Tomato Time

I will have to note in my gardening records that today was the first day we had ripe tomatoes (other than the cherry ones). Enjoyed one of our favorite meals: falafel....I learned to make it in Israel and we always celebrate the first of the cucumbers and tomatoes with this yummy meal. I will have to post the recipe up this week. The hot and humid weather has turned the garden into a lush jungle. Everything has doubled in size and I see "harvest time" just around the corner. Time to check all my canning and freezing supplies. We are under a heat alert until Wednesday - so looks like I'll be up early checking in on everything and getting the watering done before work tomorrow. Wish I could have jumped in my sister's pool today! John and I watched movies in the air conditioned house while I worked on the DMI newsletter (folding, stuffing, labeling, stamping & sealing) - a perfect job to do while watching movies. Well, time to get to bed so I can beat the heat tomorrow!

Saturday

Another hot, humid day. The cicadas are out and making a racket! I think we are fully into summer now. I know my tomatoes need hot nights to ripen, so I tell myself that this is worth being a little uncomfortable. Today is my day to plan for the next week - so menu planning and grocery shopping are the order of the day. John has things set up so nice for me to be able to work on the porch using the wireless with my laptop...with the ceiling fan going it is comfortable. I think if there is air moving - that always feels better. I also need to work on the DMI newsletter...so not alot of time for gardening today. Maybe tomorrow it will be cooler. I think we'll have our first batch of green beans soon - seems like after a rain everything really grows fast! I've changed my page a little on the sidebar...including the days that I plan to update each blog or website...hopefully that will help anyone who regularly looks at this know which other site to check.

Friday Focus

It's raining again today, so I've spent the morning researching several projects I have in mind. One is to turn our foyer/hallway into a pantry - so I've been measuring and online shopping Home Depot to see if it can be done without having to put up a wall. Now if my brother-in-law John lived closer, I'd pay him to put up a wall and I could do the finishing. The other thing I am working on for Walter is a job description for my work at NCCC. And I've been doing a little online shopping for cars - although it'll be at least a year before I've saved enough money. It has helped me determine what options/models/types I'm interested in.
The rain has not lowered the humidity at all - so we're taking things slow today. I've also been working on plans for a storage shed to be built or bought and put at the back of our driveway. This would enable us to actually use our garage for cars this winter. Lots of projects - always easier to dream about and plan than to actually put into place.

New goals

I've decided to update my blogs weekly on different days to try to be more consistent. For a list of my schedule check out my main page
www.geocities.com/mommoboys
I am trying to organize my time more strictly as the end of the summer nears and things begin to get hectic with the start of the school year and the start of the ministry year at work.
We'll see how it goes. Today is my day off and I've already gotten my 30 minute walk done, as it is going to be a hot one! I'm heading out to the garden with my long list of "to dos" and plan to enjoy this respite from WORK (meaning at NCCC) by "working" outside until the heat gets unbearable. I have some inside jobs in my pocket for the heat of the day. I miss the freedom of vacation and the open feeling each day had - but I intend to make my day off each week be my mini-vacation as much as I can. Will update everyone on my progress tonight on my garden blog.

Goals

One of the things that I took time to do over vacation was to review my goals for this year. We are 6 months into the year and a good time to see how I'm doing and re-assess to see if I still desire these goals. It is a good exercise for me - I sometimes set too many goals for myself and then get depressed because I can't pull everything off. A mid-year reevaluation helps me keep my expectations in line. One thing that I do want to be more committed to is writing. After visiting with my Uncle Joe and being reminded by him of the importance of recording our memories - I want to take more time to do that. So I need to set aside time each day or two to record memories. A blog seems like the perfect place to do that.

Vacation is over

We have had a wonderful vacation and now it is time to return to reality! It was great having some days to "play" in my garden. Then a wonderful time in Indiana and Michigan with our family reunion. We got to visit with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Kay - getting a chance to see my Grandpa's farm and all the hard work that Dick has done there. Time at Posey Chapel, visiting my dad's grave. A great Mexican meal with Uncle Joe and Aunt Pat, Mike & Patty, Dick & Kay! So much fun to have everyone together. Lots of nice visiting time...got to go to the Lake, shopping, our traditional lunch at Carlson's Drive-In, driving by all the old houses. Uncle Joe & Aunt Pat treated us to a wonderful dinner at Ryan's and then we got to look through Joe's scrapbooks from the trip he & Aunt Pat took with my parents to Scotland. Several of us went to see "Pirates" at the late movie. Then John & I drove to Iowa to see Andrew. We had a wonderful time in Cedar Rapids. Andrew took us to see a great garden, where they had every variety of flower and had them all labeled. It was so cool! On Wednesday, Andrew took the day off work and we went to the Amana Colonies. The history at the museum was so interesting. I got to see several old looms, all kinds of farming equipment. We visited Lilly Lake and all the lillies were in bloom. Then we've had several days at home to catch up on everything before going back to work.
Well that's the short summary of 2006's vacation...I'll post pictures as soon as I locate my cable to download them from my camera.
Everyone have a nice week!