More Ketchup

While I was busy filling in imaginary words and thoughts for speech balloons, I missed the real excitement.  A tree fell and hit the top hydro line (that's the only live one) and caught on fire.  Only Hydro Quebec could resolve that situation, and they arrived 16 hours later when I was already out for the night (around 10 p.m. on Thursday).  They brought their poles and left them on the side of the road and used their cherry picker to lift the tree (its fire long extinguished on its own) off the wire.  I don't know how I missed it.  Apparently they had several big vehicles and massive lighting units operating right across from my bedroom window!  Even Kenya slept through it.  And through the fireworks that my next door neighbours set off.

Of course Kenya is sleeping through a lot these days and nights.  She is exhausted by all the swimming and playing she's been doing.  She chased sticks thrown by the little boys most of the weekend, and for the last couple of days I have been exercising her with the kayak.  Yesterday I whipped across the lake to deliver dog fur to a neighbour who has a pesky groundhog.  Kenya swam behind me and while I visited she chased sticks into the water.  Then we headed home.  She was finally beat enough to say no to retrieving a stick.  I still had enough energy to go for a long refreshing swim that relaxed me.

On Friday night I joined a group of people at a local restaurant ... interesting but a little strange.  The woman who invited us all failed to show up and the odd assortment of people who were there were somewhat bemused by her absence.   We ended up doing what people usually do ... found those people with whom we had most in common and chatted.  Nice break from talking to Kenya and bearing the noise of machinery.

My box garden is becoming a rainforest of tangled vines.  Lots of nascent tomatoes and nasturtium flowers.  Just leaves on  the pepper plants and leaves and vines on the cucumber.  The onions are doing well.  I ate one yesterday.  The second crop of radishes is coming along nicely.  And I have given up on the chard and the leeks.  The Thai basil  and the arugula are quietly doing their thing and providing me with salad ingredients nearly every day.

I nurtured a weed in my chard square for a few weeks, but when I went to the market yesterday morning I asked the farmer from whom I bought Swiss chard what she thought had happened to mine.  She said that I would definitely have chard by now if the seed was viable and had not been killed off by heat or eaten by a bird. So I went home and uprooted the very healthy weed I had been growing and transplanted a lettuce into that square.  I think I will transplant one of my regular basil plants into the leeks' square.


Outside the box, the zucchinis are producing lots of flowers but far fewer zucchinis ... I think I have a plethora of male blossoms.  Apparently you can deep fry them.

All the herbs except the basil are doing well.

The beans, nasturtiums, and morning glories are all madly climbing the trellis to the deck railing and I have a riot of green foliage and lots of blue and red flowers but no bean flowers or beans yet.

Tonight I am entertaining Tom and Marlene.  I am not sure what I will prepare but I do know that my herbs will be part of the meal ... and the Dutch ginger cake I bought at the market will be served with an iced coffee drink that is wonderful.  You make double strength coffee and blend it with ice cubes and vanilla ice cream and then chill.  It is very refreshing but not calorie free.

Tomorrow I start another week of teaching.  I expect to enjoy it ... two hours a day with a middle aged Swiss woman  who would like to have some of her lessons in a canoe.  We may ask Conchita who is married to one of the men on the lake to join us.  She is not too sure about cold Canadian lake water, so we will see.

I have been  reading another travel book called The Female Nomad and Friends.  It is a combination of adventures and recipes picked up along the way by an interesting and varied group of solo women travelers.  Almost all of the women have websites to visit and several have  recommended SERVAS as a good way to meet interesting people as you travel. A few weeks ago I decided to become a host for SERVAS and if I ever get my act together will jump through the necessary hoops.  And then I may register as a traveler as well.  All this reading about adventures is making my feet itch again.

So that's it ... the weekend dollop of ketchup ... hope your weekend has been enjoyable and that you are looking forward to a week of blistering heat in a pleasantly cool environment.