Friday, March 16, 2018

Thursday's Recap

On Thursday, it rained in the morning, but the rest of the day was sunny and clear.  I went to the office and spent a productive morning and early afternoon.  In addition to sending portions of my project for review, I started cleaning my storage cabinets at the office, in preparations for the anticipated move.  I tossed a few items, including an old day planner/appointment book, which I wrote about, earlier.  Thank you, everyone, for all your comments on that post! 

In the afternoon, I had my appointment with the podiatrist, which was scheduled for 3:00 p.m.  When I left the office, I informed my supervisor that I will not be returning to the office after my appointment, because, by the time I drove back and forth, it would be time to leave, again!  My appointment went well, everything was fine, and I was given an appointment to return in June for another check up.

On my drive home, I gave into temptation and visited the fish and chips restaurant!  Their décor includes old maps of the UK on the walls and a route map of the London Underground running along the counter.  But they make good fish and chips and other items such as breaded/fried shrimp.  I don't indulge too often, but I had been craving it for a few days.  I managed to not give in to temptation last week, when I was returning from the surgeon's after my suture removal, but this week, I gave in!  I couldn't decide between the fried shrimp or the more traditional fish and chips, and, while they had various combinations, they didn't have the particular combination I would have liked: fish, mini shrimp, and chips.  Although, I suppose I could have ordered it as side orders.  Eventually, I decided to go with the mini fried shrimp - 21 mini shrimp for $6.95; with tax, it came to $7.54 or something.  I know I am going over my budget for eating out, this month, but I've given myself permission to do so!  The cashier who took my order was new, I think, and seemed a bit flustered - he bagged up my order with another customer's order and then, ran out of the store, behind her, to the parking lot and got it back from her!  Then, he put it back down on the counter and continued on as if nothing had happened!  LOL.  I was just happy I didn't have to wait until another batch of shrimp got fried!  I was hungry!  I ate half of it when I got home and the rest, later in the evening, for dinner. 

After I came home, I took some pictures of plants growing in the garden.  Things are coming up, nicely, after the rain!  I was very happy to see that my cherry guava tree, which had practically died, last year, and which I had friend M cut down practically to the ground, had sent out a little shoot of new growth!  It will not grow enough to produce fruit, this year, (at least, I don't think so), but, if it survives the summer heat, it might continue to grow and produce fruit, next year!  As my friend M said, when he saw the picture I texted him, "Mother Nature and Father Time!"

New Cherry Guava Shoot

My avocado seedling is growing, too!  It grew to be about two feet inside the house, last year, and then, the house got too hot and it dried up!  Again, I cut it down, almost all the way and set it out in the garden to see if it might regrow, and it is doing just that!  I doubt very much if I will ever get any avocados from it, but, it will be another fun thing to grow.

Avocado Seedling

It had been a sunny day with clear blue skies, but, by evening, things were changing and the clouds were moving in:

Looking East - the clouds were moving in from the west


Looking West - rain clouds

I found a windfall of five oranges under the orange tree as a result of the previous night's rain and the wind!  One or two were rather small, but the others were average size.  Later, in the evening, I baked a cake, using a boxed mix I had in the cupboard, and I added some grated orange rind to the cake batter for added flavor.

Yellow Cake with Orange Zest
I didn't have any powdered sugar, otherwise, I might have made a glaze with powdered sugar and orange juice to drizzle on the top.  Need to put powdered sugar on my shopping list!

As I mentioned to one of my friends, my oranges are organically grown, without any pesticides being sprayed, and I hate to see the rinds go to waste.  I've bags of frozen zest in the freezer to be added to baked goods, etc., but I don't use them as much as I should.  Maybe I should make some orange marmalade!  Just not sure if I am up to it, yet. 

I spent a relaxed evening, reading blogs and commenting, etc.  I called my cousin and wished her for her birthday.  Later, I video chatted with my daughter.  Some of her friends from elementary and middle school days are up there, visiting, and she's been going out with them in the evenings, having dinner, visiting places (on Thursday, they went to a place called the Ice Cream Museum - not a real museum, but rather, an indoor playground where they had rooms with different themes - a 50's diner/ice cream parlor with a juke box, a room decorated with cherries on the walls and clouds of "whipped cream with a cherry on the top" hung from the ceiling, an animal cracker carousel, etc., and got to taste different flavors of ice cream and freshly made cotton candy!  I told her I wanted to go there!)

