I haven’t posted in over a month as I’ve been too lazy, and too busy enjoying the nice weather and watching baseball. But I hope you enjoy these late summer pics. It’s so hot today 29 C (85 F) that it still feels like summer, very unusual for early October. No leaf pics yet, as very few trees have changed, but I love when summer lingers.
I did get to the beach twice before the end of summer. There was so much sand, and very clean sand, that I could have been in the Caribbean. Quite a contrast to five years ago when there was only a narrow 12 foot stretch of pebbly beach, but the lake levels are low.
There were sailboats…
And more sailboats. In fact the days I went to the beach it was even a bit cool with a refreshing breeze coming off the water – good sailing weather.
The clematis were prolific this year especially this purple Jackmanni.
This one never blooms as much due to too much shade.
The glads did finally bloom, but one by one. I’ve dug up the bulbs and am going to try to overwinter them and then next year plant them all in the same place, instead of spaced in a row.
The zinnias were a bit of a dud too, achieving great height but not many flowers.
The dinner plate hibiscus are late as usual, they never bloom until mid-late Sept, but are only half as tall this year due to the lack of rain. The picture on the right is a previous year. They get too much shade in the spot they’re in at the side of the deck.
But the morning glories were glorious. The blue ones didn’t come up, only the fuchsia. I prefer the blue as in this old 2017 post, A Glorious September Morning.
These are as tall as the trellis at the side of the house. First time I’ve planted morning glories there as there’s not much sun, but there was a ton of greenery. These were taken this week. They are always late September bloomers too.
Of course not everything thrived. The $60 lilac tree I planted in the spring obviously didn’t – too much intense heat and not enough water. There are a few buds on it so I hope it comes back in the spring.
Time for a food break – there was cherry pie!
Or maybe you’d prefer peanut butter cookies. I found this Reese’s product, 24 cookies – great taste! Just bake as many as you want. In the refrigerated section of grocery store near the Pillsbury products.
The rest of the pictures are of plants from my July Pretty in Pink blog, but they are still hanging in there due to the warm weather. A lot of flowers get their second bloom in the fall, including the geraniums.
It makes sitting on the deck a pleasure this time of year, except for the yellow jackets.
This is the first year I have planted geraniums in the ground and they did well.
First year buying dianthus and I would do that again. Kind of scraggly mid-summer but they have revived. The Dipladenia love heat and drought so they look good all summer.
Impatiens always look better in the fall.
The knock-out roses are in their last bloom. Most of the new bushes did quite well.
But no matter how lovely everything looks so late in the season, from the soft afternoon light, we can tell fall is coming. I just hope it stays warm enough for when I have to take everything down!
PS. The Blue Jays won their first two games against New York! Go Jays go!
We’re now into August – my least favourite month of the year. When I was a kid, August meant back to school shopping, and seeing your friends so there was a sense of excitement and newness in the air, especially if you were starting to get bored with the summer. Many people still have that sense that September is the real start of a new year.
But as an adult I find August depressing. Summer is slipping away, with colder weather waiting in the wings, surely welcome this year after all this heat and humidity, but looming right behind it is winter, which is fun for awhile but tend to overstay it’s welcome. It’s getting dark earlier, 8 pm although that’s nothing compared to November’s 4:30 gloom, which many people struggle with but I find cozy because you can always light some candles and snuggle indoors.
I’ve always struggled with August – it’s my birthday month, so I’m another year older, and on top of that my mother died this time last year, four days after my birthday. I spent a lot of time with my mother, especially over the past decade since I retired, not just because it was the right and daughterly thing to do as she got older, but because she was such a nice person, and I’m missing her right now as the anniversary of her death approaches and most of the numbness and busyness has worn off. But time marches on and we must too, whether we feel like it or not.
Plus I’ve been confronted with all the things I was planning to do this summer which I didn’t, particularly true this year with all the heat and air quality and wildfire smoke warnings. You’re afraid to step outside for fear of inhaling tiny particles that will live in your lungs forever. There have been very few beach days. I’ve watched a lot of Blue Jays baseball.
But last Sunday in an effort to get out of the house I picked up a friend and went to an arts and crafts fair in the waterfront park. My mother and I used to go to these all the time, as she was an artist and there were always lots of booths displaying art, and we knew many people in the art community. With names like Artscape, Art in the Park, and Art Walk, they were always good for an afternoon of strolling and visiting and eating, and occasionally buying a piece of art or jewelry.
