Life's Good!

Sunday, May 25, 2025

My first week back was spend mostly on the couch, coughing and snottering and feeling pretty lousy ..
Not that I had anything to do or be, so I made my way through several e-books and took it easy.

Since they'd had quite some rain but mild temperatures over here while I was gone, the grasses and trees have exploded in their greenery and the small field at the entrance is covered in crimson clover and yellow buttercups ..

And although it's not quite summer yet and the wind especially can still be rather on the cool side, temperatures are comfortable enough to have the occasional coffee or happy hour outside ...

The (cold weather) veggies I sowed and which had sprouted before I left, did not grown much in the time I was away ... either it was still too cold or this will be a repeat of last year and nothing will ever grow much at all .. again .. sigh.

The blueberry bushes are still alive but only one has (the beginning of) berries.
They're only in their second year so they might not be mature enough to produce much this year.
I added a few more handfuls of the lime-product I bought last year to raise the PH of the soil, which is still too low for what it needs to be.

I also bought a few starters at our local plant-guy; a few tomatoes, basil, cucumber and zucchini.
It should be warm enough by now for these warmer-weather vegetables. ..

The blackberries on the property have grown at least half a meter in my absence (!) and still seem to grow a couple of inches every night, and the wild plums alongside our road are starting to look good as well!

After a day of resting on the couch, I felt just good enough on Sunday to make it to the theater for the matinee performance of Willy Wonka, which we'd already bought tickets for a while ago.
After all the only thing I had to do was get in and out of the car and sit for a couple of hours in the theater ..

It was a fun show, although a little more suited for the children in the audience (which I suspect were mostly family and friends of all the young actors that made up most of this particular cast) than for us adults.

I made it through the show alright but was grateful that this one was a little shorter than most.
My energy level was zapped very fast by just doing absolutely nothing and I was very happy to get home and be able to stretch out on the couch for a little nap ..

Fortunately I've gotten quite a bit better during these last couple of days and yesterday we decided to drive to the Grange Hall in Buell for their 'start-of-the-season' Sunday markets (although on a Saturday this one time):

We talked about going a couple of times last year but we never made it, mostly because James has gotten into the routine of golfing on Sundays.
I doubt we'll be able to go there more often this year but at least we now know how it looks like ..

Being the first one of the season it was still a little early for any vegetables and flowers to be had, which I'd actually had hoped to pick up, but we came away with 2 dozens of eggs, some tropical/jalapeno preserves and, of all things, 2 cans of pepper-spray!

We've talked about maybe getting some spray for me since I often walk by myself in remote areas, and for James as well, since he sometimes has appraisals on farms or land with big, angry looking watch-dogs.
It was an odd place to come across them but hey, there they were, priced half off, so we snatched them up!

Also in my absence they started to dismantle the red barn on the property.
It was in a bad shape, especially the concrete floor, but the metal siding and roof as well, so they decided to take everything down.

James had promised to help removing, temporary rerouting and re-installing the electric, so he spend an afternoon making a start:

As I said, I wasn't good for much this week, I felt too out of sorts and too tired to do anything, but I did manage to make some sourdough sandwich bread.
As usual, it didn't come out at all like previous ones, but it actually is a very tasty one ..