Brrr....
I just got back from checking our balcony garden with Eldest again. We're having a major wind storm right now, and our balcony has virtually no shelter from it. The wind just seems to whip around inside the side walls rather than blowing over them. I've had to take my rail planters off and tuck them against a wall. Several of my basil have been damaged by the wind - bent right over right at the base of the stems. We'll see tomorrow if they survive the onslaught. They're still being blown around some, but not as much as on the rail. I even had to move another planter that was already on the ground. My second sowing of spinach was literally being crushed by the wind.
Speaking of spinach, I'm going to have to harvest the first sowing pretty much right away. It's starting to bolt, and I don't want them getting all leggy and going to seed.
It sure is great having the garden. We've been able to make a couple of salads with the small greens I've been thinning out. We can also harvest just a few leaves for sandwiches as needed. Eldest was waxing poetic over the spinach, cream cheese and a bit of shredded cheddar sandwich she had earlier today.
The rosemary is growing a lot more slowly than I expected. Perhaps it's being shaded too much by the tarragon, which is growing much faster than I expected. We've already used the tarragon to make a lovely butter. The parsley has also seen use already, as well as a few chives. The basil isn't ready for use yet, though I could probably start using the thyme. The carrots were growing slowly until we had a thunderstorm and accompanying short deluge one evening. They grew an inch overnight after that. I look forward to when they're big enough to start thinning - can't let the little ones go to waste. ;-)
This summer, we're learning a lot about what we can expect to do for next year. While the large amounts of direct sunlight was something I knew we'd be dealing with, I didn't expect that wind would be such an issue. Not to this extent. This will need to be taken into account in deciding if we'll plant anything with height. I had been thinking peas or beans in planters with a lattice back, which I've seen in stores this summer, but with this wind, I am no longer sure they won't be ripped apart.
We still need to decide if we'll be signing up for a garden plot for next year. It'd be great to plant some corn and heirloom varieties of potatoes.
I'm going to have to stop trying to write, though. The family keeps trying to talk to me. *L*
Monday, July 06, 2009
Catch up time
Oops! I totally forgot to post after the piano came in. Ah, well.
I'm borrowing my husband's laptop to write this. Hopefully, I'll catch all the typos I'm going to be making before I publish this. LOL
So our piano arrived, mostly safe and sound. It took 5 guys and a lot of struggling for them to get it up to our door. The stairs to our place are split in two sections. The first lead right to the sidewalk and there's a landing between them and the next set. They were able to use a ramp for that. The second set is longer, steeper, and enclosed between our unit and the neighbour's. Just to make it even more fun, the landing between the two is just narrow enough that the two guys at the top had to start lifting it up the second set before it cleared the ramp. The piano was on skids that had to clear about half the staircase before they could start sliding instead of lifting one step at a time.
Then they had to deal with the landing at the top. Actually, things were a lot easier once they cleared the stairs. The landing turned out to be adequately large enough to turn the piano. Then they had to get it over the door sill, get it back on wheels and set it up. We bought a heavy duty rug to put under the piano to protect the carpet. They got hung up on that a bit and had to lift the piano one side at a time to straighten it back out again. It's now several inches past where I meant it to be, but I wasn't about to complain! *L*
After they left, I got Eldest to start going through the keyboard and we were startled to find one that wasn't making any sound. We opened the front up and discovered a missing hammer. Youngest found the hammer sitting on the works below. I've since verified that the hammer was broken *before* it left the family that had it for the last few years, and they thought it had always been that way. They left it where they found it, so it wouldn't get lost.
Other than that, the piano needs a serious tuning. I have an idea of how much that will cost, but I'm almost afraid to find out how much fixing the hammer will cost. We'll also be looking into finding out how much it will cost to re-varnish the thing. After 200 years, it's got quite a bit of cosmetic damage. ;-)
We haven't really started playing it yet. I've still got to dig out my old music books. Unfortunately, they've been buried in a storage closet already. In the process of digging out the A/C unit, various other boxes and whatnot got shoved aside. It will all have to be pulled out for me to reach the box my music books are in. *sigh* I've printed out some sheet music from online, but it's been so long since I've played, I have to learn how to read notes all over again! Especially since Eldest has already asked me to teach her a bit. *L*
All in good time. Right now, I'm just so glad to finally have it here. It was worth the cost, as painful as that was.
