This Week

Blueberry Flowers

This week, we've had unusually warm weather, with the temperatures in the 90s, with Tuesday's high being 99F in my area.  That's like summer and of course, both daughter and I loved it.  We don't have central air conditioning and the one window unit that we install in one bedroom has not been put up yet (I usually don't get M to put it up before July).  But we have fans if we need them.  

On Monday, there was a helicopter circling around my neighborhood for several hours and I wondered what was going on.  My first thought was an accident or a fire, especially when I heard some sirens in the background.  But, the helicopter kept circling long after the sound of the sirens faded away.  When daughter went out into the back yard to water the garden after work, a little after 5:30 p.m., she could hear the helicopter megaphone saying something, but, she couldn't quite catch what was being said.  Then, the helicopter flew right over the house and she heard them say, "You need to go back into the house"!  She turned the water off immediately and ran inside and closed all the doors and windows we had kept open!  Maybe there had been an armed robbery or something and they were searching for someone.  That's happened before in my neighborhood and one time, the police were going from house to house, checking the gardens for someone who had killed the owner of a neighborhood restaurant just three blocks from my house.  On that occasion, I had not seen the police officers until I went outside to take my trash cans to the curb and I was told to go inside!  Later in the evening on Monday, the helicopter went away and daughter was able to finish putting water to the garden and take the trash cans out.  We haven't found out what happened to cause the helicopter to circle overhead.

We had peanut butter and bananas for breakfast and I made egg salad sandwiches for lunch; we had more egg salad sandwiches for dinner, too.  I added green Serrano chilies and chives from the garden to the egg salad and it turned out well.  For dessert, I made thin pancakes filled with  grated coconut that had been sweetened with palmyra palm treacle and cinnamon and cooked to make what we call "pani pol" (pani = honey, treacle; pol = coconut).  

On Tuesday, I woke up around 8:00 a.m., which, most of you know is early for me, having gone to bed around 4:00 a.m.  I stayed in bed for a bit, but, I couldn't fall asleep again, so, I got up at 8:30 a.m.  My back was hurting badly enough for me to take a couple of Tylenols which helped.  I did some paperwork, checked the week's grocery ads, and did a little sewing on the quilt top I am piecing.  In the evening, I took a 3 hour nap on the sofa!

I made fried rice for brunch and for dinner, I cooked some fresh rice to have with the chicken and kale daughter had cooked, earlier.

On Wednesday, M tended to the garden and I spent a good part of the day doing the blog post about the stonery!  One of my cousins (Cousin M) is visiting from Australia and she is staying with one of our other cousins (Cousin V) during her stay here.  She called me in the evening and we made arrangements to meet for dinner at cousin V's on Friday evening.

I had leftover fried rice for brunch (daughter had a banana with peanut butter) and we had rice, chicken with kale, and a cucumber salad for dinner.  I had made some faluda with homemade rose syrup instead of tea in the evening and I froze some of it to have as a frozen dessert.  

On Thursday, we had another helicopter circling around my neighborhood in the morning!  This time it was above the intersection at one end of my street.  And this time, both my daughter and I heard the megaphone telling someone to come out of the house with their hands in the air!  Oh, my!  My daughter immediately closed the doors and windows, just to be on the safe side!  

I had my appointment with my tax preparer in the afternoon,  It was supposed to have been a two-hour time slot, but, it actually took us three hours to finish the taxes and I owed taxes after all that!  But, at least, that task is done!

I cooked a boxed mix of macaroni and cheese for a late lunch and I had it with some of the leftover ground beef mixture I had cooked earlier and daughter had her portion with canned tuna and chili sauce stirred into it.  Later, I baked a frozen beef pot pie for dinner; daughter didn't want one and she had a granola bar, instead.

Later in the night, daughter helped me order some items for my quarterly stock up of household items.  Depending on what I am stocking up, I usually buy a 3-6 months supply of things like toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, soap, etc.  My regular stocking up schedule got set aside for a bit when daughter came home last August, bringing all her non-food pantry supplies with her (she was not allowed to pack any food items in the boxes according to the moving company's regulations).  But, it's been over seven months since she came home and it's time to get back to restocking certain items.  For one thing, I do not want to wait until I run out of various items we use all the time and for another, I would prefer to stock up now, before supplies go down and prices go up, due to global events.  I'm not panic buying, but, I am being prepared.  

On Friday, the first of the stock up items I ordered were delivered: OTC pain medications because I am running low on what we have currently, allergy meds to replace the ones that had expired, the new supplement my doctor had prescribed to replace the one I am currently taking, daughter's prescribed supplements, more of the shampoo and conditioner that daughter uses, and a twin pack of solid deodorant as I am coming to the end of the one I am using and that was the last one in my stock!  I put away all the items except daughter's shampoo and hair conditioner which I left for her to put in the cabinet under her bathroom sink.

Friday evening, we were going to dinner with my cousins.  At first, I was planning to buy a cake or some pastries from the bakery as I didn't want to put the oven on to bake anything at home, but, although it was in the mid 90s, it was a little cooler in the house and I had all the ingredients I needed to make my "family favorite" bread pudding.  So, that's what I did, reusing a foil pie pan I had washed and kept.  That way, I didn't have to worry about collecting the dish from my cousin, afterwards and I could claim I had decluttered one item from my kitchen cabinets!  LOL.  I also tidied up one shelf in the kitchen cabinet and was able to move things around a bit to make room for one small kitchen appliance in there that had been stored elsewhere.

M arrived to tend to the garden just before we had to leave, so he watered the garden and locked the gate behind him when he left.  

It was lovely to see cousin M again (she last visited about two years ago) and to spend some time with her and cousin V.  

We had leftover mac and cheese for brunch and rice and curries for dinner at cousin V's.

On Saturday, it was about 10 degrees cooler and our daytime high was in the mid-80s.  Daughter picked some sugarsnap peas from the garden and shared them with me.  She continued to sew her dress, learning how to cut bias bindings and sew a facing to a neckline, how to sew darts in order to tailor the garment to fit her measurements, etc.  

I cooked fried diced potatoes, scrambled eggs, and turkey bacon for brunch.  For dinner, I cooked rice and a chicken curry, which we had with kale mallung I had prepared earlier.  

This week, I have been grateful for:

- The lovely warm weather
- Being able to vist my cousins

- M's help with the garden
- Fans and the electricity to run the fans
- Water for the garden

This week's joyful activities have included visiting my cousins, sewing, and spending time in the garden.

How was your week?