The first day of August, the summer is speeding by us!
Last night was cool, a low of 12C. After having the windows open all day yesterday, it was still very warm in the house when we retired for the night, 25C. Our little house does not cool down overnight, so we closed all the windows and turned on the heat pump, to bring the temperature down a few degrees, to make it easier to get a good night’s rest. First thing this morning I turned off the heap pump, and opened up all the windows, to enjoy another beautiful mild summer day.
Last night Attila brought in a handful Scarlet Runner beans, and two small pickling cucumbers. The garden is not producing a lot right now, it will be a few days before the small harvests accumulate enough produce to can. Attila loves Dilly Beans, and there should be an ample supply of beans from the garden to can quite a few jars for this winter. I doubt there will be many jars of cucumber dill pickles though. If the autumn is long and mild we might get a bigger harvest, this remains to be seen. Everything in the garden is late, weeks late.
So far we are eating most of what the garden has to offer fresh. We are our last green salad for dinner last night, the lettuce is spent. The zucchini is coming in slow, it has been added raw to our salads, and been an ingredient in zucchini raisin muffins. There are only six jars of pickles canned.
The new view from my window is becoming familiar, and I am discovering things to like about it. This morning a robin hopped across the rooftop next door, tufts of grass and organic manner in their beak. More nests are apparently being built. A little later a mourning dove rested on that rooftop peak, enjoying the panoramic view of the the clear sky and distant trees.
Where once there fluttered leaves of green,
and dappled sunlight danced,
flat asphalt vistas meet the eye,
below the blue expanse.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Tue, Aug 1 at 8:45 AM
14°C
FEELS LIKE 14
A few clouds
Wind 7 N km/h
Humidity 84 %
Visibility 20 km
Sunrise 5:54 AM
Wind gust 10 km/h
Pressure 102.2 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 8:32 PM
Quote
“To the soul, there is hardly anything more healing than friendship.”
Thomas Moore
1779 – 1852
Maggie, like you I find it so very satisfying to eat what we grow. I do admire how you manage to make such good use of everything. Our garden is late this year too due mostly to a very wet June. I just steamed juice 10 pints of red currants for jelly, the best year we’ve had for them. That June rain gave all the berries a boost. Given the severe forest fires and flooding in Nova Scotia this summer, we were very lucky that they didn’t affect us.
My little flower garden has definitely ha a slow start this year. I’m hoping we have a warmer Autumn so there’ll be a little more time to enjoy the flowers. Your veggies sound wonderful!
Sandy, so it isn’t just here that the plants are off to a slow start, better late than never. I am all for a long mild autumn, and an extended season for flowers (and vegetables)! We do love the vegetables, there are plenty for eating raw, thank goodness.
Sandra, things are late there too! Every year is different with the weather, and therefore the garden, including the insect and animal populations. Red Current Jelly, it sounds delicious!
I thought about you with the fires and flooding, so very glad they didn’t affect you!! Mother Nature is certainly making herself felt all over the planet, We are feeling very lucky here, as the only truly extreme event was the really bad air quality from the Quebec forest fires, I’d never experienced anything like it.
I’m glad you’re able to enjoy the birds, even though the tree isn’t there any more. Keep comfy!
Thanks Joan, I do enjoy the birds, so glad they have decided the neighbour’s roof is a good perch! The weather has been hot, but not unreasonably hot, nothing at all really compared to what you have been experiencing!! Most days I can sit outside and enjoy the mornings on the porch, afternoons I work indoors. Keep cool!
Aw! I just tried to post 2 pics of our new patio but neither of them attached. Maybe the pictures were large and so they uploaded too slowly?
Teri, that is too bad, would have loved to see those photos. I hope you are enjoying your new patio, it sounds lovely. Actually where you live sounds lovely too, close to such beautiful views!
Okay, 2 picture failures. Let’s see if this one works…
And a close up of the new stamped patio. I had to compress the pics down. They were just too big.
Teri, nice!! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Your new patio looks like the perfect place to relax and enjoy the summer weather. Your house looks lovely and cozy!
Thanks, Maggie! We really, really like the house. We just wish we could move it closer to a beach. We really enjoyed the walk to the beach at the cottage and being able to walk the beach itself. Can’t do that anymore, due to the arduous climb down and back up the bluffs. But the house is great.