Next painful expenditure of funds: a new (to us) vehicle, so we can visit family and start doing some road trips again! :-D
I'm borrowing my husband's laptop to write this. Hopefully, I'll catch all the typos I'm going to be making before I publish this. LOL
So our piano arrived, mostly safe and sound. It took 5 guys and a lot of struggling for them to get it up to our door. The stairs to our place are split in two sections. The first lead right to the sidewalk and there's a landing between them and the next set. They were able to use a ramp for that. The second set is longer, steeper, and enclosed between our unit and the neighbour's. Just to make it even more fun, the landing between the two is just narrow enough that the two guys at the top had to start lifting it up the second set before it cleared the ramp. The piano was on skids that had to clear about half the staircase before they could start sliding instead of lifting one step at a time.
Then they had to deal with the landing at the top. Actually, things were a lot easier once they cleared the stairs. The landing turned out to be adequately large enough to turn the piano. Then they had to get it over the door sill, get it back on wheels and set it up. We bought a heavy duty rug to put under the piano to protect the carpet. They got hung up on that a bit and had to lift the piano one side at a time to straighten it back out again. It's now several inches past where I meant it to be, but I wasn't about to complain! *L*
After they left, I got Eldest to start going through the keyboard and we were startled to find one that wasn't making any sound. We opened the front up and discovered a missing hammer. Youngest found the hammer sitting on the works below. I've since verified that the hammer was broken *before* it left the family that had it for the last few years, and they thought it had always been that way. They left it where they found it, so it wouldn't get lost.
Other than that, the piano needs a serious tuning. I have an idea of how much that will cost, but I'm almost afraid to find out how much fixing the hammer will cost. We'll also be looking into finding out how much it will cost to re-varnish the thing. After 200 years, it's got quite a bit of cosmetic damage. ;-)
We haven't really started playing it yet. I've still got to dig out my old music books. Unfortunately, they've been buried in a storage closet already. In the process of digging out the A/C unit, various other boxes and whatnot got shoved aside. It will all have to be pulled out for me to reach the box my music books are in. *sigh* I've printed out some sheet music from online, but it's been so long since I've played, I have to learn how to read notes all over again! Especially since Eldest has already asked me to teach her a bit. *L*
All in good time. Right now, I'm just so glad to finally have it here. It was worth the cost, as painful as that was.
Next painful expenditure of funds: a new (to us) vehicle, so we can visit family and start doing some road trips again! :-D
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Happy 4th
Wishing my friends and visitors from the US a Happy Independance Day. I hope you have a great time celebrating. :-)
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Happy Canada Day!!
Just taking a moment in between outings to wish my fellow Canadians a Happy Canada Day.
I hope you're having as wonderful a day as we are! :-D
I hope you're having as wonderful a day as we are! :-D
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Excited
The count down is on!
After almost 4 years, we are finally getting our piano shipped out! It should arrive in a few hours. The space for it is read, the space they need to maneuver is cleared, and we're all set.
I can hardly wait.
It should be interesting seeing how they get it in. When we made the arrangements, I did tell them it was an upright grand. I don't think they realized what that meant. Talking to them later (and finding out the piano was making a side trip to Toronto), the owner of the moving company said, "that's a really BIG piano!" Well, yes. I did tell them it was 1000 pounds, too. What did they expect?
They probably expected an upright piano. I don't know that anyone makes upright grands anymore, but they are a fair bit taller than the more common uprights.
Our entrance is on the second floor. They have to get it up the stairs, with most of the stairs running in between our townhouse and our neighbour. The hard part is going to be turning it at the top to get it through the door.
Well, that's what we're paying them $1500 or so to do! They added extra when they found out more about the stairs, which we had planned for. A few steps are no big deal, but a full flight is something else. They're even going to have the transfer the piano from the big moving truck to something smaller, because a full sized moving truck will get stuck on our street.
