A Good Party Exhausts Me

Saturday was hot. Even so, I was tempted to light a fire because it was so cool in the house. Instead, for the first time this year, I opened all the (screened) windows and doors and I turned on all the overhead fans. Then the house interior was a perfect temperature. These huge thick logs, many having a 16” diameter, keep this house warm in Winter and cool in Summer. 

Sheba is hurting. We had only a short walk, then we went to our weekly famers’ market. It is always a bit of a thrill to go and to see the many people I recognize. It’s the heart of our island, the market, I reckon. I go to buy dog treats from Darryl (and sometimes a donut or two). But it was hot!

When I got home, the laundry that I’d hung on the line was entirely dry. It took only half an hour to dry, so when I brought in all my clothes, I washed my favourite blanket that had dirty Sheba footprints embedded in it. It, too, dried very quickly. Then I (tried to) vacuum, tidied, dusted. The vacuum wouldn’t work, and the house desperately needed vacuuming, so I took the thing apart and, miraculously, I got it working. 

Dwight called me, and it was impossible to speak. I could only say one syllable at a time, so it took forever to say a sentence. He, bless him, never betrays the slightest concern. Every time I hang up after speaking with him, I realize how much I love him.

Then it was time to cook, and I chose to start with the corn dish that I Iove so much. I opened the package of frozen corn only to find that it was frozen mixed vegetables. Damn! So off to the store for corn and thank God my van has air conditioning. It was 26° and I was baking.

By 3:00, it was 29°, and I was cooking on a hot stove! Regardless, I had to go, go go, to get everything done, but I kept calm by thinking that I’d conscript François as my sous chef when the going was destined to become very busy just before eating. By 4:00, I was done my prep and had only the table to set. Plus, I was totally beat. A rest—a good rest—was in order!

We might have eaten outside, but there were too many flying ants to make me want to haul all the outdoor furniture out of the studio. With all the doors and windows open, eating indoors is practically the same thing anyway, but there are screens to keep out the guests.

The party was great, but I forgot to serve the salad, the sauce for the chicken was a bit bitter for my taste, and the chicken was dry. However, they were all polite, and we had an enjoyable evening of conversation and laughter. Darryl is blind and I can hardly talk, so we were quite the group!

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This morning has dawned bright and sunny, and it’s predicted to be as warm as yesterday. Sigh. But it’s Sunday, my day, so nothing at all matters. Nothing interferes with me celebrating my day of relaxation—relaxation after 2 hours of washing, drying and putting away all the dishes from last night.

Soon I will Zoom with my stuttering group, and then the day of R&R will get seriously underway. I’m considering driving to the south end to visit the food truck for lunch with Her Highness. She is still not keen on walking, so an hour of wandering slowly in the park looking at all the artisans goodies and seeing kids playing will do us both good.

Camus fills this meadow and it is gorgeous!

Camus up close. The colour!

A beautiful purple ground cover also in the meadow,

Wild roses.

Bright, gorgeous, golden Buttercups are everywhere.

Thimble Berry flowers add white to the Spring banquet of colour.

One of my favourite dishes for last night. Fried corn with lime juice, 
lots of jalapeño, lime zest and lots of Manchego cheese. Yum!

With the toppings on. It makes a nice presentation.

The cake François brought for our dessert!

Big Watering!

Friday was a great day because I felt free and unencumbered. I didn’t have an appointment or a Zoom call to make, all I had to do was make the sauces, croutons and dressings I need for tonight’s dinner, and I could do everything slowly, taking lots of little breaks to go outside into the garden. 

Ron came to walk with Sheba, but she was having none of it. Her body language was clear: I am not walking! One reason may have been the heat, but I reckon something is wrong with one paw. I just can’t see a reason for it. It was 23°, however, and she hates the heat, so that may be the problem. Instead of walking, I spent a wee bit of time in the recliner in the sunshine, while Her Highness napped in the shade and on the lovely cool moss.

Then I got to watering all the beds. It now takes me an hour and a half to do a thorough watering of the yard. There are so many beds and plants scattered solo everywhere now, it takes forever to feed them all. But, oh it felt good to rise this morning and to know that all the plants are well fed in advance of today’s heat. I’ll be busy with food prep, cleaning and tidying all day, so watering last night was a great idea.

Today is likely to be hot, but the ensuing week is predicted to be perfect—not too hot, and not cool. I love a cooler but bright and sunny Summer. On Tuesday, rain is predicted. I hope that comes to pass, and that it is real rain and not just light showers.

