It may be no secret to those of you who read this blog (all two of you) that my mother is dutch, and I speak a bit of the language. This came in very handy, as it turns out, when the Austrians visited last week and all of a sudden I was the minority in my own home. My husband speaks german, not fluently but he at least understands everything, my brother-in-law was raised in Toronto so speaks english as well as my husband, my sister-in-law is from Austria and her english is pretty good but broken, and my nephew just completed his first year of english study at school. His english is coming along, but it's still difficult for them to speak english to each other, so for 9.5 days the background language at home was German.
Now dutch and german are not the same language, contrary to what most people believe. In some respects they are very close; some of the words are the same with a slightly different pronunciation, and I believe much of the grammatical structure is the same. But dutch borrows heavily from french and english, and the sound of it is so different that my ears needed to readjust completely. That being said, I did remarkably well picking up what my new relatives were talking about, to the point where they couldn't say anything negative around me (not that they would, but that was always my test with dutch. My mom used to switch to dutch when speaking with my grandmother about touchy things, but that stopped when they realized I knew what they were saying).
We had a terrific time, the Austrians and I (and my hubby). They landed in Toronto on Friday and we weren't expecting them to come that night, but they called around 10:30 pm and said they may just drive straight through. So we rushed and got the spare room ready, but they ended up sleeping in the car at the side of the road. (They ARE _______s, like my hubby, that family is like that). They arrived Saturday morning at 8:30 am. After the greetings and hugs were had, we went out for breakfast, and then spent a glorious day on the beach. My sister-in-law and I chatted all day while the boys went out and had a fabulous day of fishing, then we went for ice cream, and on home for a big fish dinner. A perfect day was had.
Sunday she and I went shopping in town while the guys went fishing again (my 11 year old nephew is a fishing nut like my hubby), which was lovely. Then on Monday it rained, so our plans of going camping were put off by a day. We ended up packing up both cars with boats etc. and shipping out on Tuesday to 31-mile lake, an hour and a half north of us, and set up camp on an idyllic island in the middle of that heavenly clear huge lake. Almost perfection. Almost, because the island had no toilet, and was covered by ants during the daylight hours (we got to know intimately the ants' schedule, however, which was interesting). The fishing wasn't great but for three days we swam, rode around the lake in boats, snorkelled, ate food cooked on the campfire, swam more, ate, drank, swam, played a LOT of gin rummy, and swam. I got a lot of sun.
We returned home late Thursday night. Friday was spent hanging around and tidying up, we went to the little local lake for fishing and swimming in the afternoon, then that evening we went to the Edelweiss Valley Speedway for the SuperSprint car races. Man alive, I don't think they'd ever seen anything like that - I hadn't. So loud, dirty, stinky, and fun. My nephew had a terrific time. We all needed showers when we got home - after sitting in the front row, my hairline was actually caked in mud.
Saturday my brother (R) and sister-in-law (A) went to town and we hung out with our nephew, which was fun. We played games all day, went to the lake for a swim, then when R and A got home they brought all the fixings for a terrific steak dinner and cooked it, which was a real treat. We went for a good walk afterwards, then got home and built a fire and played cards by candlelight until almost midnight.
Sunday was again so hot it was uncomfortable, the boys went fishing and A and I read and snoozed all day. La-zy. It was kind of a sad day too, like the last day of summer holidays. I didn't want them to go, but they were planning their next part of the trip - a road trip to Montreal, Quebec city, Charlevoix and the Gaspé.
On Monday we went back to work. So sad. I didn't cry but was close to it all morning, they left sometime during the day while we were at work. I don't know if they'll be back on their way back to Toronto, but they might be - I hope so. I miss them. It feels like it was a dream week. It wasn't always smooth as butter having 3 extra people in the house, but it was fun, and I especially miss my nephew. Adults are fine with a one-year interval between visits, but kids change, and at 11, by the next time we see him he may be hit by puberty and gone sullen - who knows. It's hard to believe, he's such a little sweetie. (sigh).
Now I'm back at work. phooey. The house has been brought ALMOST back to order (I left the spare room set up, just in case) and I've been relaxing, but I would give anything to have that easy chaos back!
