Catching Up on Monday

 

Freshly Picked Tomatoes 

Sunday was a good day.  My leg felt fine after resting on Saturday.  I did three of loads of laundry, made French toast for breakfast, ham fried rice for lunch, and watched some of the Olympics games on TV.  Daughter watched the women's gymnastics with me, as that's the event she's most interested in (having done gymnastics as a child and doing acrobatics, now).

In between watching the games on TV, we picked some of the ripe tomatoes.  We picked a colander full!  I didn't weigh them, but, I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least 5 or 6 lbs.  There are more tomatoes on the plants, too!  What an abundance!  This year's garden produce have been such a blessing!

In the evening, I cut up the tomatoes and made a pasta sauce.  I didn't follow a particular recipe, but, I added two onions, chopped up, part of a bell pepper (also from the garden), several cloves of garlic, some dried basil leaves, a little lemon juice, and salt.  Brought everything to a boil and then, simmered for about 30 minutes.  I know some people cook their pasta sauce for a long time, but, I wanted to preserve as much of the fresh taste as I could.  It made quite a lot of sauce!  I also browned some ground beef with onions and garlic, but, didn't add it to the sauce as daughter likes to be able to adjust the amount of meat to sauce.  

Towards the end of the sauce making, around 9:00 p.m., the phone rang - it was my cousin V.  "You don't go to sleep early, do you?"  "No, we are night owls!"  She and her husband were at the nearby airport (a smaller airport than the Los Angeles International Airport), dropping off their younger daughter K, who had come for a weekend visit and was flying back to New York where she lives with her husband and 2 sons.  Except, her flight was delayed by 3 hours.  And rather than have her hang around the airport for 3 hrs., V asked if they could come to my place to wait, instead.  I said, yes, of course.  I did warn her that the house was a mess!  Which it was, because there was the last load of laundry hanging up to dry, dirty dishes in the sink after cooking, etc.  And there was very little time to tidy up.

But, there was a huge pot of freshly made pasta sauce and the browned ground beef.  I put a pot of water to boil for pasta just before they arrived and we were able to offer them an impromptu pasta dinner!  K said she had packed a sandwich with her, but, I told her to keep it to eat in the plane if she gets hungry later!  K, whose mother-in-law is of Italian descent and, by all accounts a good cook, said my pasta sauce was very good!  Not that she could have said anything else, under the circumstances, but, it pleased me to hear that.  LOL.  I didn't have anything to offer for dessert, but, I had Lemon Puffs, which is a type of Sri Lankan cookies, so, served those, instead.  Later, when we were putting away the leftovers, I remembered that there was a rum cake that someone had given us, still in its box, in the fridge!  Oh, well, I'll keep that for the next time I get some unexpected visitors!

V and family were here for about one hour or maybe a little more.  We didn't wear masks and that bothered  me a little bit, but, I felt awkward to ask them to wear masks (and we'd have to take them off to eat, anyway).  In any case, we were all fully vaccinated, I had the living room window and front door open, with the fan on, and the air purifier on, so, I think it was alright.  We left the window open and the air purifier on for some time after they left.  As I mentioned to one of my friends, visiting with family in the age of Covid is a bit of a minefield to say the least!  

But, it was nice to see them all again.  Plus, I sent a bag of zucchini home with V who said she loves zucchini!  LOL!  Trust me not to lose an opportunity to get rid of  share the abundance of zucchini!  In any case, there won't be many more zucchini from the garden from now on.  When M was here on Friday, he started pulling out some of the zucchini plants.  He will probably pull out most of the rest this week.

After my cousin and family left, daughter put away the leftovers while I loaded the dishwasher and wiped the stove, etc.  then, I cleaned the bathroom and put the bathmats I had washed earlier on the floor.

I had spoken with neighbor T and called Aunt C earlier in the day.  Friend R had called while V and family were here; I called her back after they had left.

It drizzled a little bit, late last night and early this morning.  It was also rather cool when we woke up (I felt cold enough to wear a long sleeved blouse, leggings, and socks!)  But, the afternoon was sunny and 75F; my socks came off!  LOL.  

Neighbor T called, again, this morning.  Yesterday, she had mentioned that she had a box of stuff to go in the recycling bin, but, her daughter had taken the big bin to the curb for her, already, so I offered to take her stuff to the recycling bin if she puts it out by her back door.  Today, she called to say that it was not necessary to take the stuff to the recycle bin, as what she had could wait until next week.

I asked T if she'd like to have some of the pasta and sauce that I had made and she said she'd love some if it wasn't a bother, but, said to give her only a little sauce because sometimes her stomach reacts to tomatoes.  So, I served her a bowl of the pasta with a little sauce  and put some extra sauce into another container in case she wanted more and took it over, keeping the bag with the food at her front door and knocking to let her know that it was there;  She called out a thank you as I walked back to my house.  Later, around 6:30 p.m., she called to say she had it for her supper, it was delicious, and she ate every bit of it, including the extra sauce!  LOL.  I'm glad she enjoyed it.  

Daughter's week of vacation has ended and she started work, again, today.  It looks like her return to the office will now be delayed until at least mid-October!  Yay!  I'm glad she can stay down here even longer!  I think she's happy, too.  We joked that she could always go back early if she needed a break from me or I could maybe spend a week or two at her apartment if I wanted a break from her!  LOL.    

Cousin V called me this morning to thank me for letting them come over on short notice and serving them dinner, as well.  She said her daughter made it back safely to New York, after an unscheduled stop over in Utah to refuel (apparently the plane was carrying more passengers and/or luggage than expected and they needed more fuel!).  I told her that I was glad to see them and be able to offer a simple meal.

I've had a fairly productive day, today.  I put away the washed dishes and pots, etc., put away the last load of laundry from yesterday, removed the dust sheets from the family room sofa, vacuumed under the seat cushions, put new dust sheets on them, and washed the other sheets.  Watered the back garden (last night's drizzle wasn't enough for them)and picked three more zucchini and a small handful of green beans.  Then, I took the trash cans to the curb.  

Neighbors took down their tents!  I guess we won't have another party in the next week or two!

Neighbor S brought us two ears of fresh corn and more ice cream cake, leftover from earlier!  She offered some garlic, too, but I declined because daughter had bought a lot of garlic for the chutney making (I had told her to buy 1 lb. of garlic and she bought 1 kg.!)  I gave S one of the bags of lentils we had received from daughter's friend A, in return!  LOL.

Daughter vacuumed the family room, today, after she had finished her work for the day.  

I am grateful for:

- The tomato harvest!
- Seeing cousin V and family and being able to offer them a simple meal
- The zucchini harvest
- Daughter might be able to extend her stay until mid October!
- The drizzle we had last night

- S bringing us corn and more ice cream cake

- Daughter vacuuming the family room for me

- The air purifiers and other working appliances

Sunday's joyful activities included picking some of the tomatoes, making the sauce, and having cousin V and family visit and have dinner with us.

Monday's joyful activities included sharing food with neighbors and being in the garden.

Plans for tomorrow include going to the doctor's office for my injection.  I received written authorization from my insurance for the injection; according to the letter, a copy was sent to the doctor's office, but, I'll take my copy, too, just in case.  

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for Tuesday?