I heard from CAYA. My computer is on its way. It will enable me to share more complex ideas with people. In speech, substitution is now a big part of my strategy. For perhaps two years, I have substituted the English pronunciation of “Can’t” for Canadian because I can’t say it the Canadian way. And I often say, “me,” instead of “I,” especially when a sentence begins with “I.” Although it’s a grammatical shit show, people understand me.

One very hard aspect of speech for me is to say words that begin with C or K, and that, sadly, included my name. When C is followed by an H and creates a CH sound (as in “chip”), I’m fine, but hard Cs and Ks are impossible for me, so I use alternate words. Words beginning with N are also difficult, so again, I try to swap words.

Today will be a busy day, and then comes the dinner party with 4 guests. Already, I am looking forward to tomorrow when I will have nothing to do. I’ll have a day of recovery after all the busyness of late with the gardening and cooking. I can hardly wait already.

Bronwyn Day

I have my appointment with the eye surgeon. It’s June 26^th. I’m sure I’ll pass and that all will be fine, but it’s slightly nerve wracking to have the potential for trouble. I’m fine with my vision as it is. It’s ‘lumpy’ due to all the floaters, but I can see just fine. That’s why I’m sure all will go well.

Her Highness did not want to walk in the morning, so we came home, and I waited for the time to start the Zoom meeting with my fellow FND patients. And what a wonderful session it was for me because I shared my Baboon mouth story. (Sadly, I appear to have picked up a Baboon’s lip smacking habit as a symptom of FND.) I’m so glad I did because as soon as I finished my story, Heather told me her story. She watches David Attenborough videos, and she loved two about Penguins. In both videos, the Penguins flap their wings together like clapping, and Heather suddenly started clapping during her seizures.

I had such a wonderful release from my anger about my lip smacking. I was really pissed at FND for making me act like a Baboon, but all my anger is gone now. I am not alone. We both were laughing about FND instead of fuming. There is such value in support groups.

Deborah, a neighbour, came by with a wheelbarrow full of plants that she’d uprooted from her garden. I happily accepted them all, and it was perfect timing because Bronwyn was coming, and she could do the planting.

It was a gorgeous day to be outdoors. It was an ideal and heavenly 18° by noon_—a perfect day. I was excited all morning about Bronwyn coming with more plants. She brought a Fatsia Japonica for the big container. (I now have 4 of them.) It will help block the view of my hot tub from David and Ursula’s view. As I tend to use the tub in my birthday suit, that is handy. And she got perennial Fuchsias for the smaller pots on the deck. While she was working, Her Highness and I went to Rollo Park to play fetch. She had declined to walk in the morning, so I was very happy that she was up for fetch. 

Our evening was soft. I was beat and just rotted on the chaise until bedtime. 

Today and tomorrow are all about prepping for tomorrow night’s dinner here with François, Eoin, Jay, and Darryl. I’m nervous and excited about having my friends over, but I’m pleased with the state of the gardens. They will look nice for the boys when they are here.

Bubbles!

Wednesday was wonderful! I awoke excited about the impending arrival of fresh clean sparkling water for the hot tub, plus the possibility of a nap in the sunshine on a bright sunny day that is still Springtime fresh. (It was 6° when I woke up yesterday.) 

As soon as the pets were fed, I was outdoors sweeping the courtyard and the deck. It’s so wonderful to be outdoors again all day. Once the sweeping was done, I had to transfer all the wood scraps from David’s yard from the wheelbarrow to a big container so that I could schlep all the detritus to the forest fall dump in the forest behind my fence. (It’s on my land, not public land.)

Then the water arrived. The driver was a very nice fellow who said, on arrival, “So this is where paradise is!” He’s just returned from 18 years living and teaching in China. When I threw on the breakers so that the tub would start heating, some crap from within the pipes shot into the pristine water. Sigh! But I will deal with that once the water is warm enough for me to get in and siphon off the all the crap.

And then it was back to work on the yard. There is a ton of weed whacking and schlepping to do, so that’s what I did until lunchtime. 

And then Ron came by to fetch Sheba and walk her, and I counted the minutes until they returned because I was dead tired. But I couldn’t rest because I had a Zoom date with Brian. We talked for 90 minutes together! It was great and we plan to do regular Zoom calls in the future. I’m so lucky that people are so accommodating of my speech.

Our call ended at 3:15. I went outside and checked on the water in the tub. It was 80° and that meant that the temperature had risen 10° in 90 minutes. I’d read the temperature at 2:00. By 6:00, it was at 95° and I was blissful in the enveloping heat at 8:30 (102°). I am so glad to be back in the bubbles!

And today is another day of excitement. Bronwyn comes around noon with more plants and to finish up some tasks I’d asked her to do. Whoopie! And one all that work is done, I turn to focusing on cooking as François, Eoin, Jay and Darryl are coming for dinner on Saturday.