The sun is shining today, at last! The weekend offered very dreary weather, cold, below freezing at night, cloudy, rainy, and extremely windy. It is still windy and cold, but the sun is brightly shining. We are loving it.
Today Attila is reassembling the welding face shield, as we are gearing up for the grocery store pickup challenge. We had to wait days to get a time slot, in March, and it is likely we will not have another go at getting groceries until the middle of May, or later, so I have made this order a big one. Then there is the added challenge that the items you indicate you would like might not be there at all when the grocery store employee fills your cart, so what you get could potentially fall way short of what one would need to last four weeks or so. I order a bit more than we actually need, so that when items I have ordered are deleted from my grocery list as unavailable, I will end up with something. Online shopping is a hit or miss experience, but it is the only option.
Today I am going to mill flour, it is time to make bread again. The bread will be baked tomorrow or the next day, as milling flour is an all day affair.
When the flour has been milled, the steam juicer will come out of storage, to make vegetable broth from the accumulated vegetable scraps in the freezer. That project always feels great, because the bulky scraps are cleared out all at once, making it much easier to find other items in the freezer.
The temptation to venture out onto the porch is strong, the bright day is so inviting. Attila was out working in the garden, and he assures me this is not a day to sit out on the porch. So I will satisfy myself by sitting in the pool of sunshine that beams onto my chair in the living room. Because the blue skies are such a novelty right now, the indoor sun bathing will suffice.
Life is stirring in the garden. All the radishes have come up, and the rhubarb is about four inches tall now. The Heliopsis is poking up, and the stalks on Granny’s Rose are greener with each passing day. The leaves on the strawberries, that were transplanted into the new second Hugelkultur bed, are unfurling.
Our yard, which consists of garden beds and a native plant “lawn”, is only green in certain spots, where the earlier native plants are coming up. But the neighbours surrounding us, who have drug addicted grass yards, are showing off vibrant green lawns. Their yards have received weed killer and chemical fertilizers over the last week, just before the welcome rains.
Our provincial state of emergency was extended today, until May 12, 2020. It might be extended again, one does not know how things will evolve, we can only hope for the best. Attila and I are surviving our time of “staying home to flatten the curve”. I am just beginning to notice that I haven’t been out and about since February 27th, just over 6 weeks of self-isolation. I am really looking forward to the arrival of milder weather. When it arrives I will be out on the back porch again!
Worldly
Weather
5°C
Date: 6:00 PM EDT Tuesday 14 April 2020
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.6 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 5.1°C
Dew point: -7.2°C
Humidity: 41%
Wind: SW 23 gust 40 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!”
Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862
Our skies are clean again, because we live in interesting times, the Chinese curse is upon us.
The sun and warmer weather does make me feel hopeful. I have a balcony where I plant flower seeds each year. I also have geraniums that I overwinter. I can’t wait to get the “garden” set up so I can sit out there in my little chair. One of my neighbors takes a walk almost every day. She has a mask. She told me when she sees someone coming toward her in the distance she pulls her mask up and crosses the street. When she’s a block past the person, she pulls her mask down.
I have the same issue with ordering groceries. Not getting what I ordered is something that started happening after the virus and people hoarding. I over order and always specify a substitute. Last time I ordered, there was only 1 item I didn’t get. But the time before I was missing 50%.
Around here, people with the chemical lawns never seem to walk on the grass, sit outside etc.
I hope it warms up soon so you can sit on the porch!
Hugs,
Sandy
Sandy, your little garden oasis sounds lovely! My mom had geraniums, I am thinking about them now.
Your neighbour’s technique of social distancing sounds like a good strategy. I really must get busy making that mask for myself 🙂
I am hoping that the grocery stores get better at the online order and pick-up/delivery to vehicle process, there really isn’t anything better than being able to browse the store and pick your own items.
We seldom see our neighbours out with the natural parts of their yards, they are in their ot tubs and pools mostly. We just have our garden, suits us fine.
I think it won’t be too long before I’ll be able to sit on the porch, and you on your balcony.
Stay safe dear friend, hugs, Maggie
Hello! Well, we’ve lucked into a nice sunny day here again – but it’s very cold. I think for the last few weeks that we’ve had pretty much an even number of sunny and cloudy days which I like much better than the constant cloud cover.
We’ll be heading back to the house on Friday. DH’s son jas been watching our mail for these weeks and that’s long enough of inconveniencing him. COVID has now found it’s way to the cottage area and there’s no value in staying here any longer. (Well, except that it feels like we’re on vacation when we’re here.)
I’ll be so glad when we finally have some consistent warmth To go with this sunshine!
Stay safe, you two!
