Canada Day

I love these laid back summer holidays. We didn't have much planned for the day except to spend it together as a family. Waking up early which was a novelty. I can thank having a really crazy disturbing dream for that. It was the kind of dream where I say to myself, I don't want to dream this anymore, this is too warped, then wake up. Enjoying a vat of coffee in my new Running Mommy mug (which easily fits 32oz of coffee) and puttering on the porches.

I had hung my flags the night before and enjoyed opening the door to see it. I just wished I had gotten them up earlier in the week. I feel like this holiday crept up on me, what with all the upheavals around here lately. I'm really off my game.

After the kids were fed and dressed hubby headed outside to start the landscaping projects and I made my first batch of strawberry jam. I discovered after picking through my jars in the basement that I only had one box of 1 cup jars so that was my imposed limit for the day. I grumbled and made a mental note to hit Canadian Tire first thing tomorrow morning for a few more boxes. Then on to strawberry picking (if it's not too late).

The moment I took my jam out of the processor I was greated with instant pops. Wow, that's the first time my jars ever sealed that quickly. Usually it takes a few minutes but before I could wipe the water off the jars the seals were all set. Amazing. I hope my next three batches cooperate as well.Taking my lunch out to the deck I enjoyed watching the kids play. L. was happy in the big pile of dirt. He had more dirt on him then there was in the pile. Typical. E. was on the deck in the gazebo creating games with his lego pieces and a die. We took turns playing this new game with him while we took breaks from gardening. I got some fabulous plants at Sheridan the other day all marked 50% because they didn't move quick enough. Some of them a little worse for wear but are already showing signs of recovery with the little TLC they've had in the last two days.

Here is an update on the back yard. It still looks messy but that's because we have a habit of dragging things behind us. We still have three garden beds to work on but the garden, fountain and deck beds look good. A vast improvement.The garden yielded so much broccoli (this is just one of the dishes of broccoli) that there was no way I'd be able to eat it while it was fresh so I blanched and froze a few batches for the colder months. I did however eat the Swiss Chard. I took out the broccoli plants since I had exhausted them and put in three more Swiss Chard plants. I got the nice big pepper in before something cold eat it. The strawberries are trickling in but I give most of them to still warm from the sun to L. who likes to follow me out to see what wonderful yummy things I'll pull from the garden next. The beans are starting to flower and I expect that I'll have a few beans to pick starting late next week if the sun stays out.

I've had to climb up and retrain the cucumbers because they were taking over the planet. I spent more than an hour tending to them yesterday and I have to say that it doesn't look like I accomplished anything. What I did wind up doing was trimming back some of the foliage and extra troublesome vines. This gave the needed room between plants. I've got the starts of 20 cucumbers in the works now. Just need some good hot days.

We have finished dinner which was a couple of organic steaks, smashed potatoes and corn-on-the-cob and ice cold Corona. We are now (im)patiently waiting for dusk so that we can take our fireworks over to the park and light them off then enjoy everyone else's. I hope with the breeze it will hold the mosquitoes off. I still intend to dounce us all in this great chemical free mosquito repellent before we take off.

This was a very nice productive happy day and will be very quiet once we pour the kids into bed after the firework displays. It feels like a great start to the summer!