Sunny Days Were Here Again!

Once again, I write this as the weekend is waning and the workweek is looming closer. As always, I wish it was reversed but, unfortunately, I have no figured out a way to reverse time.

Nevertheless, as weekends go, this has been a nice one. We managed to have 2.5 days with both rain and sunshine. It was a welcome treat. I even managed to get my lawn mowed on Friday night as well as do a little weeding. It's a welcome treat to wind up a productive week with a productive evening outside that culminates in sitting back at the end of it all with a class of wine and sitting outside, smelling the freshly cut grass.

Wine seemed to be the order of the weekend. I spent Saturday with a friend in the little town where I used to live before I bought my house. They were having their annual wine tasting and arts festival. All of the wineries were local to Ohio so it was nice to sample some different blends. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and I think I honoured in the best way possible: drinking wine, sitting outside and spending it with good company.

Even though I ended up sunburned, it was worth every bit of pink flesh. Besides, being British, it's not like it's a shocker. Even if I did put on the 45 spf sunscreen, I still manage to burn. Tis the nature of being fair skinned.

Today, I took advantage of the sunshine this morning and the pups and I got an early start. We took a long walk around the neighbourhood at the very beginning of our day. I love doing that: The dew is still fresh on the grass and most people aren't out and about. It's peaceful. There were, however, a very large number of squirrels out and about foraging for thier breakfast. Sookie and Rory were delighted by this. Sometimes, I'm amazed by the squirrels' dexterity- one manage to run and climb up a tree while holding on to some type of metal can. It was quite interesting to watch.

After our walk, we spent the rest of the morning outside. While weeding is an uphill battle, I did manage to clear an area big enough to plant my zucchini and tomato plants. I also managed to get my herb garden cleared of weeds and plant a few more seeds.

Unfortunately, it was very hot. It's the type of heat and humidity that builds up before a huge thunderstorm. Eventually, it became too much to work outside and the pups and I retreated indoors where it was cooler.

The thunderstorm just arrived. We're having a torrential downpour at present and the thunder is booming away. Even though it means more rain, I don't mind this time. I'm a big fan of thunderstorms like this and it's somewhat soothing to hear it clatter away.

We're supposed to have more storms tonight. It seems like a good way to wind up a weekend. Even though I'd much prefer sitting outside with my glass of wine, there's nothing that says that can't be an indoor activity.

Besides, even though tomorrow means another workweek has begun, I really can't complain. It's a short week for me. I'm off to New York on Friday to spend the weekend with my friend Saz. It's been 20 years of friendship for us and I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

And next week is also a short work week too so, really, I can't complain that this weekend is going too fast when next week is a four-day weekend for me.

It's just that I enjoy weekends so much...but then, who doesn't?

Happy Monday!

Oddly Productive Evenings...

I've had a strangely productive evening so far and I'm not even sure how I managed it. I'm actually surprised I even had the energy given that, last night, we had thunderstorms that rumbled through the night. The puppies aren't afraid of storms, per se, but they were restless and had trouble settling down. This meant I woke up a lot as they moved, mostly trying to get closer to me. It's nice that I'm their security blanket although it would be nicer if I weren't trying to sleep.

Nevertheless, after a quite busy day at work- one of those where you plan a quiet day of working on a project and it decays into multiple 'rush' projects that all have to be juggled but not in any type of orderly fashion because, at any given moment, you're going to be interrupted- I thought I'd feel like coming home and doing nothing.

Instead, I managed to go to the library to pick up an audiobook to listen to as I drive to my parents' again this weekend. I'm going to listen to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a treat. I just finished listening to Henry James' Turn of the Screw. It's one of those books I've always meant to read but never go around to so when I saw the audiobook...I grabbed it.

Is it wrong to say I disliked Mr. James' classic novel rather a lot? I know it's lead to a lot of critical essays', theses, discussions and the like as to whether the governess is insane or really seeing ghosts but, well, frankly, I thought it was a bit overrated. One of my biggest pet peeves is that the novel begins somewhere with a man who's going to read the story. It's a long beginning, a dragged out lead-in to the actual story. When it begins, you get to hear a gothic, supernatural sort of tale that doesn't end with as much of a twist as I was hoping. Also, I was thinking if Mr. James began with a narrator of sorts, shouldn't he end it the same way? If so, why bother with the whole long, somewhat dull introduction at all?

Anyway, I didn't care for it. That's my two cents. I decided Harry Potter was a safer choice because who doesn't love it when Jim Dale reads to them, particularly when it's my favourite of the Harry Potter novels.

Anyway, after the library, I ran to the supermarket since I invited a coworker/friend to dinner on Thursday and needed some supplies- particularly a bottle of wine since she doesn't like red as I do- she's a white/blush drinker. After that, I came home and uncrated the puppies which always take a while as we have to greet each other quite excitedly- I'm just as pleased to see them as they are to see me- and we ran around outside for a bit. Then I managed to rid my garden, temporarily, I'm afraid, of the dreaded burdock weeds that are taking over. We've had so much rain, they're the size of my head- no kidding. They're evil weeds- growing so big they obscure the actual flowers and so deeply rooted that it's almost impossible to dig the roots up. Nevertheless, for now, they're gone. Also, they're non-toxic and the puppies love them so they managed to dispose of some of them for me. They tend to rip them to pieces with their teeth but not actually eat them. It's quite useful actually.

