Ordinary Days and Everyday Happenings!

The First Squash Blossom!

The first squash blossom has opened up on Minie!  It is a male flower, but. it is exciting to see it!  Those squash seeds M planted for me were ten years old and we didn't think they would even germinate, much less grow into plants that are now flowering!  How wonderful is that?!

Friday was a relatively relaxed day.  I had gone to sleep on Thursday night with a painful elbow on my left arm and I had no idea why it was hurting.  Maybe I knocked it, somewhere.  Or, maybe it was all the crocheting and I had the crocheter's version of a tennis elbow!  It hurt to move my arm.  So, I took it easy on Friday, at least until the boxes of cat litter and Epsom salt were delivered!

They were delivered to the front door and since I wasn't watching out for the delivery person to ask if they could just place it on the inside of the front door (I was told they weren't allowed to bring the packages inside the house), they were left on the front steps.  I would have left them there, too, at least until M arrived in the evening, but, I thought that might be too much of a temptation to a passerby who might decide to take the packages!  So, I managed, with a painful arm, to move two 30 lb. boxes of cat litter and a box containing two 19 lb. bags of Epsom salt up the shallow steps to the inside of the house. That's a lot of Epsom salt, I know, but, it is for the garden.  M sprinkles it around the fruit trees and some of the flowering plants to enrich the soil.  

I left them inside the front door in the living room until M arrived and he moved the cat litter boxes to the bathroom and the bags of Epsom salt to the garage.  Then, we dug up the potatoes that were growing in the last container.  He had me guess how many might be there and I guessed 12, but, there were only 11 and one of them was eaten into by a bug, so, we tossed that in the compost heap.  I didn't take a photo, but, some of the potatoes were a good size.  I am pleased with my potato harvest!  

Afterwards, M watered the garden.  I asked him to use the rain water I had collected and he did, but, he also needed to use the garden hose.  We stacked the buckets upside down for the water to drain and Mama Cat was not very pleased that her water buckets were emptied!  She knocked a couple of them down before she decided to perch on one of them: 

Mama Cat

She's looking at one of the buckets she knocked down and isn't that a look of utter disdain on her face?!

And that was how I spent Friday, the 49th anniversary of my arrival in the USA!  I had a homemade cheeseburger for dinner, to celebrate!  Brunch had been one of the frozen chicken sandwich rolls neighbor S had given me.  

Today, Saturday, my arm is much better, almost back to normal.  Today, there was another delivery; I had to sign for it and it was much lighter to carry inside:

Yarn!

I wasn't kidding when I said, on Thursday, that using up the stash meant I could buy more yarn!  This time I wanted 100% wool and I knew which brand I wanted.  I went online and compared prices.  The wool yarn I wanted was selling from $6.99 to $10.31 per 100 gram skein, depending on the store, but, one store had an online special, provided one bought a pack of 10 skeins, which reduced the cost per skein to under $5, which was the best deal.  I couldn't quite decide on the color I wanted - did I want "Natural" which was sort of beige, or "Heath Heather", a different hue of brown, or "Aran", which was creamy white?  I asked my daughter for her opinion and she liked both Heath Heather and Aran!  She suggested I get both and asked me to make her a sweater, too!  LOL.  So, yes, I bought two sets of wool and there will be new sweaters for both of us this winter!  Plus leftover wool to make other things.  The yarn stash has been replenished!  LOL!

After the yarn arrived, I ordered more groceries and picked them up in the afternoon.  But, that is a different post.

Neighbor S called me before I went to pick up the groceries.  Her mother was visiting her and wanted to know if I could show her how to crochet!  Well, yes, of course I could.  So, after I picked up the groceries and put away the perishable stuff, I took some yarn from my daughter's stash (with her consent) and two crochet hooks and went over to neighbor S's.  S's mother L actually knows how to crochet; but, what she wanted to learn was how I had made a shawl I had crocheted and given her as a gift!  I had actually forgotten that I had even made that shawl for her!  So, I showed her how to get started on it (once you start it, you just repeat the pattern, increasing in the middle of each row until it is the size you want it to be).  Then, I showed her a basic granny square, as well, which is about all the crocheting I know!  LOL.  I wore my N95 mask and L wore a mask, too, which I appreciated very much.  Afterwards, we sat and chatted for a bit before I came home.  I didn't come home empty handed, either: 

Dinner Plus More!

L had cooked vegetable rice and chicken; S served me a plate and added cookies, some Russian candy, (it has a citrusy taste), and a package of crumpets!  The rice has carrots and diced bell peppers added to it and I had it for dinner.  It was delicious.  

In the evening, after it had cooled down a bit, I planted more potatoes!  I am not sure if they will grow or not, because they were the last few left in my bag of supermarket potatoes and some of them had started to spoil.  I tossed a couple of them in the compost pile and put the rest into a container to see if they will grow.  It will be great if they grow, but, if they don't, then, that's fine, too.  And I put away the rainwater buckets in the shed, but, I kept one out for Mama Cat to perch on!

Well, this turned out to be a long post!  That's what happens when I skip a day!  My days are very ordinary, filled with rather ordinary activities, but, I truly enjoy each day's happenings.

I am grateful for:

- Being able to order online and have things delivered
- For M's help with the garden and any other tasks I ask him to do
- For potatoes harvested from the garden
- Being able to show L how to make the crocheted scarf
- Dinner compliments of L and S!  

Joyful activities have included tending to the garden with M and visiting with L and S and showing L how to crochet the shawl.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  Did you think I'd replenish my yarn stash so quickly?