even with the drought certain plants have just thrived.

As usual September Charm Japanese Anemone is blooming in August. DH doesn't much like the way it hangs over the fence that leads to his workshop. I think it's just beautiful.  It spreads and can be invasive but here in this area it is surrounded by concrete paths ( but still manages to grow through any small crack!!).

 
Zinnias planted in a raised box behind the glider swing are blooming now. These grew from seed I saved but I notice that seed from last year's striped blooms either reverted to a solid colour or just failed to grow. 

The Rudbeckias are still doing great. I've never had them do so well.

 And of course the petunias are still brightening up the garden.

 It's almost noon and the thermometer is slowly creeping up to 30 again.  Time to go close all the windows. After lunch I plan on having a nice nap.  What does your day hold?

Thanks for visiting.

Housework

 

Happy Tuesday!!  It's a bit cooler today. After we walked I did some much needed weeding although you'd never know it if you looked at the state of my flowerbeds. Oh well. I'll just keep on doing what I can.

When my back said enough  I came in and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. While they were in the oven I finished the last of the ironing from yesterday's laundry. Ironing is something I don't mind doing.   Gladys Taber once remarked that she didn't understand why anyone found housework boring because as you work your mind is free to wander.  Here's another of her many thoughts on this subject.

Sorry about the large dark font. I have no idea how to change it.

"But housekeeping is fun. It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing and ironing, but at night you have the delicious feeling of sunny clean sheets and airy pillows to lie on. If you clean, you sit down at nightfall with the house shining and faintly smelling of wax, all yours to enjoy right then and there. And if you cook—that creation you lift from the oven goes right to the table.”

― Gladys Taber 

Thanks for coming by. 

Just to say Hi

 We're still having very warm weather and doing our best to keep cool. Although I must admit I baked bread yesterday and while the oven was on I made a pie. 

July seemed to go by so quickly. I've noticed how the days are getting shorter. In July we lost an hour of light a day and between now and the end of August we'll lose an additional hour and 37 minutes.

Nothing much is happening here but I did want to say hi. I hope, like Snoopy, you're managing to keep cool.

Thanks for visiting!