Beez Begone!

     Much as I hated to do it, the bees had to go. The team fixing my deck refused to complete the job until I had the bee problem "taken care of". I think I mentioned that one of them was stung while they were working on raising the slabs. 

   So, reluctantly, I called a bee expert to see what could be done. He surmised it was a small colony of bumble bees, not honey bees, which would have been a very different story.  Fortuitously, when he arrived no bees were in sight and he opined (optimistically) that they were all out foraging. So he doused the area with a powder which (he said) would discourage them from returning to the nest. We shall see! I didn't ask about any bees still under the deck. Less said the better. My grandson, the environmentalist, was very annoyed with me for not finding a more bee-friendly method of removing them.

      You can see he's not getting too close just in case.

   A final application to the problem area. I will check for any activity tomorrow and he promised to return to give it another dose if needed.

Yikes!

    I did a quick grocery run first thing this morning as I needed lunch fixings for expected company. Also a few items I didn't find on my usual trip to the store earlier this week. This is what I got and the bill.

   I did use some PC Points for a $10 reduction so basically the fish fillets were free, but still.......!

Kedgeree

    Does anyone else love Kedgeree? It is one of my comfort foods - easy to prepare, inexpensive (I have had three meals out of one fish fillet and half a cup of rice) and, if heaped with vegetables, pretty healthy! Mine included onions, green peas, tomatoes (every dish has to have a tomato component at the moment) and a small amount of grated cheese. And, of course, a generous sprinkling of curry powder for that exotic East Indian flavour. I had it with a slice of pickled beetroot and was well fed!

   What's your favourite comfort food?

   

Deck Looks Like New

    A major repair job but they were done by the afternoon. Just one small glitch which may require more further work (and more money!) but I am happy with how it looks now.

This was before:

Definitely tripping hazards! There were several spots like this.

Now it's smooth all around. 

Unfortunately this one still needs work. They will come back tomorrow.

And, in the process they upset a bee's nest so it is very "buzzy" out there! It was amazing to see how the repairs were accomplished - lots of heavy duty equipment. They also raised the slab abutting the house so that rain water will drain away from the basement. Now I just have to come up with the payment!

More Expensive Repairs

    I am just posting today because, if I don't, I have to reply anonymously to other posts!

   We had welcome rain most of yesterday but the grass is still very brown. At least I haven't had to cut it for a while. We played tennis for almost two hours this morning and, although it wasn't extremely hot as it has been for the last month, it was quite humid. I was on the winning side for both sets which was gratifying. 

   Tomorrow the Liftec crew are coming to do some work on my deck which, I believe, has been designated a "tripping hazard"! There will be before and after photos. Then another crew will come and do some caulking. It has been an expensive summer for pool repairs but worth it to maintain the value of my house, I guess!

Last of the Rhubarb

    I picked a few rather heat-depleted stalks of rhubarb yesterday and made some rhubarb chutney. It boiled and bubbled away for an hour or so, steaming up the kitchen and producing a rather pungent aroma from the cider vinegar, but finally it was ready and bottled. Almost two jars from what should have rightfully been consigned to the compost pile! I am rather chuffed as I do love chutney on a lot of things.

     Having said that, I still have some green tomato chutney from last fall so that should be consumed first since there are sure to be an abundance of green tomatoes to pick before the first frost.

   The rain has passed us by again except for 10 minutes of a light sprinkle, not enough to be of any help in the garden. Nothing in the forecast for the next few days either. It has finally been officially designated a "drought" in our area! 

Giant Sunflowers

     I didn't plant these intentionally, they just appeared by my composter in the Spring. The fence is six feet tall so you can work out how tall they have grown. Still three more to open but I thought I had better capture these three in case they were attacked by an animal (which has happened in the past).

The Latest Crop

 This week's pickings of tomatoes - every meal must contain tomatoes or I will be leaving them to rot on the vine. The cherry tomatoes mostly get eaten at lunch and a plum tomato got slipped into tonight's stew. All my  friends have a similar glut and next it will be the zucchinis!

    Still no rain although there were a few spots this afternoon as I was walking home from the Seniors Centre and thunder rumbling around somewhere close by. The grass is mostly brown now and probably won't recover before Fall. One neighbour has a perfectly green lawn and it looks so strange surrounded by swaths of brown! I guess they have an irrigation system. The one thing that is doing well are the (unintentional) sunflowers growing around my composter, they are well over 6 feet tall! I will try for a photo once the flowers have all opened.

Working at the Tennis Tournament

    Recuperating today after a very busy week. We had some really hot days which were extremely exhausting. Most of my shifts were early afternoon to evening so I was really dragging by the time I walked back to the distant parking lot at the end of the day! But I was glad to have the mornings to gather myself and prepare for the day ahead. We had a great party last night which made for a lovely send off and will encourage us to return to volunteer again next year. There were 1200 volunteers at this year's tournament.

This is me at the main gate in my uniform.

The men were playing in Montreal and we could watch it on the big screen TV.

I got assigned the VIP entrance a couple of times - it was much quieter.

My preferred spot!

We didn't get much chance to watch the matches but you can see how full the stadium was for the Final.

It's hard to catch the players in action but this is the Brazilian player serving in the final set.

Most of the big names were here for both the Men's and Women's Singles. Simona Halep won here in Toronto and Pablo Carreno Busta won in Montreal. There were many, many Romanians (and others) cheering on Simona with flags, signs and chants (SI-MO-NA) and the atmosphere was quite electric! I got to watch the last half of the singles match and a doubles match that followed. Two Americans won that. Well, that's it for another year. The men will be playing here in 2023.

Another Catchup

    Two posts in a row - that's a first for me! But I am still having trouble signing in unless I start a new post. I have a few photos to share so that will be it.

Youngest grandson with his new bike that he paid for himself with his earnings as an extra in a movie!

The last of the raspberries - they have been great this year.

Oldest grandson on the front porch barbecuing pork souvlaki for our lunch on Sunday.

Enjoying the pool on a hot afternoon  - grandson swam 2 kms. by his calculation! It was 200 lengths.

A pretty flower from the plant that over winters indoors.

Another one - I didn't think I was going to get any flowers from it this year as it was looking rather bedraggled after being in low light conditions indoors.

   So that's me up-to-date. I will probably be AFK for a few days during the tennis tournament. (away from keyboard)

Catchup

    I have been very busy for the last few days but with nothing much to blog about, so thought I'd better post something. 

  Tennis is continuing but I am finding 2 hours a bit much on the hot days although we start at 8:00 a.m. I think I may have to cut back to one hour. The pool has been a blessing for cooling off afterwards. The family have been over a couple of times for a swim and Judy usually brings something to barbecue so I have had some delicious meals courtesy of them. Unfortunately today's visit was rained out  but, as the garden was in dire need of a soaking, the rain was quite welcome. The grass is quite brown in spots and the weeds are taking over!

   Next week is the tennis tournament here in Toronto and I will be working as a volunteer at the front gate, another reason to post something before that starts. Most of the top women tennis players will be here so it is quite something to see. It has been two years since the last full tournament as Covid restrictions were in place last year and 2020. It will be great to see all the familiar faces both on and off the court when we open up on Saturday.

    The raspberries are almost over for this year but I have had tons and ate bowls of them for dessert every day for the last two weeks. Now I am inundated with tomatoes! Every meal contains tomatoes in some shape or form but I prefer them straight off the vine, especially the cherry tomatoes. The guy with the truck who sells corn fresh from his farm showed up last week so I have had fresh corn with almost every meal too. Well, the rain has stopped so I'd better get out there and start weeding! Have a great day, everyone.