Simcoe Day

    Up early to make sausage rolls for today's holiday social at the tennis courts. I also took the spinach and faro salad that I brought home from yesterday's volunteer party. I didn't get to try it - it was all gone before I got to the buffet table. However, there was enough food to feed an army so I had plenty of tasty stuff - and delicious desserts! It was pretty hot on the courts but I played three sets, one some, lost some - oh, well!

    I did a bit of gardening after I got home and had a swim, and then spent the rest of the afternoon finishing my library book - "The Taming of a Queen" by Phillippa Gregory. Its subject is Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry Vlll. Although it's a novel, it sticks pretty closely to the actual historical facts and I enjoyed it. There's another book waiting for me at the library so I will pick it up tomorrow.

    After the big lunch I just needed a light dinner so I had half of a turkey ciabatta sandwich which also came home from the volunteer party. I toasted the bun, added some roasted red pepper and had it with some cherry tomatoes and a peach. Very tasty!

  

  

A New Perennial

   I put this new plant in my garden this Spring and it has come on gangbusters. It's called "Bee Balm" and is supposed to attract bees, butterflies and other good insects to the garden. I plan to move it next Spring as it's in rather an unattractive spot and may be able to split it to give me a second plant.

A Surfeit of Tennis

   I have been absent for the last few days as I have been busy volunteering at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at York University. As well as my six hour shifts I have had to battle traffic there and back with roadworks and traffic jams to contend with. It makes for a long day.

    It has been extremely hot but, thankfully, the ticket takers are in the shade. I tried to sit in the stadium to watch a match on Monday but only lasted 40 minutes! Now I am watching at home. Today was my first day off since Saturday and I am on every day from tomorrow until Sunday. I will try to post some photos after that.

    One good thing is we get at least one free meal each day we work so I haven't had to do much cooking this week - I am still eating leftovers from the weekend! I made a pot of soup this afternoon and stewed some plums for dessert and that will be my backup if I come home hungry.

Yikes! It's Hot!!

Yes, you read it correctly - 40C or 104F was the high today and it's still 35C according to the local news. I have been hiding indoors all afternoon (went for a swim half an hour ago but only stayed out until I was dry - 5 minutes!

    I went to tennis really early and was on the court by 8:15 but it was already hot. I played three times with long rests in the air-conditioned lounge in between, and was home again by 11:00 a.m. I have to admit to not playing very hard - my main aim was to get each game finished quickly and get off the baking surface of the court as fast as possible. I think everyone else felt the same but there was a surprisingly big turnout with people continuing to arrive even as I left!

    A quick immersion in the pool when I got home helped to bring my body temperature down and I spent most of the afternoon either reading or watching the tennis from Washington D.C. How they play at such an intense level in this heat is beyond me.

   My favourite snack tonight - bruschetta with loads of garlic and parmesan cheese on my homemade baguette  - the tomato was the first one from my tomato plants - and I picked some rhubarb to make a crumble for dessert. I am having a light meal, probably involving mushrooms and eggs, as tomorrow is shopping day and I have things in the fridge to use up. The heat continues!