Monday, March 12, 2018

Lemonade on Monday

The day dawned bright and sunny, today, but, by late afternoon, the clouds moved in.  There is more rain in the forecast for this week, starting tonight!

I found it hard to get motivated to do anything, this morning.  I replied to comments on my blog, read and commented on a few other blogs, and played computer games!

Eventually, I felt guilty about not doing things, and so, I did a little bit of paperwork.  Somehow, I ended up with a grocery bag full of papers to recycle, including a small cardboard box excavated from The Dump!  I also found the T-shirts I had bought, in only the second bag I looked in (along with the rest of the grey and black wool I had bought at the same time).  Then, I did a load of laundry.

Then, I rewarded myself with a walk around the garden.

When your trees give you lemons:

One of my three lemon trees
You make lemonade!

Glass of fresh lemonade
My lemons are smaller than normal because of the lack of water, but I am happy to have such an abundance of fresh lemons free for the picking.

Of course, while I was in the garden, I had to check on the orange tree, too:

Orange tree

The oranges are more towards the inside of the tree:

Ripe Oranges - ready to be picked

And the tree is flowering, too:

Orange Flowers

The garden smells wonderful with the orange and lemon flowers!  The bees are happy, too!

Near the orange tree is the rosemary bush:

Rosemary Bush

It's flowers are coming to an end, but the bees love them, too:

Do you see the bee at the center of the picture?

One of the newly planted grape vines is doing well:

Grape Vine

The other grape vine is dead, I think.  There is no new growth, at all.  I will either pull it out or buy a new one to replace it.

I took a few pictures of the side yard, too, but I'll post those another day.

Still later in the evening, I did a quick dusting of living room (just the coffee table and piano), the dining area, and the family room.  I did some tidying, too, but there's a little more to do.  In between, I did a bit of knitting.  I am almost done with the front of the sweater.

I had wondered if I should make an effort and go grocery shopping, but decided I had enough stuff in the fridge, freezer, and cabinets to get me through the week.  Brunch was spicy sauted garbanzo beans (from the freezer).  I also pulled out a package of two previously cooked pork chops for dinner:

Sauted pork chops, mixed vegetables
I sliced up a carrot, a zucchini, and some onions and sauted them, along with the pork chops and added some frozen green beans to it.  I served one of the pork chops and half the vegetables for my dinner:


Dinner
The remaining pork chop and vegetables are in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner.  I had some grapes for dessert.

After dinner, I wiped the kitchen counters and ran the dish washer.  I also cleaned out the fridge and took the trash cans to the curb.  I will clean the litter box before going to sleep.   I forgot to water the indoor plants, so will do that, tomorrow.  Considering I wasn't feeling very motivated to do things, I got a lot accomplished!

Still later, I video chatted with my daughter.  She has to go to Sacramento, tomorrow, to attend a conference.  Last time, she took the train (Amtrak), but this time, she's carpooling with some colleagues.

Today, I am grateful for:
- Fresh oranges and lemons from the garden
- Fresh lemonade
- A partly sunny day
- More rain in the forecast!
- Getting a few things done

Monday's To Do List:
- Tidy/Dust the family room - DID SOME
- Take the trash cans to the curb - DONE
- Knit! - DID SOME
- Water the indoor plants - Oops!
- Laundry - DONE
- Dishes - DONE

Tuesday's To Do List:
- Go to the office
- Water the indoor plants
- Bring the trash cans in
- Finish tidying the family room
- Knit
- Put away the dried laundry

How was your Monday?  What would you do with lemons?

20 comments:

  1. How beautiful your fruit trees are. I'd love to have a lemon tree in the garden!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Angela. Maybe you'll have to build an "orangery" and have lemon and orange trees!

      Delete
  2. Your lemon and oranges are so pretty. And exotic from my perspective here in the land of colder weather. Do you have to do much to keep the trees and fruit healthy? Here where we can grow apples and peaches, it takes a lot of work to get decent fruit from the trees without blights, worms, etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually don't do a lot of tending to the citrus plants, other than water them. My friend M says they should be fertilized and every so often, usually about once or twice a year, he will apply some fertilizer formulated for citrus trees. I don't spray any insecticides (which is probably why my peach tree died a few years ago; the replacement peach plant died during the drought, due to my neglect).

      Delete
  3. Yes, your garden must smell wonderful! Your oranges always look so good, like they came from the store. Mine always look all sooty.

    I'm thinking about planting my rosemary in ground so it can spread and hopefully flower. This year again I hope to have a lot of basil (reseeded itself from last year) because the bees love it.

