Friday, August 19, 2016

Our Week Back Home

It's Friday already?

It was last Saturday evening when we returned from the Oregon coast. Since then we have been busy.

We have done our 3.25 mile walk each morning until today. Since it's Friday, it is breakfast-out morning, and we stayed and visited until almost 11:00. Then we stopped at the local nursery, Furney's, to take advantage of their sale on pots to shop for a pot for Tom's rapidly growing brugmansia. 
This thing started out in the spring in a six inch pot. We've been keeping it's now big nursery pot in a tub of water to keep it going while we are away. When it's cooler, Tom will get it planted in that new ceramic pot sitting next to it. 

When the brugmansia blooms, it looks like this. Right now it is between blooms, but setting lots of buds. 
On Sunday afternoon we went to the stadium for a Sounders game. We won!
Beginning Monday morning we began another crusade of getting the yard back in shape. We went for our walks early, then spent until noon each morning clipping and pulling and mowing and edging and deadheading.

And picking. Bouquets of sweet peas for the table and vases full of dahlias around the house. Cucumbers and beans and carrots and beets, and, of course, zucchini. 
I made two double batches of zucchini bread, eight loaves, this week. Tom helped. 
Those tomatoes in the basket are part of the crop we've picked, which is coming on fast. It's time for tomato, cottage cheese and fresh basil salads. Basil from the garden, of course. 
We have a canna in bloom, and another getting ready to bloom, in pots on the patio. That's a first for us as we dabble a bit in tropical plants. 
We will be hosting a little workshop for our garden group on making glass flowers, so yesterday when it got too hot to garden we made the rounds of thrift shops and went a little crazy. I designed these glass flowers, which await cleaning and gluing. I'll use a couple of them as demonstrations, and then offer our glass supplies to members of the group to make their own. With the price tags still on most items, we'll just charge the original cost of the items. 

We have been having lunch on the patio every day. Josy the Cat likes to join us out there. We started out on Sunday with a light jacket. Yesterday we were driven indoors by 2:30, when the sun reached the table.
Today it was 90F by noon. After getting home we spent some time cleaning house, since we couldn't remember the last time we did that, and we usually maintain a once-a-week cleaning schedule. 

Then I had my lunch inside at 1:30, but Tom, who likes heat more than I do, dined outside.  

He came back in at 2:45 and is now napping on the couch.

Josy hadn't decided yet. She may have found a cool place in the shade on the concrete.
It's now 93.3 and rising. The air conditioner may finally kick in today. It's set at 75, but it's hotter than that upstairs, where I am, so I'm signing off!

14 comments:

  1. I'm using some a/c this week. That's always problematic because Bob never gets hot. I told him to put on a jacket because I was about to expire. I can't take the heat anymore. Canas grow very well in our part of Texas, they're quite common, both the green & purple foliage. We're forecast for one more day of triple digit temps then I'm calling a halt to that nonsense. I could have stayed in Texas if I'd wanted to deal with heat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like pots plants. They are kind of like pets. You walk outside and check them out. Trim a few dead heads. Repot once in a while. Move them here. Move them there. They become part of the family,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hot weather cuts my efficiency down by 50% . At least that's my excuse. It also helps to know how to trim and prune.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's crazy that it's cooler in Texas right now than where you live! It doesn't happen often!
    Your glass flowers are beautiful!
    Our cannas are still blooming madly! Back in my younger days I tried and tried to grow sweet peas! I finally succeeded when I planted them early one spring. I guess they just can't take the Texas heat very well but I've always loved them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are keeping busy doing lots of fun things together! I'm loving your glass flowers! It will be a fun workshop. We've been having hot weather here, too, but the ocean breezes pick up in the afternoon and cool things off nicely. I live for these hot days! Keep cool! XO

    ReplyDelete
  6. We had unusually hot weather in VT this summer. I liked it but I was in a distinct minority in my group of family and friends. All your hard work pays off and I am glad that you (or at east Tom) can sit and enjoy the view once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We got up to 90 here in Bellingham yesterday, which was brutal. I am glad to have a little cool air coming in this morning, since yesterday morning it was 73 when I woke up! Only one more day of this heat and we'll be back to almost normal temps. I'm with you about the heat. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I see where the PNW is getting some really hot temps. Surprised that it is 90+ outside at your place but still in the 70's inside. You must have great insulation. We have dropped into the high 80's and it is delightful after the 100+ summer. Ahhh.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have a little tomato envy, mine have been a disaster this year with hardly any at all. I have had to buy tomatoes for the first time in years to make chutney.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those glass flowers are great. Can't believe the heat. But it was 58 this morning so its good to get out and get going early. Mmm zucchini bread!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I heard you guys have a heat wave, I suppose you will send it this way. Your glass flowers look great, they are so much fun to make! Stay cool! :0

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm just catching up here and I see you've had a great family get away. Your Sweet Peas are amazing and I imagine the zucchini bread is too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. WE have just cooled down to the 90s instead of 100s-what a relief. Would love to make some of your glass flowers. Show us how you do it and make the base to have them stand up-thanks...

    ReplyDelete
  14. No ac in our old house but it's cooled off nicely most nights and takes a while for it to get really warm inside. I've been at school getting ready for another year and while I still love my job, I wonder what it'll be like that first August when I realize that I can continue on my summer schedule. It's inspiring to see how much you and Tom enjoy your time!

    ReplyDelete

I would love to read your comments. Since I link most posts to Facebook, you may comment there if you do not have an account. I have eliminated Anonymous comments due to spammers.