Better Late Than Never

    It has been sweltering (32C today) for the last two days but finally my pool is on the way to being ready. I had waited until the Norway Spruce that overlooked it was taken down to have it opened for the summer. Who knew it would be so hot this early?

This was yesterday with the winter cover still on.

    The guys arrived early and had the cover off in no time and started draining the pool. The water level was definitely down, so possibly there was a leak in the old liner.

   

   Then they set about checking the walls for damage. It must have been blisteringly hot working in the blazing sun!

    Now the new liner is in and the water hose is running to fill it up. That will take until tomorrow so, hopefully, I will be showing the completed process tomorrow!

Finger Update

    Went for a check-up of my finger and had the splint adjusted to keep it straighter. Unfortunately I have to continue to wear it for another 4 weeks and then will graduate to a velcro splint. I am hoping I will be able to get back to tennis then as I am sorely missing it. Also, it is difficult to keep it clean and dry (my yellow rubber glove is my new best friend) so it is becoming a bit of a nuisance. My pool will be ready in the next week or two but I doubt I will be swimming much until July!

   I wear it while chopping vegetables, handling meat and even when eating a "hands-on" meal like burritos or barbecued chicken wings!

A Possible Replacement

    My last remaining Wiegela bush (there were three) is in full bloom this week and I am considering it as a replacement for the Spruce. It's fairly tidy and will grow about 6 feet tall so would fill the space nicely, given a few years. 

   The two I lost had a deeper red blossom so maybe I will go with that this time.

The Stump

    Well, it's gone and all that's left is the stump and a ton of cones and sawdust. The logs were put out at the curb and were gone by this afternoon. The rest of the debris which wasn't carted away by the tree guys will be picked up (I hope) by the garden refuse collectors There are 6 bags! They are supposed to come today but haven't been yet due, I think, to all the trees that came down in last Saturday's storm. I passed one today that was spread over two front lawns. It was huge!

   Here is all that remains of the Norway Spruce. You can see how it had outgrown the small space it was planted in. Now I need to decide what to put there to hide the composter.

Today the Tree Came Down

    After waiting weeks for the permit, the time has come for the Norway Spruce in my back yard to be brought down. I forgot to take a "before" photo but here is the progress so far.

   This is the long-awaited permit which has to be displayed prominently.

You can see Jay standing on one of the lower branches which he left as he worked up the tree.

Now he is approaching the summit. I had to leave at this point as it was beginning to look dangerous!

When I returned a couple of hours later the worst was over. They are still working on it (7:00 p.m.) and I think they will have to come back tomorrow to finish up. The mess is incredible, pine cones everywhere! I am so glad I waited until it was done to take the cover off the pool. Hopefully in the next day or two I will be able to post a photo of my reclaimed back yard.

Was it a Tornado?

    I was going to write more about my garden but we had a massive storm a few hours ago so that takes precedence. First I heard was an emergency "Take cover" message on my phone. Then the sky got really dark and the winds whipped up. The rain was torrential for a while. It was pretty spectacular!

   Everyone was out on the street after it passed over assessing the damage. One neighbour had a tree come down on his garage roof which is quite damaged. Another couple of houses lost part of their roofing. I got a small scratch on my car from flying debris but think I got off easy. I will have my handyman check my roof to make sure it is still intact.

   Before the storm I took this photo of a corner of my garden. It seems to have survived untouched, thank goodness!

     Bleeding Hearts and Violets look nice together. They have both spread from the original plants and come up faithfully every year. 

Yoga

     Since I couldn't go to my regular Thursday tennis game (it was wet anyway) I went to Yoga instead. It was a good session but, as Jai, our teacher, reminded us, once a week is really not enough to keep us supple and active. I managed to do a new exercise, full squats down and back up, which several of the class didn't manage. I think I will look for something on You Tube to do in between classes.

    The rest of the day went pretty well - it gradually dried off and warmed up as the day progressed. I got quite a bit of gardening (i.e. weeding) done before lunch and again in the afternoon and I managed to catch the itinerant tool sharpener guy as he drove down my street. Now my garden shears are super sharp and polished!

   An easy dinner tonight - leftover barbecued chicken drumsticks, just need to heat them up and cook some more veggies! A new "Death in Paradise" on TV tonight on PBS (no commercials) and "Inspector Morse" which I have probably seen before. I also have a DVD from the library as a backup. 

