A Busy Weekend

   I have a lamb shoulder chop braising in a tasty gravy at the moment and will shortly have it with garlic mashed potatoes and a salad. I have also been nibbling on tostitos and an avocado and salsa dip so I will be well fed tonight.

   Last night was the White Heather Ball, held in Oshawa at a Polish banquet hall. The food was fairly ethnically accurate, cabbage rolls, perogies, breaded chicken cutlets (a version of Viener Schnitzel), very filling and plenty of seconds. We had been practicing the dances for several weeks so they went well. I only sat out one dance and managed to last to the final one, "The Reel of the Royal Scots". A wonderful evening, all told.

   Today I woke up too late to head to the tennis courts, so watched the finals of the men's French Open instead. My favourite won, so I was happy with the result. The rest of the day has been spent relaxing over the newspapers as some rain this afternoon prevented me from toiling out in the garden! It's fairly mild still (20C) so no need for either heating or air conditioning. Saw some goldfinches pecking at the seeds from the forget-me-nots this afternoon, two pairs, and they hung around for some time. I bought a new bird bath last week (the other one was leaking) so the garden has become a favourite refuge for all sorts of wildlife. There was a drowned mouse in the swimming pool last Monday!

Belated News

   Tennis on Tuesday morning - It started off slowly as we had rain overnight and the courts were still very wet. Stan had come early and got Court #1 dry enough to play and we worked on Court #3 for half-an-hour and got it playable by 9:00. After that the sun came out and pretty well took over the job. I was in charge of the board but it was an easy task as people dribbled in slowly as the weather improved and I managed a couple of sets.

   I had promised Natalie I would take her dancing on Tuesday evening and showed up at her school in a thunder and hail storm. I have never seen so much water on the roads and didn't hold out much hope for the dancing. However, the storm was fairly localized and didn't hit Edwards Gardens so we headed down there around 7:00 p.m. She had learned two of the dances and we watched the others. Back to Markham around 8:30. We will try it again next week.

   I have spent most of the last three days watching tennis matches from Paris, especially the Canadian players who have, unfortunately, all now been eliminated. Today, while at Don Mills, we saw the two men's semi-final matches in between taking to the courts ourselves. It was so pleasant that I managed three sets before parking myself in front of the TV. The ladies final is tomorrow and the men's on Sunday.

  

The Heat Returns

   It is a scorcher today. The morning was quite pleasant but now I feel the humidity rising and the sun has a real bite to it. The water in the pool is not quite warm enough for a dip so, for the time being, I am hiding out indoors.

    I needed a new pump for the pool filtration system, and it was installed today - another major expense on top of the floor, the furnace and air conditioner. I have had to dip into my savings this year but, what the heck, that's what they are for!

   James here today and we had to hang around while the pool guy worked, so our routine was quite disrupted. When we did finally get out to the park, James was done quite quickly (usually he can amuse himself there for over an hour) so we came home, had an early lunch then he went for a long nap. I woke him around 3:30 so he must have been bushed, poor wee chap.

   Leftover rice and asparagus tonight, to which I will add some jumbo shrimp in a homemade tomato sauce. I picked a green onion from the garden the other day, so that can go in the sauce along with some basil, also from the garden. If it cools off this evening I plan to dig up a couple of raspberry canes to get Judy's raspberry patch started. I have been promising her some canes for quite some time and I have plenty to spare.

Garage Sale

   Judy's neighbours were having a street garage sale and she agreed to participate. However, Sunday may not have been a wise choice as customers were few and far between. I took over some stuff and managed to sell a few items. She will try again next Saturday which is usually more lucrative as far as customers go.

   I came home with less money than I had when I arrived, courtesy of Natalie's cookie sale and the lemonade stand. But the kids had fun participating in the sale. I will have a garage sale later this month and Judy will bring over whatever she has left.

   Pottered in the garden this afternoon and finished filling the pool. The guys will come back tomorrow to start up the pump, heater and filter. Then we just have to wait for the water to warm up. Right now it's only 60F! It needs to get up to 80F for us to venture in.

   Dinner tonight is salmon and asparagus, the first of the season. I will also cook some brown rice with cremini mushrooms. No dessert but I might have some fruit or yogurt later.