It'll be good to be reunited with the beasty.
After almost 4 years, we are finally getting our piano shipped out! It should arrive in a few hours. The space for it is read, the space they need to maneuver is cleared, and we're all set.
I can hardly wait.
It should be interesting seeing how they get it in. When we made the arrangements, I did tell them it was an upright grand. I don't think they realized what that meant. Talking to them later (and finding out the piano was making a side trip to Toronto), the owner of the moving company said, "that's a really BIG piano!" Well, yes. I did tell them it was 1000 pounds, too. What did they expect?
They probably expected an upright piano. I don't know that anyone makes upright grands anymore, but they are a fair bit taller than the more common uprights.
Our entrance is on the second floor. They have to get it up the stairs, with most of the stairs running in between our townhouse and our neighbour. The hard part is going to be turning it at the top to get it through the door.
Well, that's what we're paying them $1500 or so to do! They added extra when they found out more about the stairs, which we had planned for. A few steps are no big deal, but a full flight is something else. They're even going to have the transfer the piano from the big moving truck to something smaller, because a full sized moving truck will get stuck on our street.
It'll be good to be reunited with the beasty.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Combined library list
Since we're actually going to make it to the library tomorrow (last week, we were able to just renew everything that was due, as we didn't have time to go to the library at all), I figure it'd be a good idea to actually write out what we have right now.
For myself, I went on another blitz of crochet books.
Blueprint Crochet; modern designs for the visual crocheter. Interesting book, but not a lot that I'd actually want to make.
Crochet Magazine; Nov. 2008 This one had sock patterns I wanted to get a closer look at. All cuff down designs. I prefer toe up.
The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys; 30 projects men will love. This was was really excellent. Lots of great designs.
101 Double-ended Hook Stitches. I just had to take this one out. Not as complicated as I thought it would be. Not that I've been able to find double ended hooks anywhere.
Afghans for All Seasons and Mosaic Magic; Afghans made easy. Eldest has asked me to make her a blanket for the winter, so I have been taking out a variety of books for her to look at patterns. She decided on one in Afghans for All Seasons. Unfortunately, Mosaic Magic had quite a few pages missing.
Embellished Crochet; 28 stunning designs to make using Caron International yarn. This is one I've taken out before and wanted to check out for ideas again.
Get Your Crochet On; Hip Hats & Cool Caps. Another repeat for me.
I've also taken out a bunch of books for a specific event. I am trying to get together a group of people interested in historical cookery, and for the first attempted gathering, I've decided to do a Brother Cadfael theme. As the character was a soldier and sailor in the crusades before becoming a monk, this would include not only food from England and Wales in the early 1100's, but also foods from the Holy Land.
Cadfael Country; Shropshire & The Welsh Border
Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages
A Taste of Thyme; Culinary Cultures of the Middle East
Feast from the Mideast; 250 Sun-Drenched Dishes from the Land of the Bible
A Biblical Feast; Foods from the Holy Land
Brother Cadfael Omnibus and The Second Cadfael Omnibus
Brother Cadfael's Book of Days
British Food; An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
Taste; The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking
The next batch were taken out by my daughter's. I'm not quite sure who took out what with some of these! *L*
Nine Crazy Ideas in Science
Classical Kimono; Four Centuries of Fashion
Everyday Fashion of the Twenties; As pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs
Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustree"
Brides Sept/Oct 2005
Medieval Structure: The Gothic Vault
England's Thousand Best Churches
Folktales of Ireland
We didn't get a lot of music cd's this time around...
La Dolce Vita; Fellini/Rota (film music)
The Queen Collection played by they Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presents Symphonic Rock
... but we did get a lot of dvd's. Unfortunately, even with renewals, we haven't had a chance to watch them all.
The Bible's Buries Secrets; Beyond Fact of Fiction. We only made it about half way through this fascinating dvd.
Solar Max; The hottest new film under the sun. Quite interesting!!
Two Fat Ladies Season 4.
Alice; A film by Jan Svankmayer. NOT the Disney version!
Das Boot; The Director's Cut
Intolerance. This 1916 movie is not for the faint of heart.
