Last Week

A Chicken in Every Pot?

Time for another quick weekly update!

On Monday, September 28, friend R stopped by in the evening to pick up some of her packages that had been delivered to my address.  We visited for a while and she had some of the japchae (Korean noodles) that my daughter had made and a cup of tea.  We spent some time in the garden watching the chickens and, although I offered to drive her home, she called a ride share to take her home.  Afterwards, daughter took the trash cans to the curb. Later in the evening, daughter and I spent some time singing together which was a lot of fun.  We need to do more of that!

On Tuesday, I watered the back garden, brought in the emptied trash cans, checked the new grocery ads, tidied the dining table, wiped down the shelves in the china cabinet and rearranged a few things in there to make room for the new dinnerware (eventually, they will go in the kitchen cabinets after we've had a chance to go through and clear out the old dishes).  In the evening, daughter assembled two more metal raised beds for me; we want to plant some cool weather vegetables in them, once it gets cool enough to do so!  We've been experiencing a mini heatwave this week.

On Wednesday, gardener friend M was here to tend to the garden.  He watered and tidied the garden and I asked him to buy me some bags of potting soil when he had the time to do so.  Wednesday was also an admin day with paying bills, etc.  I also did a bit of last minute decluttering to make sure I met my minimum September monthly goal of 30 items decluttered.

On Thursday, October 1, I celebrated the new month with milkrice for brunch and made seeni sambol to go with it.  I had gone to bed late the night before (I had been up till 5:00 a.m.) and slept in late and woken up with a bit of a back pain for which I took a Tylenol.  So, I took it easy all day and, in the evening, I spent some time in the garden with the chickens.

On Friday, after feeding the chickens, I got a few things crossed off my To Do List.  I wrapped the wedding gifts we had ordered for our friend's wedding, wrote out a card, ironed the outfits we were going to wear to the wedding on Saturday, etc.  I did take a short nap in the afternoon.  In the evening, M was here, again, to tend to the garden and we gave him four of our "home grown" eggs.  

Saturday was the wedding day of my late friend A's younger daughter A.  My daughter and I wore saris to the event.  There was a church service at 2:00 p.m. followed by a reception starting at 5:00 p.m.  The temperature on Saturday reached 100F.  The wedding ceremony was lovely and A made a beautiful bride.  We all felt the absence of her mother but her extended family made a real effort to be there for her, flying in from all over the world including Sri Lanka, Australia, the Middle East, England, and Canada plus several other states within the US.  

The Church service was over a little after 3:00 p.m. and we had a couple of hours before the reception started.  The Church was located a few blocks away from my cousin V's house, so when one of our mutual friends said she had called V and V had invited her over, I, too, called V and was invited to come over!  So, my daughter and I and our mutual friend R and her husband plus another couple that R had invited to join us all went over to cousin V's house!  Poor V had all of 5 minutes notice before we all descended on her! LOL.  But, V is an excellent hostess.  She had cool drinks and a tray of cheese and crackers, cookies, cashews, and grapes ready to serve us.  

At first, I thought that the couple that friend R had invited along were known to V and her husband, but, no, it was the first time they met them!  Then, I thought that this couple were known to R and her husband (since they had invited them along), but, apparently, they just met earlier at the Church!  But, they were Sri Lankans who were now residing in Canada and, obviously, known to the bride's family.  Before we left V's house to go to the reception, we had all been invited to stay with them anytime we visited Toronto, Canada!  LOL.  

The reception venue was very nice, adjacent to a golf course where we could see a flock of Canada geese enjoying the grounds next to a lake.  There was an outdoor reception area as well as the reception room where the tables were set for dinner and a dance floor.  Since daughter and I wore our masks, we took our food to the outdoor reception area where there were a few tables and chairs set up and ate there.  Dinner was salad, followed by both chicken and beef steak with vegetables, followed by an assortment of desserts set out on a table to the side.  

Daughter and I stayed until the cake was cut, but, we didn't wait until it was served.  We left early because it had been a long day for one thing and we were anxious about the chickens who were in their enclosure, but, not in their coop.  They were both sleeping on top of the chicken coop and daughter scooped them up and put them on their perches inside the coop and we locked them up for the night (the inner coop has been made predator-resistant while the enclosure is not (we've bought the hardware fabric to make it predator-resistant, but, we have not had the time to put up the hardware fabric).  

We were still up and discussing the wedding when daughter's friend P called around midnight (P knows that we don't go to sleep till well after midnight).  P's sister had celebrated her 40th birthday with a catered dinner for about 20 people and they had ordered too much food.  Would we like to have some pancit and adobo chicken?   We said we'd love to have some and P dropped off several containers of each, plus a big 2 liter bottle of ginger ale!  Daughter gave him six eggs in return, which P said his parents cooked for breakfast the following morning.

On Sunday, we relaxed.  Daughter did laundry and packed her suitcase in preparation for her trip to Berkeley for a work-related conference.  She flew to Berkeley on Monday evening, after work and she will fly back on Wednesday evening, after the conference ends.   I'll be on "chicken duty" while daughter is away. 

Last week, I was grateful for:

- Being able to attend A's wedding
- Being able to visit cousin V in between events
- A safe drive to the wedding venue and back
- A visit from friend R
- M's help with the garden

The week's joyful activities have included attending A's wedding and singing with my daughter.

How was your week?  What are your plans for this week?