Onward and Upward!

    Cooler yesterday but hot again today. We had a considerable amount of rain overnight so today was incredibly humid. I came home from tennis basically soaking! It has become quite breezy in the last hour or so - that might clear out the humidity.

   The grandkids were over yesterday and kept me busy keeping them out of mischief. At one point we walked over to my local park to pick crab apples. The trees were loaded with fruit but most of it out of reach. Judy will make crab apple jelly if there is enough fruit.

   Not much to report today. I have put aside the Hillary Mantel book as I got a new Kate Atkinson book from the library, so I spent the afternoon getting into it. It's called "One Good Turn" and is an early Jackson Brodie mystery. I saw the movie version on TV recently but the book is quite a bit different. So, no reason to be bored when I have a couple of good books on hand!

There were a few spots of rain while we were playing tennis so Kathy got out her umbrella. Hard to hit the ball with only one hand free!

Another Scorcher

    Apart from my tennis game this morning, I have basically stayed indoors as we reached 31C again today. The pool has warmed up again to almost 80C without having to use the heater so I'm happy about that. I was in three times just to cool off and bring my body temperature back to normal.

    We started tennis at 8:00 a.m. but within minutes it was already too hot. We played two sets (split again so everyone was a winner!) but I was exhausted and shaky by the time we stopped. Cathy had us over for coffee afterwards and Susan brought delicious scones with jam and cream. Not a bad way to pass the morning.

    Now, by 6:30, I have finally recovered. I spent the afternoon watching tennis from the U.S (the Canadian lost) and reading my current book, "The Mirror and the Light" by Hillary Mantel. It is almost 900 pages but quite riveting! The third book in a trilogy; it will keep me occupied for some time.

Nattering Along

    The heat is back - high of 29C today - and lovely blue skies with just a few fluffy clouds to give a bit of relief from time to time. I carried on with the painting - the  garage back door this time - and still have a little bit of paint left so I will look around for one other job to do. Then I will start with some black paint for the railings and other front porch accents. That should be it for this year. Now that I have written it, I will have to follow through!

   Things are still very undecided here about the return of school. Today it was announced that the kids will have an extra week and start the fall term on September 14. Some will be back full time. Others, half days and online learning for the other half, and classes will be smaller. Masks will be worn by all but the youngest - we'll see how that works out! I feel for the teachers who will probably be the recipients of complaints from parents and hassles from the administration. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place! I am so glad to be out of it.

   Still trying to stay ahead of the tomato glut, plus one of my tennis friends has been bringing us contributions from her garden. This week it is yellow beans. I like them but will have to eat them every day for a week!

Chilly!

    I was out this afternoon doing a little paint touch up on my porch and I felt cold for the first time since early June. Admittedly I was only in a T-shirt and shorts but I had to go in and put on a sweater and long pants. I just hope this is not a permanent change in the weather. It was warm enough in the sun and we had mostly blue skies.

   Tennis this morning; one set each so a happy outcome all round and we were allowed to stay on court past our allotted time. I have decided I really like to be able to book a court rather than just show up and hope one is free.

    Other than my paint job which took about one and a half hours, I cut both the front and back lawns. Also pulled some more weeds and picked a couple of tomatoes. And that¨s my day!