This particular event, called Shop the Shoreline, was advertised as having 100 vendors. There were 50 at most, none of them very interesting – lots of homemade candles, tie-dye t-shirts, beaded jewelry, a lot of junk I’m at a loss to describe, and no art at all. We stopped at maybe two booths, bought nothing, saw no one. The only food was hot dogs being sold by the Rotary club. I know many activities haven’t recovered from the pre-pandemic days but where did all the vendors go….I guess they must be selling online. It was not crowded as it was so hot and humid – it was so stifling among the tents, that after a quick look through we walked back along the boardwalk to take advantage of the breeze off the water.
But all was not lost as this park has lovely flowerbeds. It must cost the city a fortune to maintain them, especially this year with the relentless heat. So please accompany me for a tour of the day’s silver lining.
There was a cruise ship docked at the bay marina, an unusual sight for our small town.They must have known pink was my favorite color.These must weigh a ton.Yellow is a sunny accent color.Marigolds – a sign of fall
It was a relief to stand near the fountain’s mist and go home to the A/C….and the ball game.
In contrast, my garden has not been quite so lush. My gladioli did not pan out – too much heat meant no bulbs for most of the glads. Not quite the vision I had in mind.
I planted these in front of the garden box so the chicken wire could serve as support.
I got three, two pink and a yellow out of this tropical color package. For the ones I planted at the front of the house, the score was 2 pink out of a package of 15 bulbs. The rest have greenery, but no flowers yet although I haven’t entirely given up hope.
Tomatoes and glads – isn’t that a sign of August!
The zinnias did not fare much better – lots of greenery – two flowers. I think next year I’ll just buy them at the farmer’s market.
Some of the geraniums have perked up a bit – all they needed was a bit of rain. It’s raining as I type this – finally, a whole inch. According to the news tonight there are 731 wildfires burning across the country, (none anywhere near me thank god), including some near popular vacation spots and cities. I can’t imagine being a firefighter in this heat. If this summer is the new norm – I’m looking forward to fall.
It started with the dishes. I saw them at Winners/Marshalls back in March and walked past them as the last thing I need is another set of dishes when I already have so many, (and now I have all of my mother’s too.) And since the pandemic I hardly ever entertain anymore….but they were plastic, perfect for the patio and they were so pretty I was envisioning a garden party with the hydrangeas all in bloom, even if we were still dealing with late winter snow storms. The next day I went back and bought them, because Winners is like that – it’s hit or miss, and if you dither whatever you had your eye on is usually gone, scooped up by some more decisive soul. The next week they had two big matching bowls which I thought would be perfect for salad or watermelon. I was sick of winter by then.
Fast forward to summer…..the actual party took over a month to organize because it involved five people with varying schedules of appointments, activities and emergencies. As I alluded to in my last blog about wanting to hold my own book club, just try asking a group of retired people what day is good for them – there are doctors appointments, grandchildren, golf, pickleball, bowling, theatre tickets etc and after we had settled on a date there was a basement flood and a cat requiring emergency dental surgery. As for me – I don’t own a cat and my life isn’t that exciting. Plus the weather had to be good, or at least not raining – it was hard to find a week here in July without rain or heat warnings, so it was impossible to plan too far ahead.
Anyway, eventually it happened, and the hydrangeas were at their peak.
Hydrangeas are no-fuss plants. These are repeat bloomers. They’re pink, but you can get blue ones by adding aluminum sulfate to acidify the soil. If you don’t add enough you get a lilac color, but they’re all nice. The lime green ones have become popular lately, but I prefer some color.
Look who dropped in for the party…
The first monarch I’ve seen in my yard in years! One of the neighbours must have planted some milkweed.
I have five hydrangea bushes but one has not done well this year, maybe because someone pruned it at the wrong time? It’s usually covered with blue flowers due to the neighbours overhanging cedar trees which help to acidify the soil, but this year it decided to be pink. There’s no figuring out plants sometimes – they have a mind of their own. There are many varieties of hydrangeas but most tolerate partial shade.
The day dawned sunny….it looked like a perfect day, if a bit hot and humid. I put all the cushions out.
I enjoy all the decorating party prep as I have so many placemats and tablecloths and things that I have accumulated over the years and never use. I’m too old now to be saving the good dishes and the guests seem to appreciate the extra effort. Everyone likes to be spoiled once in awhile.