   And, finally, I managed both the Wordles today, so, all in all, it has been a successful day!

A Big Decision

    I have come to the conclusion that I won`t be able to play tennis for the next few weeks. The splint on my finger (unfortunately on my dominant hand) is making it too difficult to hit the ball without pain, plus it has rubbed up blisters on the adjoining fingers which will never heal if I keep playing. I am sad to let my tennis friends down but we were already missing one who is on an overseas trip and scrambling each week to find a replacement. 

    Anyone who follows my blog will know that tennis is a major part of my summer but I will just have to content myself with watching matches on TV. Also there`s lots of gardening to do (I got in some tomato and kale plants this weekend) but that is also hampered by the splint (trying to keep it clean and dry) although not as painful.

   I am trying to be philosophical about my current woes - what`s one summer out of so many I have enjoyed on the tennis courts? - but am just praying that I will be able to salvage some time later on. Wish me luck!

Orange Tulips

    Don't remember planting the tulips in my new header photo but they are gorgeous, aren't they? I think the squirrels may have had something to do with their placement, my neighbour has some like this!

The Finger

    I hope this will be the final episode of my finger injury. I finally saw the doctor at the Fracture clinic today and, after another X-ray and an interminable wait, (actually the whole process took just over two hours) he sent me to an occupational therapist who specializes in hand trauma. She outfitted me with a better splint - not as inconvenient as the other one and I can remove it once a day and replace the tape. However, I have to keep it on for 6 weeks and no guarantee there will be any improvement.

   Seemingly my arthritis is quite advanced but so far I am still able to do most things. As long as I can still play tennis I will be quite philosophical about it. Not that anything can be done for it anyway. I think playing the piano is definitely out!

Mother's Day

    This arrived at my front door yesterday, courtesy of my son in Victoria, B.C. Then we chatted on the phone and brought each other up-to-date with what's going on in our lives.

   I have never seen African Violets in that particular colour before. At first I thought they were artificial, but, no, they are live! The planter will certainly last much longer than the usual bouquet but I already have so many indoor plants, 23 at the last count. Maybe I will donate these new ones to a retirement home when I grow tired of caring for them. Your thoughts?

   Some of my indoor plants will go outside once the threat of frost is past but others are just too delicate for our scorching summer sunlight.

First Lunch Outdoors

    A pre- Mother's Day lunch at daughter's house today so she can have her own Mother's Day special tomorrow.  Both the Grans were there (myself and SIL's mother) and it was actually our ritual "afternoon tea" - home baked scones, finger sandwiches and petit fours, with lots of a special tea to wash it all down. There was some wine as well! Tonight I'll just have a salad. Luckily I have some cold chicken, olives and feta cheese to eat up. Oh, forgot to mention, there was an abundance of chocolate too!

   The weather was very obliging and we sat outside until late afternoon. It was the first really warm day we have had this year so perfect timing IMHO. Then we came indoors and went on Zoom to the family in Victoria B.C. so all bases covered. 

   I stopped by the Garden Centre on the way home, looking for Kale as I missed it last year. It wasn't in yet but they said they would put some aside for me once it arrives, if I call and remind them. The place was jammed so next time I will NOT go on a Saturday.

Good Things Come in Threes

        First cut of the grass today - it's looking very healthy as I gave it a feed of fertilizer earlier this month and we have had quite a bit of rain. Now just need to put down some grass seed in the bare spots. I collected the cuttings and have filled the composter again so lots of new compost for the garden soon.

    We had a good game of tennis this morning as the weather was perfect, but we will need to find another player next week as Susan is off for a three week vacation soon. She is going to see family in the U.K. whom she hasn't seen for almost three years due to Covid. I skipped yoga as it was so much nicer to be outdoors. I even managed to discard a layer and play without gloves, it was so much warmer than last week!

   The permit has been approved for the demolition of the tree in my back yard - looks like it might get done before it's time to get the pool open. Things are definitely looking up!

May Day

    A happy return to our thrice weekly tennis today - Cathy brought us some fun tennis socks from her winter sojourn in Florida.

   After a glorious day yesterday, it was cold and blustery today. But we soldiered through for an hour which was enough for the first time out. Next week we have two hour sessions booked which will be a bit more challenging. 

   After playing we retired to Tim Horton's for coffee and donuts ( my favourite, sour cream glazed was yummy) and some catch up on what has being going on in our lives since the last time we played in November. Now we have the whole summer ahead of us!