A Special Surprise

   Received my Ontario Trillium Benefit deposited in my bank account today - just once a year and a not insignificant amount. A nice surprise!

    Birthday celebrations at the tennis club today as Carol turns 90 tomorrow! And still playing tennis - she is a role model to us all! We had cake and lemonade as well as the usual coffee and it was a perfect day for tennis, sunny but not too hot or windy. Home by 12:30 and straight for a nap after lunch as I was tired after a busy morning. I've just been gardening since then (trying to tackle the weeds). It will be a quiet evening in front of the TV and early to bed.

A Long Morning

   We sat through a very long, tedious RTO meeting for three hours this morning but rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch at Boston Pizza. I had chicken quesadillas with Caesar salad - yummy! I announced at the meeting that this will be my final year as Secretary and they should start looking for someone to train to replace me. I came into the job cold and it was a very difficult first year so wouldn't wish that on anyone.

   Nasty scare yesterday - got an e-mail from the government saying they hadn't received my tax payment! My lunch buddies told me it was probably a scam but, one short phone call later, it was all cleared up. The payment had gone into the wrong account (the one I use when paying tax in installments). Not sure if it was my fault or the government. Regardless it's all sorted now and the agent who helped me was very kind and said it's not an uncommon mistake. Phew!!

   No dinner tonight as I am still stuffed - maybe soup or a sandwich later.

In the Vegetable Garden

   I have been picking leaves off the lettuce plants for the last week already, but the raspberry bed is a disaster area! Full of weeds and only a dozen canes showing any sign of growth. Berries will be very late if at all. The tomato plants have very few flowers - hope they put on a burst soon!

Most of last year's raspberry canes don't seem to have survived the winter

Plentiful Bounty

   Rhubarb cake last week and a rhubarb crumble today - maybe it's time for a batch of jam. I usually wait until the local strawberries are ready as I like the combination, but the rhubarb is coming on gangbusters.

   A bit cooler today so no swim, and we had heavy rain this afternoon. The garden benefitted from a good soaking. Luckily I had cut the grass yesterday as it will be growing like crazy again.