Decorating doesn’t have to be expensive – these napkins and lady bugs are from the dollar store. The lady bugs were just for fun, because who doesn’t like ladybugs? These have adhesive backings so you can stick them on things. I stole the idea from a display at the library – ‘Bee a summer reader!’ which had bees stuck all over it. I bought a package of those too for September when the real bees spoil the dining alfresco.
Speaking of dining alfresco I was so excited to finally get to use my Tuscany table! The table was a curbside find during the pandemic which I painted with exterior paint to match American Decor’s chalk paint in Serene Blue. I painted a wooden chair same color, and the week before the party I found two chairs outside the St. Vincent de Paul store when I was donating clothes, and bought those for $5 each. Mismatched chairs are good with a rustic outdoor table like that, and if they’re recycled you don’t mind leaving them outside in the rain. The idea was to take advantage of the lovely southwest breezes under the trees -my deck can get too hot as it faces north and the houses block the breeze.
We had afternoon snacks under the trees and red and white peach sangria (the non-alcoholic kind), a grocery store find which was surprisingly good. I never took any photos of the food because I was so busy I forgot! The snacks were watermelon in one of the big new bowls, some perfectly ripe cherries, and a bag of Fritos, which was a big hit! There’s something about craving salt on a hot summer day, and Fritos taste salty but are not too high in salt. (The medical person in me worries about electrolytes and fluid intake and balanced nutrition.)
The main course was pizza. While I may like to entertain and bake, I do not like to cook that much, and it can be difficult these days with everyone’s food allergies/intolerances and low fat, low cholesterol diets. Not that pizza is hearty healthy but my small town has the world’s best pizza place. They’ve been in business forty years and served authentic wood smoked pizza long before it was even a thing. When they first opened, no one spoke English so what you ordered and what you got were sometimes different, but it’s everyone’s favourite choice, especially since our local Chinese restaurant closed down recently after 40 years. It was excellent too, but the owner couldn’t get anyone to buy it, and none of his kids wanted it. So pizza was the general consensus, however there was major disagreement about what toppings should go on the pizza (see section about trying to get five people to agree), so we ended up with everyone ordering their own baby pizza so they could take the leftovers home. Fine with me, as I do not think ground hamburger belongs on a pizza, and I’m not fussy on pepperoni either.
While we were waiting for the pizza I made them work for their supper…..what, you didn’t think it was going to be all fun and games! One planted the iris bulbs he had thinned out and brought with him (did I mention they were all horticultural society members, so I got some good suggestions as to what to plant around the back deck to replace the dying rose bushes – hydrangeas!) while we ladies went through the rest of the stuff from my mothers house which had been sitting in the garage taking up space for months. Only one item was left after it was all divvied up, a French press coffee maker which I decided to keep myself – no one wants a French press because it’s a pain to clean up the grounds. It’s always nice to give things away to people who want and can use them, and they had helped me out a lot last year when I was cleaning out mom’s house.
Note the party favours….
I had already set the table inside, as I knew rain was in the forecast, and by then we had lost the sun and it had become quite humid, so we moved inside and enjoyed the A/C for a couple of hours.
I made party favours out of hydrangea soap and stripped paper bags from the dollar store. Adults like to receive goody bags too!
leftover salad
As I still had lettuce growing (third crop) I made a big mandarin salad in the pretty big bowl, layering the three kinds of lettuce (Romaine, red leaf and ?) with the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and mandarin orange slices, so the fruit didn’t all sink to the bottom. Served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. (That was the nutrition course – it’s important to have a nutrition course.)
I like to thrift shop and had found a set of four light blue plates and an assortment of blue glasses a few years ago, which coordinated perfectly with the new hydrangea plates.
They could be used as salad plates, but we used them for dessert and moved outside to the deck table this time. The rain had held off and although humid there was a delightful evening breeze. We had key lime pie and coffee and talked until it got dark and the fireflies came out. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many fireflies in the back yard, but then I don’t usually sit out after dark due to the mosquitos. It was quite magical, and reminds me of that song, what I call the firefly song.
After they left, and I was cleaning up, I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of the food so I snapped a photo of the bowl of wilted lettuce! I could have left the dishes until the next day but I was wide awake so I went to bed all talked out but with a clean kitchen. The next day I got an email thanking me for the party and how much they had all enjoyed it. They must have as they stayed 8 hours (2-10pm) but that’s the way it is with old friends – time flies in good company.
