Catchup

    I have been very busy for the last few days but with nothing much to blog about, so thought I'd better post something. 

  Tennis is continuing but I am finding 2 hours a bit much on the hot days although we start at 8:00 a.m. I think I may have to cut back to one hour. The pool has been a blessing for cooling off afterwards. The family have been over a couple of times for a swim and Judy usually brings something to barbecue so I have had some delicious meals courtesy of them. Unfortunately today's visit was rained out  but, as the garden was in dire need of a soaking, the rain was quite welcome. The grass is quite brown in spots and the weeds are taking over!

   Next week is the tennis tournament here in Toronto and I will be working as a volunteer at the front gate, another reason to post something before that starts. Most of the top women tennis players will be here so it is quite something to see. It has been two years since the last full tournament as Covid restrictions were in place last year and 2020. It will be great to see all the familiar faces both on and off the court when we open up on Saturday.

    The raspberries are almost over for this year but I have had tons and ate bowls of them for dessert every day for the last two weeks. Now I am inundated with tomatoes! Every meal contains tomatoes in some shape or form but I prefer them straight off the vine, especially the cherry tomatoes. The guy with the truck who sells corn fresh from his farm showed up last week so I have had fresh corn with almost every meal too. Well, the rain has stopped so I'd better get out there and start weeding! Have a great day, everyone.

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!