Chaos!

    I was going to title this post "Problem NOT Solved" but, miraculously, today I was able to sign in on the first try. Fingers crossed this continues to be the case.

    The chaos in the title didn't occur to me personally but did affect me. It happened at the Senior's Centre where I volunteer in the kitchen on Wednesdays, dispensing tea, coffee and the occasional meat pie. It's usually an easy job and, in fact, I always bring a book to read during quiet spells.

   Today a barbecue was planned and fifty people had bought tickets. When it came time to start cooking the burgers, the outdoor gas BBQ wouldn't at first turn on and then refused to heat up. I think it had been tested beforehand but hadn't actually been used since before the pandemic. So a battalion of cooks descended on the kitchen and proceeded to fry, bake or microwave the burgers while an impatient group of seniors muttered and griped in the background!

    Finally everyone was fed although there were lots of complaints and blame going around but the worst part for me was the state of the kitchen when all was said and done. The clean up crew beat a hasty retreat and I was left with a messy stove and umpteen greasy platters. On the plus side, there was leftover salad which I purloined and will have for dinner tonight! My reward for not complaining about the extra work, I guess.

Problem Solved

    I seem to have fixed the vexing problem of not being able to sign in to Blogger. It was something called "HTTPS redirect" that had somehow gotten turned off.  So now I can comment on other blogs and reply on my own blog as myself instead of being anonymous. Yippee!

    Still hot here but overcast with the promise of some rain. I hope it materializes. It's still in the upper 20's but quite comfortable indoors, thank goodness. On Wednesdays I usually walk over to the senior's centre for my fitness class and volunteering in the kitchen, but, today, because of the heat and the threat of a thunder storm (which never did arrive), I took the car. I'm glad I did as I was home by 3:00 p.m. in time for a nap and a swim. I haven't been sleeping well because of the heat ( the upstairs bedrooms are always hotter) and have needed a nap most afternoons.

    I'm hoping that tomorrow I will be able to survive the two hours on the tennis courts and not let my friends down by quitting early. We will start at 8:00 a.m. and drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Wish me luck!

Trying to Stay Comfortable.

   Extremely hot today - I only managed just over an hour of tennis although we started at 8:00 a.m. I had to bow out at that point and the others stopped then too. Back home for a refreshing swim and, after a well deserved coffee, got out the hose. Lots of flowers blooming in the garden which I have to keep well watered. I have two shades of phlox in the rockery. I stayed indoors until later in the afternoon when I did a bit of weed-pulling. Then I needed another swim!

The bees and butterflies are busy around the echinacea and bee balm. At 7:00 p.m. it is still very hot and humid but at least now we have some cloud cover. It would be nice if it rained!

Bounty from the Garden

     Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but I have been picking kale and rhubarb for the last two weeks and today I got this:

This will be dessert tonight. There are still lots coming.

These are rather tart so I will stew, sweeten and  strain them to get rid of the seeds.

The cherry tomatoes are looking almost ready to pick but I will give them another few days.

This little guy was out munching on the clover the other morning and let me get quite close for a photo before hopping under the raspberry bushes. I think he is pretty well fed in my garden!