A Good Day on Monday

Another Passionfruit Flower

The passionfruit vine is growing well and producing flowers.  Each flower lasts only one day, but, there are more buds on the vine:

Passionfruit Flower Bud

Purple passionfruits are self pollinating, yellow passionfruits are not and need beneficial insects to pollinate them (or some strong wind as the pollen is considered to be too heavy for regular wind pollination).  Or, one can hand pollinate them.  The variety I have is purple, but, I want to ensure I get a good crop of fruits and don't want to leave it all up to the bees and butterflies.  I admit I have been trying to play fertility goddess with them!  Not sure if my efforts are helping or if the insects are taking care of things for me, but, we do have at least two baby fruits on the vine!  This is the bigger of the two:

Baby Passionfruit!  

Hopefully, there will be several more fruits to harvest, later this year.  It is supposed to take about 70 days after pollination for the fruits to ripen.  

I went to have my lab work done, this morning.  They have a new self check-in system set up and a lab technician standing by to help people with it, because it was new and not working as well as it was supposed to.  Even with the technician's assistance, I had to check in twice before it worked.  I had to wait a bit to be called in (they were behind schedule because one technician was helping people check in rather than drawing blood) but, I had taken a crossword puzzle book with me and I was fine with waiting.  Eventually I was called in and had seven vials of blood taken!  At the end of it, the technician asked if I was doing OK and I said yes.  I had to be fasting, but, I had water and a snack with me, to have in the car, if needed (but, I didn't need it).  

My bigger concern was if I had enough cash to pay the parking meter!  It takes dollar bills (or a credit card) and I had only two $1 bills with me.  So, after my lab work was completed, I went into the pharmacy on the ground floor of the building and bought a candy bar to change the $20 bill that I had, explaining to the cashier that I needed some dollar bills for the parking meter.  He probably wondered why I didn't pay with a credit card, but, I prefer to use cash.  It all worked out fine because the parking meter only required $2, which I had on me, but, now, I have three $1 bills, as well, for the future.

After I came home, I ate the leftover sauteed garbanzo beans for breakfast.  A little later, I made some fried rice with leftover pork and leftover rice and had some of that for lunch.  

After lunch, I did a load of laundry, dusted the living room and parts of the dining room (not the dining table as it has my sewing and fabric spread out on it), and settled down to an afternoon of sewing!  The rug I am making is coming along nicely.  

If you had been in my neighborhood, today, you would have seen containers of soup and plates of cake going between our houses!  Neighbor T called in the late afternoon; I think she forgot that we had chatted, yesterday (or she got the days mixed up as she sometimes does).  Anyway, she mentioned that she wasn't having such a good day, so, to cheer her up, I warmed up some soup I had made and frozen, and took it over, handing it over at the doorstep.  She was happy and called me, later, to thank me, saying she enjoyed it for dinner and it was delicious.  In the meantime, neighbor S called to say she had forgotten to give me a piece of her husband's birthday cake and brought some over!  A piece of tiramisu and a piece of tres leche cake!  I enjoyed some of both after my dinner of leftover pork fried rice.  

It was a good day for social interactions.  In addition to exchanging food with neighbors, I called friend A in the afternoon and left a message, cousin N texted to check on me and her mother, aunt C called.  Later, friend R called and, of course, I video chatted with my daughter.  There were emails, too, with friends and that's always nice.  

Today, I am grateful for:
- A safe drive to the lab for the blood tests and back
- Medical insurance
- Helpful technicians
- Neighbor S bringing me cake
- Family and friends checking on me

Today's joyful activity was sewing.

I also accomplished everything on my To Do List for today, too:

Monday's To Do List:

- Fasting lab test in the morning ✔

- Change bed sheets ✔ (Actually, I just put back the same sheets after washing and drying them - less folding!)

- Load of laundry (bed sheets/towels) ✔

- Dust living room & dining area ✔

- Clean the fridge ✔ (There was nothing to clean; I checked the shelves and drawers; wiped the door handles)

- Take trash cans to the curb for Tuesday trash pick up ✔

In addition, I cleaned the litter box, swept the bathroom, did the dishes, wiped down the kitchen counters and stove top, etc., which I've listed as my "dailies" in my cleaning schedule that I linked to, in yesterday's post.

Tuesday's To Do List:
- Bring the trash cans in
- Dust the family room and my bedroom
- Check on the newly planted seedlings and water if needed
- Water the indoor plants

- Tidy dining room shelving unit (This week's cleaning focus is the dining room and laundry room; since I did the laundry room, earlier, I am focusing on the dining room)

How was your Monday?  What have you planned for Tuesday?