On Thursday, I was grateful for:
- The trip down memory lane brought about by the old planners
- Fresh oranges from the tree
- The cherry guava plant is regrowing
- The avocado seedling is growing, too
- Daughter is having fun with her friends

It rained on Thursday night, so those clouds did bring rain!

How was your Thursday?  Did you have a good day?




8 comments:

  1. I love the quote, "Mother Nature and Father Time." That perfectly sums up growing things. I think I'll be using that a lot now.

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    1. It does, doesn't it? :) The garden continues to evolve with the help from those two!

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  2. Your earlier post certainly reminded me of 2011 and how unsettled things were. A strong reminder to not carry debt and live below your means.

    Fun decorations at the fish and chip shop. Good to treat yourself once in awhile. Your cake looks delicious.

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    1. Sandy, it can be very hard to live below ones means, BUT, it is important to try and do so. To save for that proverbial rainy day. To have an emergency fund one can live on for several months, if not a year, because it can take that long to find another well paying job, especially if one is older. I know that some of my family and friends laugh at me for being so frugal, for not "living it up", but the peace of mind that comes with knowing I can pay my bills and still have a little left over is worth it. This is what I've tried to instill in my daughter and I think, I have been successful in that. She is managing on her own for the most part (I pay for her phone and her plane tickets for her frequent visits to see me).

      I wanted to take a picture or two of the interior, but I was reluctant to ask. Maybe I will ask, the next time. :) Apparently, the original owner was from Skegness in northeastern England and had a fish and chips shop there, but came to the US in 1965 (according to the company's website) and opened a fish and chips shop, here. Since then, it has been franchised and several others have been opened. There used to be one right across the street from the building where I first worked in, when I first came to California. A lot of my co-workers would buy lunch from them, but, at the time, I couldn't afford to. So I brought my lunch from home and it was many years later, that I tried their fish and chips. The shop I went to on Thursday was a different shop (closer to my current home), but it was definitely a treat. :)

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  3. Hmmm that cake looks so good! I'm glad you were able to use your own oranges in it. And also that you let yourself be tempted by the shrimp and chips.

    Your plants are doing so well! I'm puzzled as to why your pineapple hasn't sprouted roots yet. Do you want me to send you one of mine? Lol. That avocado tree looks like it has a very strong stem. I should try to grow one again. I've tried several times and it only took once but my "tree" died indoors after it got to be about a foot tall or so.

    Today I'm really tired. I had a bad night because the cats cried all.night.long. I had already gone to bed at 2 a.m. so I was in a horrible mood. I got up 3 times to tell them to shut up and I know Greg got up at least twice to do the same. They weren't hungry or in need of anything, save for human company! I might need to take a nap today.

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    1. Nathalie, I am sorry you had such a disturbed night of sleep. Dancer used to cry and wake me up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, and, again around 5:30 p.m., when I was home during my treatments, because that's when he was used to being fed, before that. But, after awhile, he stopped doing that. Now, he comes and cuddles with me in the mornings, but lets me sleep in. Of course, if I have the door closed, he'll cry. He hates being on either side of a closed door!

      Hope you get your nap!

      I don't know about my pineapple. Maybe I didn't clean the stem well enough. Or, maybe because our tap water is chlorinated? Maybe I should have put it in some bottled water! I still have it in the water, though, so maybe it might root, one of these days. If not, I'll have to buy another pineapple and try again. :)

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    2. I use plain tap water for mine. It's very hard and chlorinated (I can't drink it from the tap, personally, I have to filter it) but it doesn't seem to bother them. I think you had posted a picture of your pineapple top after you cleaned it and it seemed fine to me but perhaps you could remove a few more leaves from the bottom. It should have the beginning of roots under some of them. Also make sure you cut off all the fruit portion of it. It might not hurt to change the water if you haven't done so in a while? Also make sure it gets plenty of light. So put it in a clear glass or plastic jar.

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    3. Thank you, Nathalie. I have been changing the water, but, there is some fruit on the bottom, so maybe I need to clean it, a bit more. Will do that, today. And, I'll put it in a window sill, somewhere (hopefully, where Dancer can't knock it off!) It's in a glass jar, but on the kitchen pass through, right now; it probably doesn't get enough light there. I've been a bit distracted today, as my water heater is leaking and the pilot light has gone out because water has collected. Neighbor E has been over to look at it and he can't fix it; I've called for a technician to come out and take a look at it. More rain is in the forecast for this weekend...

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