The Man Who Wasn't There.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The original nightmare that threatened the world. This is the 1955 version.
The Edgar Allen Poe Collection: Annabel Lee & Others Tales of Mystery and Imagination. This includes Annabelle Lee, The Raven, and The Tell-Tale Heart
Hmmm... I should probably renew a bunch of these again. Especially the historical cooking/Cadfael ones.
For myself, I went on another blitz of crochet books.
Blueprint Crochet; modern designs for the visual crocheter. Interesting book, but not a lot that I'd actually want to make.
Crochet Magazine; Nov. 2008 This one had sock patterns I wanted to get a closer look at. All cuff down designs. I prefer toe up.
The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys; 30 projects men will love. This was was really excellent. Lots of great designs.
101 Double-ended Hook Stitches. I just had to take this one out. Not as complicated as I thought it would be. Not that I've been able to find double ended hooks anywhere.
Afghans for All Seasons and Mosaic Magic; Afghans made easy. Eldest has asked me to make her a blanket for the winter, so I have been taking out a variety of books for her to look at patterns. She decided on one in Afghans for All Seasons. Unfortunately, Mosaic Magic had quite a few pages missing.
Embellished Crochet; 28 stunning designs to make using Caron International yarn. This is one I've taken out before and wanted to check out for ideas again.
Get Your Crochet On; Hip Hats & Cool Caps. Another repeat for me.
I've also taken out a bunch of books for a specific event. I am trying to get together a group of people interested in historical cookery, and for the first attempted gathering, I've decided to do a Brother Cadfael theme. As the character was a soldier and sailor in the crusades before becoming a monk, this would include not only food from England and Wales in the early 1100's, but also foods from the Holy Land.
Cadfael Country; Shropshire & The Welsh Border
Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages
A Taste of Thyme; Culinary Cultures of the Middle East
Feast from the Mideast; 250 Sun-Drenched Dishes from the Land of the Bible
A Biblical Feast; Foods from the Holy Land
Brother Cadfael Omnibus and The Second Cadfael Omnibus
Brother Cadfael's Book of Days
British Food; An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
Taste; The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking
The next batch were taken out by my daughter's. I'm not quite sure who took out what with some of these! *L*
Nine Crazy Ideas in Science
Classical Kimono; Four Centuries of Fashion
Everyday Fashion of the Twenties; As pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs
Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustree"
Brides Sept/Oct 2005
Medieval Structure: The Gothic Vault
England's Thousand Best Churches
Folktales of Ireland
We didn't get a lot of music cd's this time around...
La Dolce Vita; Fellini/Rota (film music)
The Queen Collection played by they Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presents Symphonic Rock
... but we did get a lot of dvd's. Unfortunately, even with renewals, we haven't had a chance to watch them all.
The Bible's Buries Secrets; Beyond Fact of Fiction. We only made it about half way through this fascinating dvd.
Solar Max; The hottest new film under the sun. Quite interesting!!
Two Fat Ladies Season 4.
Alice; A film by Jan Svankmayer. NOT the Disney version!
Das Boot; The Director's Cut
Intolerance. This 1916 movie is not for the faint of heart.
The Man Who Wasn't There.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The original nightmare that threatened the world. This is the 1955 version.
The Edgar Allen Poe Collection: Annabel Lee & Others Tales of Mystery and Imagination. This includes Annabelle Lee, The Raven, and The Tell-Tale Heart
Hmmm... I should probably renew a bunch of these again. Especially the historical cooking/Cadfael ones.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Fascinating
A couple of really interesting sites to share.
Zooborns Eldest found this site today, and I think we'll be visiting it regularly! Incredible photos with information on animals born at various zoos.
Ugly Overload We've been checking this site out for quite some time now, and it's always filled with the most incredible creaturs and interesting information. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find many of these creatures incredibly gorgeous.
Zooborns Eldest found this site today, and I think we'll be visiting it regularly! Incredible photos with information on animals born at various zoos.
Ugly Overload We've been checking this site out for quite some time now, and it's always filled with the most incredible creaturs and interesting information. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find many of these creatures incredibly gorgeous.
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