Lately pink has become popular in home decor as an accent color, because it’s supposed to be calming, but it’s too trendy for me in the house. While I may admire pink kitchen cupboards in a decorating magazine I don’t want to live with them for years. Recently a house went up for sale in my neighbourhood with the original pink bathtub, sink, and toilet from the 1960’s and a younger person I know thought it was cool as all that retro stuff is back in. It was listed by the original owner, a man in his early nineties, who’d obviously never spend any money on it. It had the original wallpaper too – you could have filmed a remake of the Brady Bunch there.
But if do find pink to be cheerful outside. My garden is predominately shades of pink, which give a splash of color everywhere you look, with a bit of purple and blue. A wise gardener once told me that for maximum impact go for a single dominant color, although a variety of colors seems to more popular. I planted some of those too, with zinnias and gladioli this year.
My garden has been neglected for the past four years, but it’s starting to look in better shape now, and I actually bought some hanging baskets this year, which haven’t done too badly considering the strange weather we’ve had so far. So join me while we visit the pinks in my yard.
I bought these vibrant pink geranium baskets for the back yard, as I enjoy looking out my kitchen window in the morning and seeing this bright pop of color.
But I bought these mixed ones for the front, as I liked the idea of the two-tone color with the brighter centre and hoped it would go better with the roses, which it didn’t really, but it’s still a riot of color.
Impatiens are back in style, and seem to be more disease resistant now. I had mine in early so they’ve already spread out quite a bit. They like shade so they’re along the fence where my neighbours cedar hedge hangs overhead.
I bought these dianthus for the first time, as they looked so nice and they reminded me of carnations. The pink watering can has sun-faded over the years.
These pink peonies are my favourites.
Pink peony with visitor…
I never bring them indoors though, even if they look nice as a centrepiece, as the ants like them too!
Mosaic turtle hanging out with the peonies.
I don’t like these peonies as they’re too pale – sometimes the nursery tags can be deceiving, but they’re in and they flower, so there they will stay.
Rain soaked tree peony
A tree peony in my neighbourhood flowers in May – I tried to find one but they were out of pink and cost $60, and I’d already spent too much replacing nine of my pink Knock-Out rose bushes.
I am a Charlie Brown rose bush….
I had twenty of these at one time, but when they reach the end of their life-span of 10-12 years they get either spindly or woody in the centre. I planted gladioli behind them along the house as an experiment for some August color.
I’ve never seen the lavender bloom so early.
The bright roses came with the house, they must be over 50 years old, and are prolific bloomers. They can be fuchsia or red or sometimes both. I googled to see what causes roses to change color, and it can be a number of factors, the age, the grafting process, the soil Ph, the time of the season etc.
I tucked this pink climber repeat bloomer in behind it about ten years ago, and it has done well too.
This is a newer pink climber in the back yard, one of those end of season bargains that you think will never grow, and it has, although it’s taken awhile to get established.
But it’s doing well now.
An older John Cabot climber enjoying the early evening sunshine.
The Dipladenia has recovered from a very cold May. I saved the pink pots from a few years ago. It’s cheaper to make your own basket than to spend $40 on one, as they have become very popular the past few years due to being so drought resistant.
That concludes the pink tour, but later there will be pink hydrangeas, some phlox, and hopefully some pink glads and zinnias which I put in window boxes around the garden for later, so there will always be something in the pink.
Are you supposed to deadhead these things?
Now, you might think I am a wonderful gardener, because everything looks so bright and lovely early in the season, but later things will start to slowly die, as I lose my enthusiasm over the course of the summer and neglect to water because it’s just way to hot to go out, there are too many mosquitos at night and other assorted excuses. But for the month of June my garden always look pretty in pink!
And lastly, because one does not live by beauty alone….
I’m feeling nostalgic lately, and old, as with the passing of Brian Wilson and Sly Stone this month, the soundtrack of my youth is slowly dying.
The Beach Boys were always there in the background with their summertime music. I can’t pick a particular favorite song, as there were so many, (Let’s Go Surfing, California Girls, Little Deuce Coupe, see the whole Best Hits Album) but perhaps, Fun, Fun, Fun and Good Vibrations remind me the most of a summer day.
As for Sly and the Family Stone their hits Everyday People and Dance to the Music, were popular with lots of radio play, but my favorite was always Hot Fun in the Summertime.
The song was released in August 1969, around the time of their performance at Woodstock, which greatly increased their fame, and reached number two on the billboard in October, long after summer was over.
