After being so thrilled by the lack of mosquitoes in our city this summer, I have been most discouraged, displeased and disgusted to find that with the recent hatching of their population following torrential rains last week, I am now COVERED in mosquito bites despite being diligent every time I go outside to spray myself with the best of products to prevent such things from occuring.
Hmmm....maybe I did miss a few opportunities to drench myself in bug spray after all because my arms and legs are covered in itchy, red, swollen "dots". I look like I have the measles! Oh WOW do they ever ITCH!!!! It is taking all my will power to keep my fingernails away from them so I don't scratch them and get infections! I guess I don't really have any more bites than I have had any other summer, it is just more noticeable after being free of the icky things for so many weeks earlier in the season.
Mosquito bites aside, it has been a grand weekend. My husband was able to sleep in on the first day of his holidays yesterday. (He then spent nearly 4 hours sending out work related emails and making phone calls to his wardens...naturally...why should this year be any different, right?? hahahaha)
HOWEVER, in the afternoon we had a lovely treat. We drove out to a farm near his parish and had a wonderful visit with one of his church families. They are the most interesting family! They have four incredibly creative and well behaved children, they have cattle and bees and a huge garden and have just purchased a farm with land that has already been certified organic so they can start working on many new planting projects. They are going to build a greenhouse that can be sunk into the ground and use the heat from their house to keep it warm in winter, their cattle have all ready been certified organic and they are going to add sheep and chickens to their animal repertoire. They are all ready selling honey from their bee hives.They are going to enclose their property with the 7500 trees they just ordered. They are both highly educated in agronomy and have both taught up and coming organic farmers at various eastern universities. They are fascinating people and we had the most marvellous time sitting under the branches of huge oak trees, waving our toes in the soft green grass.
Today was also an interesting day. My husband and I managed to write and present the Prayers of the People for my church service this morning. What fun we had doing it together.
After our usual Sunday "catch as catch can" lunch we went for a patio visit at the home of good friends. They make their own wine and honestly it is the best "home made" wine we have ever tasted. It certainly went with the cheese, home baked bread, fruit and blueberry lemon scones they served us! My husband and I are tempted to go to the Wine Cellar ourselves sometime and see if we can get a kit like theirs going! If all home made wine was a kind to the palate as their merlot and summer white, well, we could be tempted to be a tad less snobby about wine...yes, really....well, it COULD happen...I suppose....maybe....perhaps....?
My husband made us pita pizzas for dinner tonight. I wasn't in the mood to eat dinner, but knew I had to, so my husband surprising me with that little pizza was the perfect way to end a nearly perfect day.
I am hoping to find a few necessities for my mom tomorrow or the next day, some particular vitamin and mineral supplements that are not available right now in her city as everyone is sold out, a few novels that I all ready purchased for her, possibly even a new summer blouse to give her a little boost of joy over receiving something pretty and unnecessary. She is so lonely with Dad gone and the lockdown continuing indefinitely for her facility. If we lived in her province we could isolate ourselves at home for 2 weeks and then after being checked we would be allowed to go into her suite for an afternoon of visiting, but coming from out of province...well, we have nowhere to quarantine for 14 days in a row before seeing Mom. So, I am going to be in touch regularly with the administrator of her residence. As soon as we can visit her without the quarantine we will hop in the car and go for the long drive to spend some time with her.
My husband had to make the sad decision today to forego the annual canoe trip with his buddies. It was such a disappointment on the one hand, but on the other hand, he is feeling so lousy and exhausted that bowing out was a bit of a relief. HOWEVER, he had no sooner cancelled out on that trip when a text arrived from another friend who is living on the Churchill River System and is very experiened with all the water craft in use there. He has invited my husband to go sailing with him...a far less strenuous affair in terms of my husband's health and also at a far more convenient time of the year. So, I am praying this trip will end up being more than a mere possibility.
The daytime high temperatures for the next 10 days are forecast to be in the +24C to +29C range, so most days will be more bearable than most of the days we had to survive last week! YAY! The inability to go outside and just wander or drive wherever we feel like it, thanks to the pandemic, is more responsible for us feeling the hot house effect than the actual temperature. So glad it has been cooling down overnight, BUT there is not a breath of breeze after about 4pm every day. That seems unusual for the prairies.
Onward to another week of who knows what!??! Bet there will be some wonderful things among the stresses!
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