I was so excited when I got a call from my personal shopper (oldest grandson) asking if I still wanted the soap that we’d been looking for since March… I had just started using another brand of foam soap which I was finding had an overpowering smell, lol…
I am a creature of habit and found this particular foaming soap quite a few years ago… it is light and doesn’t really have a scent… which makes it perfect for me…
he picked up three containers so that I will not run out…
spent most of the day in the garden, watching squirrels, chickadees, butterflies and goldfish…
watched a little red squirrel make hundreds of trips across the upper deck to collect sunflowers for its stash… saw the frog and a purple house finch, read and napped in the garden…
brought out some of the flowers I received yesterday to enjoy…
so happy to have this space to entertain and was pleased to have visitors from out of town… enjoyed steak and lobster for dinner and some quiet late night star gazing…
we were quite late in eating and I giggled a bit when I realized that I didn’t remember to take a picture of my supper…
my youngest grandson and I spent a few days together… it was lovely as we don’t get to spend the amount of one-on-one time that I have with the other boys…
we did a few chores around the garden and spent a great amount of time with the monarch butterflies…
we planned meals, watched the fish, birds and squirrels, and talked about life… he was even happy to take a selfie with me;-)…
we made stuffing muffins (chicken stuffing put into muffin pans), one of his favourites, lol… we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our supper to go along with the muffins… we made twice stuffed potatoes for our second supper and he reminded me to put in green onions as he likes the flavour they add to food now…
we watched the space station fly over from the hot tub…
we slept out on the decks… he thought it was a very funny thing to do, but got right into it, bringing out his comforter, a blanket and pillows;-)… I slept in the gravity chair, which wasn’t as comfortable as the lounger I normally use…
he played games with his friends on his phone and watched tv shows when it was too hot (and maybe boring) for him outside…
how wonderful it was for me to have these special moments with this young man;-)…
yesterday morning my youngest grandson was dropped off at ten by his two older brothers who were heading off to a two-day Pokémon event…
about fifteen minutes after they left he spotted the first of our monarchs as it emerged from the lily of the valley where they had gone to turn into their chrysalis stage… I had been watching this chrysalis for a number of days as it was the only one we could find…
perfect timing, and he spotted three more as they came out to dry their wings…
the first one had a wasp attached to its wing and it took me quite a while to get it off… not sure if that hurt it or whether the wasp had already injured it…
the others eventually flew off after their wings dried out, but this little male spent most of the day with us… finally it was gone, so we are hoping that it was able to fly…
I’ve been thinking a lot about all of my technology recently…
I love seeing my most current photos on the Google Display in the bedroom and kitchen…
it is great to be able to give a command from basically anywhere in the house and have it happen…
the light strip on the stairway can be bright or just barely on, like a nightlight…
I’ve now got a few routines, depending on the time of day, that get the lighting just how I want it…
I continue to learn new things that can be done, and that is fun… recently I figured out how to put grocery items on my OurGroceries app… as long as you ask with the exact wording, lol…
my grandson also has access and occasionally when he’s here he will change something and surprise me, lol…
I have two new switches, but need to get the electrician in to hook them up…
my middle grandson was dropped off to mow the grass and do a few other pieces of work for me…
he mowed, whipper snipped, pulled weeds, moved furniture and the new umbrella, filled bird/squirrel feeders, and cleaned up patio stones…
it was a hot day for digging around the stones, but it looks so much better… still have more to do the next time he is here… he is a lovely young man and I enjoy the time we have together;-)…
the front yard and garden look tidy and fresh… I sat out for a while after he left but then came in as rain appeared to be on the way and arrived with thunder and lightning…
a most amazing woman brought Captain’s Table fish and chips over (one of my favourites) for supper and we ate inside… the downpour had finally stopped, but it was cool outside… eventually we were able to take a tour of the garden and visit on the deck…
I am so blessed with all the special people who are, and have been, in my life…
last night my grandson arrived with the four base pieces so we could put it together…
one of the crosspieces on the bottom didn’t fit correctly so he had to take that piece back to the store and have it replaced… happily they had one available…
back home he finished putting it all together and I think it is going to be perfect…
now I will be able to have visitors to the garden at any time of the day… really looking forward to more garden visits…
after supper I tried opening and closing it a few times before he left, lol… let us hope I can remember exactly what to do;-)…
there is only one small sized one left on the milkweed… and I have found two new eggs so that is exciting…
my grandson spotted a caterpillar crawling in the lily of the valley, so I am going to lay down on the deck and see if I can find some in their chrysalis stage…
spent quite some time this morning laying on a lounge cushion and lifting leaves in the lily of the valley searching…
eventually I found one chrysalis… I also marked the leaf so I can spot it again…
my grandson and one of his friends came over yesterday afternoon…
they were here to finish trimming the Virginia creeper and put the piece of siding back up…
it was quite the process as a door was put onto the hot tub, then a ladder on top of the door and then one would climb up and remove bits and pieces of the vine… then they worked from the driveway side to finish… once the vines were removed, they had to do some fancy work to get the siding back up and properly attached…
eventually it was all done and the area cleaned up…
we had a laugh as this particular friend had also helped with landscaping work in the front yard a number of years ago;-)… nice to have him back and helping…
it looks much tidier and more spacious now… after they left I finished cleaning the hot tub and filled it with fresh water… it takes an hour to get it to the top…
it took until around noon to heat it up, although I’ve set the temperature at 99℃ to see if that might be a nice temp for cooling down in this very hot spell we are dealing with…