    Your dinner looks lovely and quite healthy. Congrats! And congrats also for all you've done when you didn't feel motivated. I feel that way myself this morning again and you've made me feel guilty, lol.

    I hope your daughter enjoys her conference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nathalie, it might be due to the fact that it is much more humid where you are, or, it is a different kind of orange? The oranges I grew up with had green peel with occasional patches of light yellow, never the orange color of the oranges over here! In fact, the Sinhalese word for the color orange referred to a different fruit (a type of coconut known as "King Coconut" which had a bright orange husk).

      I think your rosemary plant will do well in the ground. Here, they are planted as a ground cover, since they are drought tolerant, once established. I am, however, having the hardest time trying to propagate cuttings from my rosemary plant.

      I was thinking of you and your breakfasts when I was cutting up the zucchini to sauté. :)

      Thanks; I find that if I can talk myself into doing "just do this one thing, it'll take 10 minutes", I can accomplish a few things. Just have to break it down to very tiny tasks.

      Have you spoken with your daughter after she took her test? Did she feel OK about it?

      Delete
    2. I tried propagating my rosemary with cuttings as well and I too wasn't successful. I probably didn't do it at the right time of year.

      My daughter took her Discrete Structures test yesterday afternoon and said that it "wasn't horrible" and that the scoring will all depend on how the TA grades but she doesn't expect to get higher than a 75. She'd be ecstatic to get a 75 at this point so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. She's taking the Calculus test tonight and then she has a Art History test on Friday. Thanks for asking :)

      Delete
    3. My mother took a cutting from a friend's plant, stuck it in the ground and it grew! I swear, she could stick a dead twig in the ground and make it grow into a healthy plant! I'll plant a healthy, flourishing plant and it turns into a dead twig! LOL.

      I hope your daughter's TA will grade her test in a fair manner, but give her credits for effort. My daughter used to grade tests and papers, along with several others, and she said they were given guidelines and what to look for, etc. Keeping my fingers crossed for your daughter and hope she does well with the other two tests, too. Definitely a stressful week for her!

      Delete
  4. I think my comment didn't "take". I will try to re-write what I said...beautiful lemon and orange trees! I bet your lemonade tastes delicious. And the blossoms...You must be in "heaven" over them! Andrea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for re-writing your comment, Andrea; I'm sorry it didn't go through the first time. Yes, the lemonade was lovely - I shall make more, another day. I love how the flowers perfume the entire garden; I am thinking of cutting off a sprig and bringing it inside the house.

      Delete
  5. I always love to see the fruit trees. It must be wonderful to be able to pick your own from the garden. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jules. It feels good to be able to pick the fruit from my trees. :)

      Delete
  6. I think it is so cool to walk out to your yard and pick lemons and oranges. I have no idea what the scent of the blossoms are, but I had a "Mock Orange" shrub in my garden with small white blooms and it perfumed the air as heavily as lilac or Lily of the Valley. So I can only imagine that the real orange blossoms must smell heavenly.

    Your dinner is making my stomach growl. Except for the peas, I could gobble that right up. Maybe I would substitute the peas with broccoli and try that this week. I love the combination of dark green and orange. It looks so fresh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan, the garden smells very fragrant! I was going to add green beans to the vegetable mixture, at first, but the green beans had been sitting in the fridge a bit too long, to I didn't use them. I love green peas and would miss them if I couldn't have them!

      Delete
  7. The photos of the lemon and orange trees are a joy to behold! I had an orange tree in the house for a few years and it once had just two blossoms, which made the whole room smell wonderful! I never did get any fruit but my friend once had a tree in her house with many tiny oranges on it. My rosemary bush is in a pot in the dining room as it probably wouldn't survive a winter if I planted it in the yard. It is handy as I can easily nip off a few sprigs to have with lamb or chicken.
    We had some snow today but are not expecting a lot to settle. It did freshen up the scenery nicely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bushlady, it is possible that your friend's tree with tiny oranges was a calamondin tree. They used to be very popular as "ornamental" plants. I have one in my garden, that was planted by the previous owners - the fruit is edible but very sour.

      Glad you can have your rosemary plant in the dining room. They make nice little topiary plants, as well.

      I hope the snow doesn't fall for much longer and it gets to be spring for you, so you can start making your maple syrup! :)

      Delete
  8. I would love to take a stroll around your your garden and just breathe in all the heavenly perfume of the citrus plants. I really miss those living up in an area where they would not survive our winters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, but you have cherry blossoms and apple blossoms to enjoy when it is spring! :)

      Delete
  9. I can see why old-fashioned books always say the the bride wore orange blossoms in her hair! They are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Becky, they are beautiful, aren't they? :)

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. Your comments are much appreciated. Please comment in English. Thank you.