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Summer Days
Jul. 9th, 2020 07:31 pmAnother week in Covid world.
The week was pretty normal. I went to work and came home. Some supervisors have started the work-from-home process...part of me is disappointed I wasn't asked to do it in the first round, but part of me is also glad that others will be working out the kinks. It seems to be going ok so far. Work is otherwise normal. No new Covid cases that I've heard.
There's a JC Penney store on my commute home, and this week I noticed it was going out of business. Mall anchor stores are overpriced, so "50% off" really just means "Selling at a reasonable price for once", but still, sometimes you can get some really good deals. Plus the last time I actually shopped for clothes anywhere other than a thrift store was back in 2018 so I could have some clothes for my job with Princess Cruises. Since then it's been the occasional shirt or pair of pants at Target but that's it.
Can you tell I feel bad about buying myself clothes? I'm justifying it away, aren't I.
I was happy to get some nice new clothes for work, let's just leave it at that. I got some semi-professional sweaters and some nice shirts. Yisss.
At the end of last week I bought some watermelon and a container of strawberries, threw them in the blender, and made popsicles out of them. They're incredibly refreshing! Perfect, healthy summer treat :)
Saturday was the 4th of July. We didn't celebrate, I had to work and Jameson I think wasn't in the mood. But the neighborhood sounded like a war zone with all the fireworks people were setting off. It was pretty cool! Nice to know that people will still find enjoyment in these bizarre times.
Also on Saturday, I did a covid-safe plant exchange with someone from a gardening forum on facebook!
I have recently found out that the little sprouts I've been growing are the passion vine seeds I planted at the beginning of the year. Since I don't need five passion vines, I offered to deliver some to anyone in my area interested in having them. One plant went to a coworker, another to a stranger on facebook. This week I had two more people offer to take them in.
After work I drove out to one person's house to drop off a plant. I couldn't help but smile when I saw all the plants leading up to her front door. I set the plant down and saw a little from her, along with two small plants: a native milkweed seedling, and a cutting from a cranberry hibiscus! This was a really nice surprise as I hadn't expected anything in exchange for the passion vine. I picked up the plants and gave a little wave at the Ring doorbell, then started walking back to my car. She poked her head out the front door and yelled, "Thank you!" as I drove away :)
Although we didn't interact, it was a really cool little moment, two strangers sharing a little joy. Look, she even put a little butterfly to protect the milkweed <3
Over the weekend I took some time to check on my garden. Weirdly, the first sugar baby watermelon hasn't gotten any bigger. I'm trying to keep an eye on it in case it's done growing and needs to be harvested, but I'm a big over-thinker and second-guesser so that's not easy for me. The second melon, on the other hand, is actually growing faster than the first one did and they are almost the same size! Crazy.
Sadly, it was time to say good-bye to my wonderful tomato plant. I grew this plant from a seedling and it rewarded me with around one hundred cherry tomatoes. It was my very first tomato plant and I learned a lot from it, and I won't forget that. I did take two cuttings that seem to be doing well, so hopefully it will live on in those.
I also transplanted the milkweed to share a pot with my remaining passion vine, and put the cranberry hibiscus in with the tomato cuttings. We will see how they do. Cranberry hibiscus, in case you don't know (I didn't), is used to make Celestial Seasonings "Red Zinger" tea. I hope this plant will grow big enough for me to make tea out of it!
As I was eating breakfast on Wednesday, I noticed some motion in the pollinator garden. Not unusual, but it was definitely something new to me...something orange!
Turns out it was my first monarch butterfly visitor! (Or at least, the first I've seen!)
Not only that, after a few nervous passes in front of me, she let me get pretty close! I was so happy to get some stunning footage of this beautiful garden friend.
There are three videos here, two slo-mo and one regular.
I really hope she will lay eggs on the milkweed!
We have seen some hummingbirds at the feeder, but they are very elusive. I wonder if I might need to move it to a different spot a bit further away from humans. We'll see.
My other plants are doing relatively well. Just keeping an eye on everything as we get through the heat and rain.
On Wednesday afternoon I received a beautiful hand-embroidered face mask! The design is bees and lavender flowers. I will feel like a princess wearing this to work :)
In the afternoon we had a thunderstorm, then I tried to weed the front yard a little, then Jameson and I went for a walk and a dip in the pool. We ordered out for dinner since I didn't feel like cooking, and watched Game of Thrones. Jameson is just getting into it and I'm loving his reactions!
Thursday was weirdly slow and quiet. I only say that because I usually find something that I "have" to do, whether it's chores or cooking or gardening or whatever. But today, I felt like some nothing. I ate a nice breakfast and did some dishes, prepped meals, played around online. Had a lovely dip in the pool with my sweetheart. Gosh pools are the greatest.
Then I started dinner prep. Waaay back in like January I had bought some good wine for our house party, but no one was into whites that night so the bottle's been sitting on the counter for months. And with Covid I figure no one's coming over any time soon, so may as well use it. So I cracked open our trusty Dude Diet Dinnertime cookbook and found a recipe for summer farro risotto with sweet corn, tomatoes, basil, and bacon. Cooked in a white wine reduction ;)
After dinner Jameson had to teach a class, and while he did that I practiced steno and prepped for work tomorrow.
We are getting to the middle of a 31-day month, meaning I've got an extra day off! (I've been giving myself a Sunday around the middle of every other month, just to enjoy. What else is PTO for??)
