Saturday

Today has been a lovely day.  Cloudy and cool in the morning, but, sunny with a high of 70F in the afternoon, turning cloudy and cool, again, in the evening.  Daughter is feeling much better, today, and almost back to normal.

I started off the morning having a video chat with a good friend, which was very pleasant.  A few years ago, she suggested having an online video chat on my birthday and ever since then, it's become a bit of a tradition to video chat on our birthdays!  The rest of the time, we email back and forth, on an almost daily basis!  Yes, she reads my blog, too.  :)  Today, we chatted for almost two hours.  

Afterwards, I had brunch (cornflakes) and then, headed out to check on the newly transplanted seedlings.  The zucchini seedlings were in need of watering and I was going to water only them and the sweet potatoes, but, then, the fruit trees looked like they needed watering too, and I ended up watering the whole backyard, after all!  

Later, I read the owner's manual for the fridge and read up on cleaning the coils.  It said that the coils don't need to be cleaned for regular household use, HOWEVER, if the kitchen is very greasy or dusty or there is heavy pet traffic, then, the coils should be vacuumed every three months or so!  I don't think my kitchen is that greasy or dusty, and I wouldn't consider one cat to be considered "heavy pet traffic", but, the fridge is about 3 1/2 years old now and I guess I should do some cleaning of the coils one of these days.  In the meantime, I discovered that the air vents on the top of the fridge (according to the manual, cool air enters the freezer from the bottom, circulates to the top and enters the fridge side from the vents located at the top, then, goes back to the freezer from the vents located at the bottom of the fridge (near the crisper drawers).  Blocking the top vents would prevent the cold air from entering the fridge.  Well, guess what?  A bag of coffee was blocking the top vents!  That might be the reason why the fridge hasn't been as cold as before and why the milk has been turning sour so quickly!  I moved the bag of coffee aside and I think the fridge is already a bit colder than it has been. 

In the late afternoon, I practiced the piano for about 30 minutes.

After which, I went into the backyard, again, to do some weeding!  Remember this flower bed from earlier in the week?

Flower Bed: Before Picture

I had started weeding it, yesterday, and I continued weeding it, today.  I weeded for about one and a half hours and this is how it looks now:

Flower Bed: After (View 1)

View 2

I'd say about half the bed has been weeded.  This is another bed that was made smaller as rose bushes died.  But, there might be enough room to tuck in some vegetable seedlings in the weeded area, if I decide to do so.  Maybe something like a few chili plants?

I took a couple of pictures of the type of grass I am weeding from these beds:

Weeded Runner Grass

Long Underground Stolon/Rhizome

The blue stool is what I sit on when I am weeding.

The next step is to break down more cardboard boxes to spread as a weed barrier.  I might use some newspaper, too, if I don't have enough cardboard.  

I managed to find a few sticks to put around the newly transplanted zucchini seedlings:

Zucchini Transplants with Sticks

I came indoors when it got a bit too cold for me to be out in the garden (around 6:30 p.m.), had a cup of tea, watched some news and a documentary about L. Frank Baum (author of the Wizard of Oz books), had dinner, chatted with aunt C and friend R, and texted with cousin N.  Afterwards, I cooked some chicken I had kept to thaw and did the rest of the dishes (daughter had washed some of them).  Overall, it has been a very nice day.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Daughter is feeling much better

- Technology that enabled me to video chat with my friend
- Her friendship over the years
- Being able to garden
- Clearing the fridge vent seems to have helped!

Today's joyful activity was video chatting with my friend.

Plans for tomorrow include more weeding (I'd like to finish that flower bed), watering the front garden, and piano practicing.  

How was your Saturday?  What are your plans for Sunday?