Hello Teri! The constant cloud cover is a wet blanket in so many ways! Glad it is sunny there, we have partly sunny, which is OK, and it is also cold here.
Have a safe journey home. You will be there just in time for the warmer weather to show up, which is nice because being outdoors is a tonic, even if it is only as far as the deck or yard.
Stay safe dear friend!
I hope the weather improves soon for you so that you can enjoy that porch and your garden…. (Stay safe!) <3
Joan, thanks! We are really looking forward to warmer weather, but not hot weather, we have fussy fantasies 🙂
Stay safe dear friend!
We’re very lucky to have three major grocery stores and a Shopper’s (and an LCBO!) within a ten-minute walk. Lineups not too bad mostly, although it’s quizzical that when people 2 metres ahead of you move forward, you simply move into the space they just vacated. Better than nothing, I guess.
Glad you are managing so well with your much greater challenges. Take care, both.
Steve-Paul, you are in a very handy location! The walking is good for the health too, we travel by car, so our only exercise is from the vehicle to the store door, or as in the case of Canadian Tire, to the back of the car to open the trunk, lol.
It is hard to believe that 2 metres helps much, but as you say, better than nothing, and what can you do about it but hope for the best. At least we have an excellent chance of having “minor” symptoms, or being asymptomatic, even 80 year olds have an 80% chance of survival, and I can tell you my 89 year old Mom is very glad to hear that statistic!!
Stay safe dear friend!
Hello Maggie, and all: Mike had cleaned out the fire place, and storaged all of the tools. He realizes now that he did this chore “too quickly” this year, and has made a mental note to wait until after Easter next year.
Still cool…but, we should be back in the 80’s next week. I love Spring, as I love Fall. I made a dozen “ hobo burgers”, to put in the freezer….a flatten ground beef patty on a piece of foil…then potatoes, carrots, and onions..salt/pepper….rolled up and baked. I let them cool, and then in the freezer they go. They are filling and we both enjoy them. A good fast meal that I just have to remember to bring them out of the freezer the night before. So handy, when I am involved in other projects…not to have to cook. I had hoped to have my gardening guy here this Saturday,but, once again, rain is forecasted. So I will have to wait again.
Mike will go to “SENIOR DAY” in the morning to the grocers. We are only needing a few items. People here are continuing to stock up and leave shelves empty for many items, but we have managed fine. We are lucky that it is just us two. Attila’s niece was in the worried group at her age. Not a lot going on here….very quiet; rather peaceful. Take care. xxoo Margarett
Hello Margarett. Cleaning the fireplace is a big job! I did it annually, usually at the end of May, as it was often close to freezing some nights right up until the end of May where lived, at our country house. We have an air source heat pump now, and a furnace with a thermostat, which is a lot less work; the heat isn’t as nice though, as the heat from a wood fire.
Your hobo burgers sound great. Do you cook them before you freeze them? If they are cooked when frozen, how to you heat them up for dinner? I am keen to try this!
We haven’t been in the stores for five weeks now, and so we don’t know what the shelves look like. The online ordering is skimpy, many items are not available, no flour, no yeast, none of the sparkling soda I enjoy from time to time, some items are essentials and some are luxuries. There isn’t a lot to choose from for online shopping for pickup. I wonder if that means those items are not in the store, or if it means they are there but not added to the online offerings. Impossible to tell.
Quiet and peaceful, that does describe things around here too!
Stay safe dear friend!
Hi Maggie: yes, I cook the hobo burgers before freezing them. Usually about 60-90 minutes at 325 degrees. The veggies make them pretty fat, so when you pull them together in the foil, they are not closed- up as a
Roll. I pour off all the fat/ juices, then freeze. When ready to reheat, defrost, remove the foil, and heat in microwave for 3-4 minutes. Or, you could leave in the foil, and reheat in oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. I like ketchup…mike likes Hines 57. A small salad, and some good rolls or bread, and they are delicious. As a child, Mama always took a big batch, already cooked, stored in ice chest, and would heat them up on the campfire. Oh my, they were so good! With all of us kids, she could also cook a full breakfast, including homemade biscuits, over-a campfire, when we were traveling. Great memories. We always traveled during June…that is when Daddy took his annual leave from the Air Force. I remember usually sleeping in boarding houses, then Mama would fix our meals at camp grounds. Life was so much simpler then. I am afraid my children stayed in hotels, and we had room service when we traveled. My childhood memories cannot be replicated. Take care.
Xxoo. Margarett
Thanks for the details on the hobo burgers Margarett! Attila thinks they sound delicious, so I see them in our future menu planning. Your travel adventures sound warm and wonderful, good times!
Stay safe dear friend!