The garden is overgrown a bit, and we had a violent hailstorm the other night that knocked some things over, but it'll only take a weekend to get it back on track. This is the phase of the summer where the garden doesn't really look it's best. The raspberries smack in the middle of my perennial beds are finished and looking bedraggled, which ruins the entire look, and most things are past their peak blooming time for the moment. I have two big plants in pots that I need to plant: a dutchman's pipe, and something else that grows into a shrub-like thing with fuzzy pink flowers. I can't figure out where to put these two things, but for now they're doing fine in their pots in a semi-shady area. My hanging baskets are almost completely dead - that was a failure - and I'm still having a hell of a time with those cucumber beetles, though I'm getting a harvest of squashes anyway. The cucumbers suffered though, the plants look terrible. Even the fruits are looking sub-par. I am looking forward to loads and loads of tomatoes in August, the plants need to be staked up again! They're huge! And I am over-run by borage and cilantro, which popped up wild all over the garden. Fine when they're small and tasty and cute, but when that cilantro gets to be four feet tall and gone to seed it makes the entire place look a mess. I want it to re-seed though, so I will keep some of it around.
Oh! Another success! I have jalapenos this year! They'll be ready to pick in another week!
That's all for now!
7/7/06
Carry on then
Summer is clicking right along here in the hills. The brother-in-law and family arrive tomorrow from Austria to stay for I don't know how long, Amy's getting married tomorrow, and all of a sudden we're halfway into July.
The weather's been a bit odd lately. For about two weeks, it was really humid and stormy; we would have a thunderstorm every day, and crazy torrential rains. I called it Monsoon Season. But that pattern seems to have settled into a climate of moderate daytime temperatures, sun, and coolish nights. I'm sure that will change - this weekend's supposed to be hot as hades - but for now the sleeping is good so I'm not complaining.
I have several minor dramas on the go, as per usual:
My cat was getting into a lot of fights with something (?a stray male cat was hanging around - could be him?) about two weeks ago, and required a trip to the vet and antibiotics for his rather dramatic injuries (his legs were all slashed up). He's bounced back and healed up, but he seems lethargic and reluctant to stay outside. Although last night he wouldn't come in, but whatever. He sleeps all day and this morning didn't want to eat. I'm keeping a close eye on him but I'm very worried; I'm hoping it's a hairball or something innocent. He was eating up to this morning, but today he seems under the weather.
I have a nasty case of cucumber beetles, which is terrible because I'm growing cucumbers, butternut squash, zucchinis, and patty pan squash this summer. When the garden was planted up, i thought "wow that's too much squash, hope it's all ok" but now I'm starting to see damage, and I've lost a zucchini plant. If anyone has any great natural remedies for cucumber beetles I'd really appreciate it, I'm tired of going out there and manually squashing them all. They're sneaky little buggers and they run away from me.
We got a new refrigerator and now I'm obsessed with making it look bountiful rather than full of crap. When we cleared out the old one, here's a basic list of what we discovered:
- 3 jars of cocktail sauce
- 4 or 5 old homemade vinaigrettes
- 2 jars of pickles
- 3 jars of hot pickled peppers
- 3 jars of cocktail onions (who even eats those? I guess I do)
- 2 identical squeeze bottles of mustard
- 2 bottles of ketchup
- 3 kinds of fish sauce
- 4 jars of jam containing less than a tablespoon each
- fudge sauce that is exactly 4 years old
- jerk sauce from I don't know when
So you see, the fridge is pretty darn empty now. I am working slowly at filling it up with good things, gourmet ingredients and lovely treats for when my guests arrive. I want to open the fridge and be blown away by the cornucopia of fresh vegetables and chichipoopoo delicacies, while at the same time being reassured by the good old dairy standbys - fresh milk, cream and eggs, plain yoghurt, and a big hunk of butter.
See? It's not easy to live with me.
Aside from the cucumber beetles the veggie garden is doing well. In fact, all of the gardens are doing wonderfully - I should be posting pictures but I'm too damn busy doing yard maintenance. The only veggie garden failures, besides what I lost to the cucumber beetles (damn them!) are the eggplants (tiny, won't produce this year I don't think) and the basil that I started from seed. Oh, also I have one cherry tomato plant in a galvanized tub that has practically no leaves, only fruit. Why is that? Anyway, I have also had a few garden surprises. Coriander has sprung up everywhere, which is terrific because we eat a lot of it. I'm letting some plants go to seed, so it'll be back next year. I have one cucumber/squash mystery plant growing in a container of flowers by my shed, i have no idea what it is or how it got there, but I can't wait to find out.