We followed that up by making dinner. I decided to make steak skewers with gvegetables on the grill. I had marinated the meat in a blend of soy sauce and yuzu sauce- which is an asian citrus marinade/dressing I saw on Iron Chef America and had to try for myself. The yuzu was a fantastic marinade and the steak had a tangy flavour that was actually quite delicious. The skewers themselves were nice too- I used mushrooms, zucchini, cippolini onions, red peppers and red potatoes. I even remembered to soak the skewers so they wouldn't burn. I have to say, it's probably my most successful grilling attempt yet.

I followed up dinner with some more cooking preparations. I'm making split pea with ham soup tomorrow in the crockpot so I needed to prepare my mirepoix (soup base). It's ready to go now.

After clearing up and running the vacuum around, I think I'm actually ready to stop being productive for a while. Fortunately, I have Lost and Glee to watch tonight on TV which is why Tuesdays are my favourite TV night. Although I have to admit, now that Glee is now trendy, I fear it's starting to believe its own hype and it's losing the charm that made me love it. I'm hoping it's temporary. It's still better than most things on TV now though so I'll be watching it anyway.

Ironically, I'm still not terribly tired yet. I'm trying to figure out where this energy is coming from. I had one cup of coffee all day and virtually no sugar unless you count the starlight peppermints I eat at my desk. I'm a little curious as to why I'm so energetic. It's actually a little alarming.

However, ot's nice that it's time to sit down and enjoy the rest of the evening. I just hope that I don't crash halfway through Lost.

I do have a feeling that I'll sleep tonight...I just hope the puppies do the same!

Happy Wednesday.

Gardening with Puppies...

Once again, the weekend seems to have flown by and it's already time to be thinking about heading to bed early in preparation for Monday morning. It's not a feeling I enjoy. I much prefer the feel of a Friday night when you know that Monday is a far off day that will come eventually but, at that time, is easy to forget.

I think the weekend just goes too fast, no matter what you end up doing. For example, this weekend, I really didn't do anything of too much significance. I spent a great portion of it in the garden, fighting with weeds, trying to get it looking somewhat decent. Of course, I did this with the help of two puppies. Unfortunately, the pattern of this occurs like this:

1) Puppies see me digging up a weed with my trowel. They bound over to see what I'm doing.

2) They see my gardening gloves. Rory leaps upon my glove and latches on with her teeth.

3) Sookie decides that this looks like fun and also tries to grab hold.

4) I find a nearby stick/root/chunk of mulch and say, "hey, girls, look what I found!"

5) They see the stick/root/chunk of mulch and, when I toss it, they follow.

6) I return to weeding.

7) They get bored of their stick/root/chunk of mulch and come to help me dig.

8) They dig but end up filling in any holes I am making to plant things or they try to replant the weed I've just dug up.

9) They see my gardening gloves. See steps 2-5.

10). I lay down my trowel. They see my trowel and try to run off with it. I chase them.

11). I get my trowel back. I start weeding. They see my gardening gloves. See steps 2-5.

12) Sookie decides she wants a cuddle, therefore, she leaps onto my lap while I'm weeding. Rory, not wanting to be left out, also leaps upon my lap. They end up sniping at one another and roll off into the dirt and weeds to bicker it out.

13). They catch sight of my gardening gloves...you've got the picture by now.
This is not an exaggeration. Most of the time, I find them quite entertaining but I must confess, the gardening glove tug-of-war gets a little old. I even put a new pair on today because I had worn my old ones through. I gave them my old gloves. Apparently, they only want the gloves when they're attached to my hands because they abandoned the gloves I'd given them in order to try to leap upon my new gloves.

This is pretty much how I spent Saturday and Sunday. I tend to wear them out though and eventually, they get sleepy and lie down. This is usually my cue to take them inside, put them in their crate and run errands. Today, I had to go get more mulch and I picked up a few shrubs.

It's a nice routine. While I'll never get rid of the weeds, I am making progress. My only issue is with the Dog Whisperer, naturally. He continues to ignore his beasts as they yap continuously at us. I've got to the point where I can mostly ignore it but it's still annoying at times. Also, he's now stopped coming out when I'm there but, no kidding, the minute he sees the puppies out without me, he's right there, crouched by the fence, coaxing them towards him. Tonight, he did it shirtless which, as I've mentioned, is not terribly enticing for anyone. In fact, my puppies ran inside tonight as soon as he crouched towards them. I'm not surprised. It actually made me laugh because I watched them through the window.

I think, though, what it all comes down to is that I'm becoming quite settled in my house and with the puppies. I like having a routine. I like being domestic. There's nothing better than being outside on a beautiful spring afternoon with nothing more pressing than a million weeds to pull up.

I pulled a couple of thousand up today. I'm getting closer. Besides, I have the puppies to help.

I think I might have to stop wearing gardening gloves though.

Happy Monday!