A Few Days' Catch Up

   Out for lunch again on Thursday. It was the AGM meeting of RTO and, for those attending the meeting, the lunch was free! A way to induce the members to attend the meeting. The location was the same as Tuesday - Qssis - but the meal was much improved. Salad followed by chicken or salmon with lots of veggies (I chose salmon and it was delicious). Dessert was a chocolate mousse.

   On Saturday I got all the plants, that had wintered indoors, outside for the first time. They are mostly in pots and I will plant some in the ground and leave some in pots. They have grown very tall and leggy over the winter and need to be cut back quite a bit. After some time outdoors they will adjust to the weather and will benefit from the extra sun and rain, but they don't like the wind! One other job yesterday was cutting all the dead branches from my climbing rose. This is one job for which you definitely need protective gloves! But it looks much improved now and will probably come along better for having more room to grow.

   Today started with an hour on the tennis courts. I was lucky to team up with some other ladies and we had a good set. I also got to talk to Cathy about a plant she had great success with last year. It's a begonia called Dragon Redwing, so I hopped in the car to pick some up. I decided to get two varieties, to see which one does better in a shady location. So they are now in the hanging baskets on the porch. 

   I had my first picking of rhubarb today and made some rhubarb and ginger jam with it. But the pound of rhubarb only gave me 2 1/2 jars of jam. I think I boiled it too long, but it has set well. Dinner tonight is a whole roast chicken which will provide me with, at least, three, and maybe four, meals. It's beginning to smell yummy and I have put in some potatoes to roast along with the bird. I can't wait! I got some lemon yogurt on special this week so that will be dessert.

Impatiens and pansies on the porch. There's a fern and a jade plant at the other end.

 

Fun in the Sun

   A very early start so that I could get in some tennis before heading out to lunch. I was in the car by 7:50 and arrived at the tennis courts around 8:10 - a very fast trip despite construction on York Mills. Since I was early I got the coffee started and put out the board; only two courts filled but more people arrived shortly after. Bonus -  lots of cake left over from yesterday! I had two good sets (all guys but not big hitters) and left around 10:00.

    On the road again by 10:45 after a quick shower and arrived at Qssis in time to set up the book sale table. Then checked out the plant table - this is a fundraiser we do each spring - people donate cuttings and they are sold for a buck or two. I got two ferns and a bunch of rhubarb. Not many book sales, the books are getting rather stale - all the good titles are long gone. This is another fundraiser with people donating books and/or buying what's on offer. I will have to see if I can revitalise the collection for the fall.

   The lunch was a little disappointing. A nice salad but my veal cutlet was decidedly overdone. The vegetables were OK but dessert was just sherbet in a frozen orange. Quelle domage! However, the speaker today, Lloyd Robertson of CTV news, was very entertaining and stayed for a while afterwards to sign copies of his memoir.

    Something light for dinner tonight, methinks, probably leftovers. I still have some kedgeree left and also the pork shoulder which was fall-off-the-bone tender. I could combine the two...... 

  

A Big Feast

  The weather today was ideal for a morning of tennis. I managed to play for about an hour and a half, with a few breaks. As expected, there was a humungous amount of food brought in, but I think I did it justice. I took a batch of phyllo twists from the freezer (just had to cook them at home and heat them up again before lunch). As well as hamburgers and sausages, there were several salads, couscous, pastas, veggies and dip, meatballs, and tons of cakes, fruit, watermelon and other desserts. Also there was coffee, iced tea and fruit drinks. Not much was left after the gannets descended on the tables. Everyone is so generous with their contributions and time to set up and clean up. I won a pair of tennis socks in the lucky draw!

     stopped in at Home Depot on the way home to pick up some grass fertilizer, nasturtium seeds, and weed killer spray, something to work on in my spare time. I cut the front grass this afternoon and then retired from the garden in exhaustion. Since then I have been vegging on the couch and will have a light dinner of leftovers in front of the TV. It can't get better than that!

Holiday Weekend

   Got all my chores done yesterday, along with some gardening. Today more pottering in the garden - all the plants I bought this week are in the ground now - and there is a little room left for a few extras. So far I have garlic, shallots, tomatoes, red pepper, eggplant and swiss chard. My asparagus didn't come up this year but the rhubarb is doing well and I should be able to pick some soon.

   I managed almost an hour on the tennis court today - not a big crowd again but the courts were filled by the time I left. Tomorrow there is a social at Don Mills with round robin play followed by a barbecue. We have all been asked to bring a little something in the way of food so that should make for quite a feast.