Other dramas: I have discovered what's wrong with my plum tree. I'd previously thought that it was just too damn old, but now I see that I have a case of Plum Curculio, and this year is a wipeout. Which is too bad, because when we picked up all of the bad plums to throw them away, I realized that we would have had approximately 200 plums if it had all worked out. That was motivation to take drastic measures next year to try to ensure some kind of successful harvest.
Also, I have some kind of animal living in the woods beyond my veggie garden. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is I hope it's something that doesn't: A) fight with cats or B)eat my garden. I also saw a groundhog on the lawn the other day, but I'm hoping the cats will chase it away peacefully and without gore or tragedy.
Phew. I should write more often to keep the size of my posts down to a reasonable level.
Wish me luck this week with the in-laws....
The weather's been a bit odd lately. For about two weeks, it was really humid and stormy; we would have a thunderstorm every day, and crazy torrential rains. I called it Monsoon Season. But that pattern seems to have settled into a climate of moderate daytime temperatures, sun, and coolish nights. I'm sure that will change - this weekend's supposed to be hot as hades - but for now the sleeping is good so I'm not complaining.
I have several minor dramas on the go, as per usual:
My cat was getting into a lot of fights with something (?a stray male cat was hanging around - could be him?) about two weeks ago, and required a trip to the vet and antibiotics for his rather dramatic injuries (his legs were all slashed up). He's bounced back and healed up, but he seems lethargic and reluctant to stay outside. Although last night he wouldn't come in, but whatever. He sleeps all day and this morning didn't want to eat. I'm keeping a close eye on him but I'm very worried; I'm hoping it's a hairball or something innocent. He was eating up to this morning, but today he seems under the weather.
I have a nasty case of cucumber beetles, which is terrible because I'm growing cucumbers, butternut squash, zucchinis, and patty pan squash this summer. When the garden was planted up, i thought "wow that's too much squash, hope it's all ok" but now I'm starting to see damage, and I've lost a zucchini plant. If anyone has any great natural remedies for cucumber beetles I'd really appreciate it, I'm tired of going out there and manually squashing them all. They're sneaky little buggers and they run away from me.
We got a new refrigerator and now I'm obsessed with making it look bountiful rather than full of crap. When we cleared out the old one, here's a basic list of what we discovered:
- 3 jars of cocktail sauce
- 4 or 5 old homemade vinaigrettes
- 2 jars of pickles
- 3 jars of hot pickled peppers
- 3 jars of cocktail onions (who even eats those? I guess I do)
- 2 identical squeeze bottles of mustard
- 2 bottles of ketchup
- 3 kinds of fish sauce
- 4 jars of jam containing less than a tablespoon each
- fudge sauce that is exactly 4 years old
- jerk sauce from I don't know when
So you see, the fridge is pretty darn empty now. I am working slowly at filling it up with good things, gourmet ingredients and lovely treats for when my guests arrive. I want to open the fridge and be blown away by the cornucopia of fresh vegetables and chichipoopoo delicacies, while at the same time being reassured by the good old dairy standbys - fresh milk, cream and eggs, plain yoghurt, and a big hunk of butter.
See? It's not easy to live with me.
Aside from the cucumber beetles the veggie garden is doing well. In fact, all of the gardens are doing wonderfully - I should be posting pictures but I'm too damn busy doing yard maintenance. The only veggie garden failures, besides what I lost to the cucumber beetles (damn them!) are the eggplants (tiny, won't produce this year I don't think) and the basil that I started from seed. Oh, also I have one cherry tomato plant in a galvanized tub that has practically no leaves, only fruit. Why is that? Anyway, I have also had a few garden surprises. Coriander has sprung up everywhere, which is terrific because we eat a lot of it. I'm letting some plants go to seed, so it'll be back next year. I have one cucumber/squash mystery plant growing in a container of flowers by my shed, i have no idea what it is or how it got there, but I can't wait to find out.
Other dramas: I have discovered what's wrong with my plum tree. I'd previously thought that it was just too damn old, but now I see that I have a case of Plum Curculio, and this year is a wipeout. Which is too bad, because when we picked up all of the bad plums to throw them away, I realized that we would have had approximately 200 plums if it had all worked out. That was motivation to take drastic measures next year to try to ensure some kind of successful harvest.
Also, I have some kind of animal living in the woods beyond my veggie garden. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is I hope it's something that doesn't: A) fight with cats or B)eat my garden. I also saw a groundhog on the lawn the other day, but I'm hoping the cats will chase it away peacefully and without gore or tragedy.
Phew. I should write more often to keep the size of my posts down to a reasonable level.
Wish me luck this week with the in-laws....
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