Strawberry Fields Forever

    I had today free as the Seniors centre, where I am usually on a Wednesday for my fitness class and kitchen duty, was closed for their annual Spring clean. So I checked out the website of our local "Pick Your Own" strawberry farm and was happy to see the strawberries were ready. 

   I headed there early to beat the crowds and managed to have my basket filled in little over half an hour. The berries were huge and very ripe and it is an excellent, well maintained facility with helpful staff. So this afternoon was spent making jam and eating the occasional berry that made its way into my hands rather than the cook pot. I added a cup of chopped rhubarb as it is plentiful at the moment. I got 8 jars of jam for the cost of $16 for the berries (I only used about half of them) and $10 for the sugar and Certo. Probably works out to a bit less that $3 per jar, quite a reasonable price. Plus I know it is just pure fruit and sugar, no preservitives.

   Steve came over today, on his way to somewhere else, and fixed my fence which has been wobbly since last week's strong winds. I had fixed a pasta casserole in case he came at dinner time but he was long gone before then so that's tonight's dinner! 

So, What Have I Been Up To?

    June has gone by in a blur and I had to go back to my calendar to remind myself of all my activities. Here's a brief overview.

   Got the car its annual check up (expensive as usual but nothing major, it's just 6 year's old) and the pool guys found the problem with my pool (not so much but it took them 3 hours to find the tiny crack that was disrupting the circulation system) so I should still be in the black by month's end.

    Several of my regular activities came to an end this week before the summer hiatus, which involved several celebrations. We had a pot luck lunch on the second to last day of Bridge last week - lots of yummy dishes, I had to try a bit of everything before we got the cards out -  and last Thursday was the Final Probus Club meeting. Instead of a speaker we had an entertainer regale us with songs from the "British Invasion of the 60's", the Beatles, the Guess Who, the Rolling Stones and many more. Lots of great songs that had us tapping our toes and singing along. My favourite was "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals. This was followed by a Pizza lunch, coffee and Timbits. I went straight from there to Book Club where there was more food and even a bottle of (non-alcoholic) Prosecco for making mimosas. Staggered home for a nap around 3:00 p.m.!

   Today was quieter, just the monthly Executive meeting at the Seniors' Centre but I took some of the leftover Timbits and distributed them around the few members who were in the building. No way could I have kept them in the house - too tempting!

   Well, now I am caught up. Summer will be much quieter, just tennis twice a week and the odd BBQ and bus trip. It's been quite cool this week (low 20's C)

but it's been ideal weather for working in the garden and I've managed a few swims when the sun has been shining. I imagine it will heat up again soon enough.

First BBQ of the Year

    This was at the Seniors' Centre and I was helping out in the kitchen - didn't actually have anything to do with the BBQ but got a burger, coleslaw and potato salad from what was left over. I even managed to snag a burger and bun to bring home for tonight's dinner!

   The crew in charge of things served over 60 meals to the seniors who had ordered either beef, chicken or veggie burgers in advance. We had many compliments about the food and the (relatively) reasonable cost of the meal  - $8. This also included an ice cream bar for dessert. 

   I was pretty pooped by the time everyone had been fed and all the numerous, greasy utensils and trays had been cleaned and stored away, so came home for a nap. Since then I have been reading (I'm into a Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling), pottering in the garden and just generally relaxing. Tomorrow the car goes in for its bi-annual service and one of the pool guys is coming over to check my pool pump as it's not working as it should. Both things may put a hefty dent in my savings but I am keeping my fingers crossed it won't be too expensive.

   There should be at least three more BBQ's there over the summer and I may host one here as well. It's the perfect weather for al fresco eating!

Feeling More Like Summer

     Lunch with the Wine-Knows was fun but I wasn't too impressed by the meal. The last time I was at that particular restaurant I had a very nice piece of salmon but it wasn't on the "pris fixe" menu this time. I had a very huge Caesar salad, pork and veal tagliatelle (also huge so I took most of it home) and finally, a delicious peach panna cotta and a cappuchino. Of course, there was wine (I chose a Valpollicello which went very well with the meal) so it was a very jolly afternoon and we didn't roll out of there until 4:00 p.m. We did manage to set up our next wine tasting which will be at Suman's condo in September - looking forward to seeing her place and tasting her wine choices.

   Things have been quiet since Thursday (just tennis on Friday and a quick trip to the grocery store) but I did pick up some tomato and Swiss Chard plants and got them into the ground. The weather has been gorgeous - sunny but not humid and cooling off at night. I could take this kind of weather right through until September. I have been in the pool several times and it's still May. Whoo-hoo!