So where was I in 1969? Certainly not at Woodstock – I was 13, almost 14 and getting ready to start high school, so I was probably at the beach or in the backyard, working on my (very light) tan, lying on a scratchy wool blanket, and reading the latest copy of Seventeen, with the scent of Coppertone in the air, and Sun-in in my hair, because “Sun-In and Sunlight, and you’ll be blonder tonight.”
I tried Sun-In once but it never did much for me, as the formula was so weak and my hair was already kind of blondish, and I probably didn’t sit out in the sun long enough for it to work, as I burnt so easily. (Remember Noxzema? Deep dark tans were the goal, and many people applied baby oil, but after a couple of blistering sunburns I knew that was not an option for me.) Although one summer I dyed my hair lighter, with Summer Blonde, but the smell of the peroxide scared me and I ended up rinsing it out sooner than I was supposed to but it was still plenty light enough and it took forever to grow out, as we wore our hair straight and parted in the middle which showed the roots.
Grade 8 Grad photo
I liked my grade 8 graduation dress – white lace dresses were in style then, and mine had a green satin bow and matching bell bottom pants, which I wore because my mother thought the dress was too short without them. I grew my bangs out in high school, but have worn bangs ever since.
High school photo
What an ugly uniform – white shirts with navy sweaters and skirts, although pants were an option later. They must have wanted us to look like nuns. A plaid kilt would have been much more preppy. I remember my mother sewing my early uniforms, out of some polyester material, a long open vest and a plain skirt, which got progressively shorter over the years so the skirt was the same length as the vest!
Vintage Seventeen Magazine – June 1970
I thought you might enjoy a peek at these 1970 copies of Seventeen Magazine which I rescued from the attic when my mom moved off the farm. They are summer issues, and the magazine was in a large size format then, similar in dimensions to Look and Life. They cost 50 cents and in the July issue they are already gearing up for fall clothes – and so was I as I prepared to enter high school that fall, with some trepidation, so it was important to look cool. The Fall issue of Seventeen was always a big deal, as although we girls had to wear those ugly uniforms, we had dress-up day once a month, which was like a fashion show, except for the guys who got to wear jeans and t-shirts all the time. Now the guys must wear ugly uniforms too, which is only fair.
I wanted to look like this ad, but instead ended up buying a brown striped t-shirt-like dress which I wore with a gold chain belt, an outfit I bought at a store in the mall called Cojana, which was so dark inside, that you could hardly see the clothes. It was the epitome of cool though, with beaded curtains and funky music. I was not happy with my first-day-of-high-school outfit, because it didn’t look like anything in the magazine, but we were always behind the U.S. in fashions by several years. Plus, my father, who never ever shopped, was along on our shopping expedition, and he said he liked it, and how embarrassing was that! (I suspect my dad only gave it the stamp of approval because he wanted to go home as I’d dithered long enough over the perfect outfit!)
Susan Dey prior to The Partridge Family
My fashion obsession started young, and because we were so behind in styles, I turned to home sewing, (yes, me an expert with one year of mandatory grade 8 home economics) and these issues are full of ads for sewing patterns. Only mine never turned out that great, and were usually finished by my ever-patient mother, who once smocked a dress for me, like this one only with sleeves, which I wore exactly once. I would enjoy picking out the material and the pattern, and cutting out the pieces, maybe a bit of straight seam sewing, but anything else was beyond me – blame the old Singer sewing machine as it was so temperamental, not like today’s sleek models with their electronic programs.
I was allowed to wear makeup when I was 12, and I remember a brief period when mascara came in a powder cake, and you added a bit of water and applied it with a tiny brush, so the advent of mascara in a tube was a big improvement, as you could always add an extra coat in the girl’s washroom between classes! I had the exact same eyeshadow palette as I got it for Christmas that year – looking back I’m amazed that my mother was so hip at forty-four! Although, I only ever wore the blue, as blue eyeshadow was cool….
Dig those blue tinted shades!
As were blue aviators. I’m sure I had a pair. I also had a blue checked summer blazer made out of seersucker material which I loved.
I had a two-piece bathing suit like this, made from some imitation blue jean material, which I thought was really hip and I had a poncho too, but who would wear a poncho to the beach? The wool blankets were already scratchy enough – I think blankets only came in wool back then, but if they came in synthetic or crochet or something softer, you certainly wouldn’t be allowed to take one to the beach! Beach towels were just old bath towels. Beverages came in a thermos, and were usually Freshie or Kool-aid in colors and flavors I cringe to remember. There was Tab or Fresca for those who were dieting, both tasted awful – pass me the sugar please. A snack on the beach was a bag of chips, french fries or ice cream. There were no beach umbrellas, if you started to burn you moved to the shade of a tree.
