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Productive Sunday

I had a very productive Sunday, which is awesome as we’ll be traveling next weekend. My morning started with the kitchen and fixing the Roomba. Every Sunday I try to clean out the sink and run some cleaner through the garbage disposal. This has been working out great. Meanwhile, My poor Roomba had another run in with Athena’s poop. Thankfully, the diet food she is on makes it super dry and easy to clean up.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I moved my focus outside. We’ve had Brazilian pepper trees, which are invasive to Florida, start taking over our front garden. Fortunately, my new pruning set from Amazon came in this week. Consequently, I put my new pruning saw to good use and took down all of the trees. I also trimmed the fronds from my neighbors yard that were poking through the fence. Lastly, I trimmed back the passion fruit wine and was super excited to see that it’s blooming! I can’t wait to try our passion fruits.

I stated my afternoon off with a good run. Fortunately, it went pretty well today. Afterwards, the Mayor and I drove up to PetSmart to see the dogs they had up for adoption. Spoiler alert, they had none. At any rate, it was good opportunity for the Mayor to practice driving. We stopped at Publix to pick up a few things. The Mayor bought himself some sushi for lunch. I, meanwhile, bought a bunch of yummy goodies for a charcuterie board.

The hubby and I grazed on the charcuterie board for lunch. Usually, we only have a charcuterie at a special occasion or restaurant. Last week I bought a venison tenderloin to try since the Calibrate program allows Wild game, but not a lot of red beef. I sautéed it before roasting the tenderloins over onions. For the gravy, I used a Norwegian recipe that included red currant preserves and Aquavit. It was a good wholesome meal, but I’m not sure who I feel about a sweet gravy. The venison, along with the mashed potatoes my hubby made, turned into perfectly. I’ll definitely be making it again. I’ll cap this productive Sunday with a nice hot shower.

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Sleepy Saturday

No surprise here, but it was another sleepy Saturday. Normally, Saturdays would be are craziest day of the week running errands and running from rink to rink. With the pandemic, all of that has come to an end. No longer are there frivolous errands to fill the day, which is probably a blessing since we’re spending a lot less money.

 

Fortunately, my puppies were more than happy to keep me company throughout this sleep Saturday. Anakin is now four months old, but still naps quite a bit. Thankfully, his big sisters are also ballers. All four of us spent a lot of the day chillaxing on the couch. We’ve been pretty lucky with all three dogs as they’re all calm and very sweet.

Actually, I did have a productive morning. I was able to clean out the laundry room and get some paperwork filed away. I’ll be finishing the laundry room and laundry tomorrow. Luckily, I had Anakin to help me find errant socks and dryer sheets. While I was cleaning at home, the hubby was looking at a job in Dade. Construction workers are considered essential in Florida, so thankfully he’s still able to work.

Initially, I had planned to make a supply run early this morning. However, I decided to wait until tomorrow since the Hubby had to drive to Miami for work. Thankfully, Terri and P.J. came to our rescue dropping off toilet paper and kleenexes. Thank you both! You guys are the real heroes! Since we weren’t going grocery shopping today, we decided we’d go to Home Depot to get plants for our garden.
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We used to keep a garden regularly B.H (aka before hockey,) but with work and hockey we didn’t have the time to maintain it. Now that we’re gone and there ‘s no hockey, it is the perfect time to re-do the garden. The Hubby made the Depot run while I watched the dogs. We had to pickup more wood build a new garden box. Sadly, the old garden box had started to rot and needed to be replaced.

Hubby and the Mayor spent the evening pulling weeds and the aloe out of the garden. Unfortunately, I struggle with allergies in our back yard because of the mango tree and various other plants. Consequently, while they worked I slaved away on my phone ordering takeout on Door Dash. By the time our food was delivered, the garden had started to take shape and was looking great. We need to pick up a couple more boards, but the garden should be done tomorrow. We’re planting tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, peas and a bunch of vegetables via seed. In the garden already is a rosemary bush and of course our pineapple plants.

Wish us luck as we venture out tomorrow morning to grab groceries and household supplies. I hate the thought of going out, but none of the delivery services have any openings. Afterwards, we’ll be working on finishing the garden and cleaning up the house. Fortunately, once the garden gets going, we’ll have a better and safer way to get our produce. I’ll also take the dogs for a walk during our street, so long as the weather cooperates. Now I’m off to relax and claim my rightful place as champion of this sleepy Saturday.

 

 

 

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Watched Family Guide

*Started to re-build our garden

*Completed BBG Rest Day week 6

*Home Depot run for plants and soil for our garden

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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Stopping to Smell the Roses

When I’m back home, my allergies are horrendous.  Here in Norway, they’ve been much better to the point where I can even stop and smell the roses.  My allergies have been present in Norway as there is a lot of pollen this time of year here as well, but they’re significantly less severe.  I enjoyed stopping to smell the roses.

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Even on the worst allergy day here, I can still smell the roses and flowers as I walk by them.  The fragrance of the roses, in particular, is very strong.  The smell is absolutely magnificent.  There is not a candle or potpourri on earth that can replicate the smell of these roses.

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Not only is the aroma amazing, but the flowers on the plants are gigantic, brightly colored and numerous.  Thank goodness for the close up feature on my Canon, which did a pretty good job of capturing the beautiful blooms.

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Beautiful Blossoms

Since I was a young girl, I spent hours in the garden with my mom, my grandmothers, and even my great grandmothers.  In Minnesota, there is no more welcoming site than the tulips breaking through the nearly frozen ground.  The tulips were a sure sign that spring was on its way and winter was starting to lose its grip.  Soon after the daffodils and late season tulips would follow.

My great grandmother’s garden in Minneapolis was absolutely exquisite and huge.  She a beautiful path that wound through the garden and led to a little enclave near a stump where a beautiful and delicate lady slipper could be found. As my great grandmother’s garden grew, she would divide the plants and thin them out to keep the gardens healthy.  The plants that were taken out of the garden were shared with my grandma, my mom and my aunts.  My mom still has peonies that originated from my great grandmother’s garden.

Peonies are my absolute favorite, but unfortunately I can’t grow them in South Florida as it does not get cold enough here.  Now instead of peonies, tulips and roses, I’ve planted gardenias and hibiscus plants.  In addition to the new flowers, we’ve added mangos, avocados, pineapples, limes, key limes and bananas to our garden.

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There’s so much beauty and peace that can be found in the blossom of a flower.  The bloom lives a delicate short existence, but in its short life it brings the world tremendous joy.  The blossom of a flower can teach us many things.  The blossom doesn’t wait for affirmation or bees for it to open.   The flower blooms and the bees come.   Lastly, the blossom is a poignant reminder of how beautiful, delicate and short are existence is on this planet.  Enjoy the beauty of life and don’t wait to blossom.

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