on Friday evening the doorbell cam advised there was an animal in the front yard (bit fuzzy)…
I ran downstairs to watch out the window and was quite happy watching the two deer…
until one started to eat the plants in one of the planters…
I knocked on the window but it didn’t scare it…
stared right back at me…
and as I watched them head to the hostas next door, I went outside to scare them away…
but they really didn’t want to go… they even started walking towards me, but after about a three minute standoff, they finally crossed the street and headed toward the creek…
we’ve been working on the pond to try and fix the leak that only seems to happen when the waterfall is running…
we purchased a new hose from a pond store and it took a while to get here… then we had to wait for a good day to work on it…
took extra help to pull the old hose and insert the new one… next a new connection to the pump had to be purchased and finally on Sunday evening the waterfall was turned on… the pump hadn’t been cleaned, but the water was coming through the waterfall much stronger that previously…
we thought the problem was where the water meets the deck on the deck side…
this how it looked at the end of Tuesday…
and it was still leaking, sigh…
this is how it looked on Thursday, although we may be getting closer to the problem…
lovely start to the day on Saturday, with a 4:30 am hot tub… it was cool, sky was just beginning to lighten, birds were singing, and clouds drifted above…
back to sleep for a while and then got to watch qualifying for Sunday’s F1 race at Silverstone…
and one of my favourites got pole position…
was able to turn off the fans and open all the windows to get some fresh, cool, air into the house, which was wonderful after the last few days of sizzling heat…
out in the garden I spotted a house finch couple enjoying snacks at one of the feeders…
my blood pressure medicine was increased a month ago, so the doctor wanted to see how it was doing and didn’t want to wait three months till my next usual appointment…
the only side effect to the increase in the meds had been being exceptionally tired for a week or so…
I’d been taking bp readings since the change and the numbers had been good, so I wasn’t worried…
the numbers were also good in the office…
I mentioned a text I’d received at the end of May recommending a covid booster, but I hadn’t heard anything more…
but apparently, today was the last day to receive the phyzer booster… they still had some in the office, so I got it… the next one will be in the fall around the same time as the flu shot…
it is always interesting when I see memories of the garden come up…
this one was from six years ago…
there were lots more ferns and the virginia creeper (which is also known as woodbine) hadn’t filled up the entire wall of the garage… I had a hanging basket and the same bird feeder…
this is a photo I took today of the same area…
you can see that the virginia creeper has filled in completely, but also that most of the ferns have been moved… although it is the same bird feeder, it now has a plastic bottom as the original metal one rusted through…
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…
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;-)…
