excited this morning to spot the strawberry that was ripe enough to eat… and pleased that the birds and/or squirrels hadn’t beaten me to it…
I did paint those rocks red and put them around the plant to discourage thieves, lol… maybe they worked…
the strawberry was delicious;-)…
this plant was purchased two years ago and lives in a pot over the summer…in the fall it is transplanted back into the bathtub garden to overwinter;-)…
for quite some time my family have been encouraging me to volunteer at The Leaf…
I considered it and eventually decided to apply… the application process begins in March and starts with an online form… I still find it difficult to talk about my qualities…
after a few weeks I was invited to register for an in-person meeting, which I did… I got a message two days before the actual meeting time saying they were expecting me that morning, about 40 minutes from when the email arrived… yikes… thankfully I called and was told the email was an error and my appointment was when I expected… took a few moments for my heart to settle down, lol…
I arrived for the meeting right on time and had a lovely half hour with a volunteer who shared information and also asked a few questions… it was interesting to learn about some of the opportunities that are available…
next was an email with four modules to review and then register for an in-person orientation…
the four online modules were informative and straightforward and once they were completed, I signed up for a three-hour orientation to take place somewhere at APC…
the first one was cancelled due to illness, so I ended up at one a few weeks later… we met in one of the zoo camp classrooms…
there were twenty of us in the class and we learned together in small and large groups… it was a great opportunity to meet with others who wanted to help out as volunteers…
after nine more hours of training, I will be an APC volunteer…
quite a while ago, the hose connecting the washer to the drain broke… we had another flood, sigh…
we had someone in to figure out how to fix it, only to discover we needed a new drain hose… the technician siliconed the old pieces together while we wait for the new hose to arrive… for the first few times I stood and watched when the washer ran, just to be sure the hose didn’t pop off…
then we had to decide if the drywall needed to be replaced, but in the end decided on a paint job as there were no signs of water marks…
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it now has the new hose and freshly patched and painted walls;-)…
this morning I finally got around to sorting out a working pump for the bathtub pond…
I had switched the two pumps between the main pond and the bathtub, but not long after that change the pump in the tub stopped working completely…
and because there are no fish in that pond, the chance of mosquito larvae growing in it was a problem…
happily, the first extra pump I came across worked, although it didn’t have a piece extending out of the water… luckily that doesn’t matter as the water just needs to move to ensure no larvae can survive…
Friday was a delightful day… the sun shone and the temperature rose to 25°C…
throughout the day, I prepped for a dinner party… between organizing and setting the table on the deck, there were plenty of opportunities to sit, read, and relax…
preparing a space or food for special people is always enjoyable for me as I think about those who I am doing this work for and how important they are to me…
for this gathering, it was mainly about making the space comfortable and considering what dishes we would need as the food was being picked up from a Charleswood Rotary fundraiser…
they provided a whole lobster, baked potato, fresh bun, coleslaw, brownie, small bottle of wine, with a bib and a lobster fork;-)… each person received a shopping bag with all of the goodies in it… I added a few fixings for the potatoes, warm facecloths with lemon for our fingers, and garlic butter in warmers…
once the food was warmed up, we had a lesson in how to eat the whole crustacean… I was a bit slow, lol, so had to keep having information repeated…
the weather was perfect, well, except that the wind kept blowing out some of the butter warmers… lots of conversation and story telling kept us busy throughout the meal…
my housemate took the requisite group photo which he was happy to do (and not be in) before we spent time around the pond…
happily, the fish came out for a short visit before returning to their favourite spot under the bridge…
and before you knew it, everyone headed off into the sunset;-)…
Thursday evening I discovered that the kitchen tap was very loose…
I was concerned that it might pop off, start spraying water, and cause another flood…
my housemate worked late and didn’t have a chance to look at it, but the next morning, as I started prepping for a special gathering, I decided to get help…
I called around 9:30 and my friend Al (I have made way too many calls to these folks, lol) turned up around 12:15… this local business is located on the street corner four minutes from my house, so it is very handy …
he tightened the nut holding the tap to the sink, fixed the loose handle, and advised that there wouldn’t have been a flood if the tap completely disengaged…he filled out paperwork and was gone…
amazing what a quick response could do to settle my nerves and let me continue my preparations for the evening’s gathering;-)…
the one on the deck worried me for a while because all the flowers appeared to die off at once… I was concerned that all the rain was too much for it, but now it has begun to bloom again, yay…
the one in the driveway opened its first bloom nearly a week ago, and now there are many more buds opening;-)…
I think I need to train it a bit better so that it stays closer to the trellis…
herbiggirlpants 