Victoria Day

   Tennis this morning - it was the Don Mills Victoria Day social and the traffic was very light. I got there quite early and played three short sets before lunch. It was delicious as usual (for just $2), BBQ chicken, two kinds of salad, green and Greek, rice and a bean, corn and chickpea salad. Also pita and humus. Desserts were scrumptious, especially a chocolate brownie of which I had three pieces. There was lots left over so I hope we have it at Kaffeklatsch tomorrow.

   Did a bit of gardening this afternoon but it was so hot and humid I came in after half-an-hour to cool off. It was a two-shower day today! I am trying to tidy up the back yard before the guys come on Friday to open the pool. Not before time! I could have done with a swim today.

   Leftover stew for dinner but right now I am not in the least bit hungry. I will wait until later to eat.

Bleeding Hearts - always the first perennial to appear. I must put in another one.

 

All that's left of the climbing rose but I did spot one bud. Maybe it will come back to all its former glory!

 

Early days for the Dragon Redwing begonias. They should fill the baskets with blooms soon.

Sunny and Warm

   An hour and a half of tennis this morning with Kathy, Susan and Iona. I was on the losing side for the first set and the winning side for the second. Iona was the big winner as she was on the winning side both times. Of course, she's younger than the rest of us. But I was pleased to be able to play two sets. Then home to watch the final of the Rome tournament - the Joker won, Roger not playing at the top of his game.

   Cut the back grass this afternoon and tidied the garden a bit. It's looking good and I have the hanging baskets out as the weather is set for warm for the next few days. The vegetables are well established so should start to take off soon. It's almost time to pick some rhubarb but I'll give it a few more days of sun and heat.

    Another "Outlander" episode tonight! Can't wait.

A Loss in the Garden

    I had planned to have the leftover lentil and quinoa soup/stew I bought yesterday, for dinner tonight, but I was invited out to Judy's to babysit and they had ordered in a pizza so I was tempted. I very rarely have pizza but this one, from Regiano's, was particularly good.

   The grandkids were really well-behaved and I had them all in bed before 9:00 p.m. Elliot even got me set up with my favourite Saturday night TV show before he headed for bed - such a good boy! He told me jokes and read some fascinating facts from his magazine to amuse me, instead of my reading him a bedtime story. He's too old for that although the other two still like one.

   It was a lovely day today - quite hot in fact - but I found my climbing rose had suffered badly over the winter and so I had to cut back all the dead wood. That was hot work! There are a few new shoots coming in at the base so I can only hope it recovers.

A Little Blip

   Fell off the food wagon today! I had a coupon for Panera Bread, a new store at The Shops at Don Mills. As I was down that way anyway at tennis, and the coupon expired today, I decided that would be my lunch. I got a broth bowl, lentil and quinoa, which was soupy but tasty and had kale wilted in it, and, the free part, a half salad, quite substantial and VERY tasty. It had a lettuce and tomato base, some bacon bits and blue cheese, a hard-boiled egg and a substantial amount of avocado. I only ate half of each although I did dig through the salad for all the bacon bits, cheese and avocado! I will have the rest with a salmon fillet for dinner tonight, poached and smothered with a mustard sauce.

   It was very cool at tennis and, as I was court monitor, I didn't get to play much so was quite blue around the lips by noon.Thank goodness there was plenty of coffee to warm us up. Let's hope that's the last of the cool weather. It's raining now but I did manage to pot up my hanging baskets in between showers. I have filled them with Dragon Redwing begonias which I used last year with considerable success. Pictures to follow.