Monday, June 5, 2023

I had a nap late yesterday afternoon so I was still awake at two this morning. I think, if I can manage it, I’m going to stop napping in the afternoon. I’d rather drag myself off to bed early in the evening than be awake half the night.

I really intended to get out in the yard today but it was cold and windy this morning and I lost my momentum. We are going to look for someone to come and take care of the yard; we have a couple of feelers out so we’ll see what comes back. The fellow we used for the blackberries last year isn’t doing yard work anymore so we’re starting from square one again.

We went out for a walk this afternoon. It was still quite windy so we picked the Willingdon Beach Trail (aka The Mighty Machine Trail). Once we were in the trees you could hardly notice the wind. We made it to the end and back (always a good thing) – the first time on that trail since March.

I’m forcing myself to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon. Pat has a guitar lesson in a bit and then we’ll settle in for the hockey game. We are hoping for opposite teams so that makes the games a little more fun. I’m for the Golden Knights (because the goalie is from Campbell River) and Pat is for Florida. I’d be okay if Florida won as long as it is a good series; I like to catch glimpses of Luongo in the crowd.

Friday, June 2, 2023

Pat has been telling me for a week or more that my hair has started to grow back. When he first brought up the subject a month ago I said I wouldn’t believe it until I could see eyelashes. We’ll today, I can see that my eyelashes are starting to come back.

I’m getting next to nothing done with my days at home. We have walked the sea walk two days in a row. By the time that is done it is almost noon and I still seem to need an afternoon nap. By the time my nap is over and I feel human again (I don’t wake up well) most of the afternoon is gone as well.

I haven’t made a stitch of any kind since we got home. I worry that I’m getting lazy.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

My appointment this morning was short – I was in and out within 15 minutes. I apparently have mild sleep apnea so my next step is to contact the company in Comox to see what comes next. I received a letter from them asking me to contact them for Trial CPAP therapy that my physician had requested. I didn’t want to do that until I had actually heard from the doctor that I needed to.

Our other planned stop was at the garden centre. We wanted to get a gift certificate for Geoff and Brenda for looking after the house while we were gone. We had a good look around and came home with five hanging baskets, two clematis and a bag of soil. Pat hung the baskets and has already planted the clematis.

While we were out we decided to take a trip to Blueberry Commons’ farm stand. We support the cooperative by buying bonds and a few years ago we had weekly deliveries from the farm. I picked out some beets, carrots and honey and Pat picked up two pepper plants. Ron, a friend, invited us to walk through the gardens so although I didn’t actually go out for a walk I managed quite a few steps.

On the way out to the farm we stopped at Geoff and Brenda’s to drop off the gift certificate but no one was home. When we came back to town we tried again but, again, had no luck. As we were driving home we saw their car parked at their local grocery store so we turned around; we spent a few minutes at Mowat Bay to give them a chance to get home before we stopped in again and we had a short visit.

After lunch I made a rhubarb crisp. Sadly, the rhubarb came from the store as ours is looking petty spindly and sickly. I think I have resigned myself to having no luck with rhubarb; when it is in season, I’ll stock up and freeze it.

I’m feeling the effects of all my weeding yesterday so had a nap after the crisp came out of the oven.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

It is so good to be home, even if I’m not able to accomplish everything I’d like to get done in one day. It took me until this afternoon to unpack; normally that would be done in the first hour of arriving.

As expected, the yard is full of weeds but there are a few things in bloom that we didn’t miss. The laburnum is still blossoming; Pat was watching it every day before we left in hopes that there would be some flowers so I’m glad they stuck around until we got home. The lilacs are long gone but the peonies are out and lovely, and so are the roses. The boulevard is looking good if a little ragged; there is a lot of long grass but the California poppies have really spread. We’ll perhaps whack down the grass but let the poppies grow where they want to – except in the beds in the yard which they do tend to spread to.

I went out last night to see if I could see any sunflowers. One is up and doing well and I think there might be one or two more just through the ground. The bed is so dry but I watered the sunflowers last night and I’ll go out and do it again this afternoon. The rest of that bed is our sedums so they don’t mind the dryness.

I spent some time this morning weeding in that sedum bed. There is a lot of grass that grows in there, as well as some alyssum from a previous year’s planting. We moved a lot of the gladioli last year but I see there are a few coming up; since they looked healthy I kept them and we’ll move them after they flower. Pat used his new cultivator to do some weeding around the blueberries. He also trimmed the honeysuckle which was taking over and looking a bit messy. After he finished he cut the grass so now, if I look out the window or sit on the deck, the yard looks relatively cared for. There are a lot more beds that need weeding but I’ll get to them eventually.

I called this morning to make an appointment with my family doctor because it usually takes a couple of weeks to get in to see him. I wanted to follow-up on a couple of test results, as well as get some insurance papers signed. I was amazed that the first appointment was for 9:30 tomorrow morning; I spent some time this afternoon getting the insurance papers in order.

I think I’m done now for the day. I’ll sit on the deck and read until supper. I’m making my way through this current Outlander book really quickly but I know there are at least three more waiting for me. I also picked up the first book in the Lord John series from the Lodge library; I didn’t even attempt to read it at the Lodge but I snuck it home in my suitcase.