Sunny on Friday, Too!

Another sunny day!  As much as I appreciate the rain providing water for the garden, I prefer sunny days! 

Last night, I stayed up till 5:00 a.m.!  Why, I don't know.  It wasn't that I went to bed and couldn't fall asleep.  I just didn't go to bed until 5:00 a.m.  I briefly considered just having my morning tea and something for breakfast, at that point, but, I went to bed.  And slept till 11:00 a.m.!  Ah, the life of a retired night owl!  Maybe that should be my new blog title! 

After I woke up and had my tea, I replied to blog comments, checked my emails, etc.  Brunch was more milk rice with spicy onion sambol. 

Then, I picked some lemons, a couple of oranges, and some sprigs of curry leaves to take to friend R, along with the package of toilet paper I had bought for her, and the quarters she needed to do laundry.  Her apartment building has a laundry room with coin-operated machines, but, no change machine.  She had wanted to go to the bank to get the quarters, but, I told her not to, that I will bring her some quarters.   

In the afternoon, I went to deliver the items to R.  It was the first time I drove anywhere in nine days!  Fortunately, the car started (I had started it, earlier in the week, but, not driven).  There was almost as much traffic on the roads as I would consider normal on any weekday afternoon, which surprised me, as I was expecting there to be almost no traffic.  There was traffic on the freeway, too, but, it was flowing.  One of the gas stations I drove past had gas for as low as $2.79 per gallon, which is the cheapest I've seen in several years.

When I pulled up in front of R's apartment building, I didn't get down from the car.  I kept my car windows up and opened the trunk from inside.  R collected the two bags from the trunk and we called out a greeting to each other through the closed car window.  Then, I returned home and found a message on my answering machine - R had called to thank me for bringing her the items.  She questioned my math abilities because I had given her more quarters than she had asked for.  She had left an envelope with a currency note for the amount of quarters she wanted and said she'll reimburse me the difference, but, I told her not to worry; that, when this was all over, and she was working, again, she could treat me to lunch.

Since it was a nice, sunny day and not too cold, I decided to spend a little time doing a bit of weeding in the back yard.  I weeded some and was still at it when M came to do the garden.  He finished the weeding that portion of the planting bed for me and did some tidying up.  He also brought me two avocados that a neighbor had picked from a tree in the neighbor's yard and given him.  I don't like avocado in salads, etc., but, I will let these ripen and make avocado pudding, which is something I love!

Afterwards, I had my evening tea, watched the news, and knitted a bit.

Aunt C called and asked my help with deciphering a phone message.  She had called her insurance agent's office, but, she had reached a recorded message due to the office being closed due to the virus.  The message had said that the best way to contact them was through email and had left an email address, but, they read through the email address so quickly on the recording that aunt couldn't quite make it out.  She asked me if I could call the number and tell her what the email address was.  Well, I tried listening to it, twice, and I couldn't make it out, either!  It was obviously the company's name, but, it was not a company I was familiar with and aunt said she didn't know the name of the company, only the first name of the agent!  She thanked me for trying to help, but, I felt bad that I couldn't help her. 

Later in the evening, when I video chatted with my daughter, she, too, listened to the recorded message, and based on what we thought the company name sounded like, she did an online search.  After eliminating the first couple of companies that popped up, she figured out which one it was (matched the telephone number aunt had given me) and got the correct email address!  Yay, daughter!  I was then able to text the information to my cousin (it was too late to call aunt, but, I knew my cousin would still be awake). 

Dinner tonight was chicken and vegetable filled gyoza (Asian pot stickers) from the freezer with a cucumber salad to accompany it.  I have almost come to the end of the little Persian cucumbers I bought almost two weeks ago.  There is just one left, which should be eaten tomorrow, before it spoils. 

After dinner, I cut up and prepared the rest of the green beans, before they spoiled!  I blanched and froze about half of them, whole.  The rest, I sliced at an angle and blanched them, too.  But, I kept them in the fridge to finish cooking them, tomorrow.  I will make sauteed curried green beans (bonchi thel dala) with them.  I was too tired to cook them, tonight.

Today, I am grateful for:
- A sunny day
- The car starting without any trouble
- Being able to take a few items to friend R
- Daughter being able to help aunt C with the email address
- M giving me the gift of avocado's from a neighbor's tree

Today's joyful activities included delivering some needed items to R and spending time weeding in the garden!

All in all, it was a good day and I am happy with what I was able to accomplish, today.

I am not going to make any firm plans for tomorrow.  But, if possible, I'd like to accomplish a few house cleaning tasks and do some meal planning to take advantage of what I still have in the fridge, in terms of fresh produce, and the freezer and pantry. 

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for Saturday and the weekend?