I don't have any huge plans other than cooking a citrus chicken recipe I found, maybe more pool time, and just appreciating the additional day. Maybe if I'm lucky there will be butterflies in the garden again :)
The week was pretty normal. I went to work and came home. Some supervisors have started the work-from-home process...part of me is disappointed I wasn't asked to do it in the first round, but part of me is also glad that others will be working out the kinks. It seems to be going ok so far. Work is otherwise normal. No new Covid cases that I've heard.
There's a JC Penney store on my commute home, and this week I noticed it was going out of business. Mall anchor stores are overpriced, so "50% off" really just means "Selling at a reasonable price for once", but still, sometimes you can get some really good deals. Plus the last time I actually shopped for clothes anywhere other than a thrift store was back in 2018 so I could have some clothes for my job with Princess Cruises. Since then it's been the occasional shirt or pair of pants at Target but that's it.
Can you tell I feel bad about buying myself clothes? I'm justifying it away, aren't I.
I was happy to get some nice new clothes for work, let's just leave it at that. I got some semi-professional sweaters and some nice shirts. Yisss.
At the end of last week I bought some watermelon and a container of strawberries, threw them in the blender, and made popsicles out of them. They're incredibly refreshing! Perfect, healthy summer treat :)
Saturday was the 4th of July. We didn't celebrate, I had to work and Jameson I think wasn't in the mood. But the neighborhood sounded like a war zone with all the fireworks people were setting off. It was pretty cool! Nice to know that people will still find enjoyment in these bizarre times.
Also on Saturday, I did a covid-safe plant exchange with someone from a gardening forum on facebook!
I have recently found out that the little sprouts I've been growing are the passion vine seeds I planted at the beginning of the year. Since I don't need five passion vines, I offered to deliver some to anyone in my area interested in having them. One plant went to a coworker, another to a stranger on facebook. This week I had two more people offer to take them in.
After work I drove out to one person's house to drop off a plant. I couldn't help but smile when I saw all the plants leading up to her front door. I set the plant down and saw a little from her, along with two small plants: a native milkweed seedling, and a cutting from a cranberry hibiscus! This was a really nice surprise as I hadn't expected anything in exchange for the passion vine. I picked up the plants and gave a little wave at the Ring doorbell, then started walking back to my car. She poked her head out the front door and yelled, "Thank you!" as I drove away :)
Although we didn't interact, it was a really cool little moment, two strangers sharing a little joy. Look, she even put a little butterfly to protect the milkweed <3
Over the weekend I took some time to check on my garden. Weirdly, the first sugar baby watermelon hasn't gotten any bigger. I'm trying to keep an eye on it in case it's done growing and needs to be harvested, but I'm a big over-thinker and second-guesser so that's not easy for me. The second melon, on the other hand, is actually growing faster than the first one did and they are almost the same size! Crazy.
Sadly, it was time to say good-bye to my wonderful tomato plant. I grew this plant from a seedling and it rewarded me with around one hundred cherry tomatoes. It was my very first tomato plant and I learned a lot from it, and I won't forget that. I did take two cuttings that seem to be doing well, so hopefully it will live on in those.
I also transplanted the milkweed to share a pot with my remaining passion vine, and put the cranberry hibiscus in with the tomato cuttings. We will see how they do. Cranberry hibiscus, in case you don't know (I didn't), is used to make Celestial Seasonings "Red Zinger" tea. I hope this plant will grow big enough for me to make tea out of it!
As I was eating breakfast on Wednesday, I noticed some motion in the pollinator garden. Not unusual, but it was definitely something new to me...something orange!
Turns out it was my first monarch butterfly visitor! (Or at least, the first I've seen!)
Not only that, after a few nervous passes in front of me, she let me get pretty close! I was so happy to get some stunning footage of this beautiful garden friend.
There are three videos here, two slo-mo and one regular.
https://instagram.com/p/CCYqvHwMYBV
I really hope she will lay eggs on the milkweed!
We have seen some hummingbirds at the feeder, but they are very elusive. I wonder if I might need to move it to a different spot a bit further away from humans. We'll see.
My other plants are doing relatively well. Just keeping an eye on everything as we get through the heat and rain.
On Wednesday afternoon I received a beautiful hand-embroidered face mask! The design is bees and lavender flowers. I will feel like a princess wearing this to work :)
In the afternoon we had a thunderstorm, then I tried to weed the front yard a little, then Jameson and I went for a walk and a dip in the pool. We ordered out for dinner since I didn't feel like cooking, and watched Game of Thrones. Jameson is just getting into it and I'm loving his reactions!
Thursday was weirdly slow and quiet. I only say that because I usually find something that I "have" to do, whether it's chores or cooking or gardening or whatever. But today, I felt like some nothing. I ate a nice breakfast and did some dishes, prepped meals, played around online. Had a lovely dip in the pool with my sweetheart. Gosh pools are the greatest.
Then I started dinner prep. Waaay back in like January I had bought some good wine for our house party, but no one was into whites that night so the bottle's been sitting on the counter for months. And with Covid I figure no one's coming over any time soon, so may as well use it. So I cracked open our trusty Dude Diet Dinnertime cookbook and found a recipe for summer farro risotto with sweet corn, tomatoes, basil, and bacon. Cooked in a white wine reduction ;)
After dinner Jameson had to teach a class, and while he did that I practiced steno and prepped for work tomorrow.
We are getting to the middle of a 31-day month, meaning I've got an extra day off! (I've been giving myself a Sunday around the middle of every other month, just to enjoy. What else is PTO for??)
I don't have any huge plans other than cooking a citrus chicken recipe I found, maybe more pool time, and just appreciating the additional day. Maybe if I'm lucky there will be butterflies in the garden again :)