Nobody I knew went to summer camp, or if they did it was only for a week, not the whole summer like kids do now, with soccer camp, hockey camp, theatre camp, church camp, Girl Guide camp, and what-ever-else-so-we-don’t-have-to-pay-a babysitter camp. A vacation was a trip to Niagara Falls or renting a (rustic) cottage for a week, or perhaps a weekend trip to visit your cousins in Michigan. I wonder about kids living such a scheduled life so young. Do they ever get a chance to be bored, or is constant stimulation and no downtime just normal to them? It’s one thing to be influenced by reading a monthly magazine with pretty pictures, but quite another to be constantly bombarded every day with social media. No wonder so many kids are struggling with mental health issues.
13-14 is an awkward age anyway, with no wheels and when you lived in the country like I did, that could be a problem. My young teenage life was nothing like the magazines or movies. So, what did I do that summer while I was waiting for high school to start and real life to arrive?
I read a lot, (I would go to the library once a week and get a stack of books), and watched tv – reruns at night which were new to me as I never watched much during the school year as the bus came so early, and soap operas in the afternoon, (my mother’s General Hospital and Dark Shadows, a vintage vampire soap). I had a few chores in the house, and the garden (my mother canned a lot) but nothing on the farm, unlike my brothers and dad who were forever baling straw or hay, first cut, second cut, third cut if you were lucky, it was all hot dusty work. My cousin, who was three weeks older than me, lived right next door and she was always up for something. We would ride our ten speed bikes two miles down to the corner store to get ice cream, or I would visit with my grandma who lived across the road, for homemade root beer. And if I was really bored, I would go watch my younger brother’s baseball games, as my uncle was the coach, and there was an ice cream shop next to the baseball diamond.
On Wednesdays, my mother would drive into the city to go grocery shopping, and I went along to shop for clothes, although I seldom bought anything as we didn’t have much money and the styles were so boring. Although you could make 50cents/hour babysitting, I only did that occasionally, as the family down the road had 4 or 5 kids, most of them bratty. My mother would visit three different grocery stores looking for the weekly sales (something I do myself now that I’m retired and groceries are so expensive) and then afterwards we would go to Macdonald’s for a treat – a hamburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake. (75 cents) The only other fast-food restaurant in town was the A&W drive-in, where you could get a big refillable amber jug of frothy yeasty root beer which tasted far superior to their root beer now, and KFC, whose finger-licking-good buckets were usually reserved for picnics.
In fact my life in retirement looks a lot like my early teen years, and I’m okay with that, with no set schedule and lots of time to do nothing, except I can get in my car and drive someplace if I want to. The past few years have been challenging, so when people ask me what I’m doing this summer, I’m happy to say – I have no plans. A normal life is highly underrated – you don’t appreciate it, until it’s at risk. So, I want to do absolutely nothing until I’m rested and totally bored, and then I’ll figure out what I want to do next that’s fun.
PS. And every single Sunday during the summer we went to the beach – I don’t remember it ever raining on a weekend or being this hot? The weather was just pleasantly warm and if you were lucky your favorite song would come on the radio, the perfect soundtrack to a summer day.
I love this new TV ad for the retro Volkswagon, and the song lyrics are stuck in my head, Are You Having Any Fun? The shot of the little girl at the end with the beach towel, is priceless and says hello summer! Wishing you all a summer of leisure, simple pleasures and fun! As for me, I’m going to have an ice cream cone to welcome the season.
When those September clouds start to roll in – the end of summer blues set in. Dock sitting seems desolate when the sky is cloudy and the river water is a dark blue. (Note how long the freighter is in the background.)It makes you grateful when the sun comes back out and sparkles on the water.But there’s still time for one last trip to the beach.There were lots of sailboats out, behind the beach grass. We’re lucky to have a hundred acre park with a beach right in the city. This photo is from the 1950’s before the parking lot was paved and before erosion set in.The section in the top of the photo is private property with deeded beach rights, so you seldom see anyone walking along there. I’ll take the house with the gazebo! There were lots of different variations of blue, depending on the intensity of the sun.Darker blue with more sailboats.The circle of smaller sailboats in the distance is the beginners class from the yacht club.I like to check out all the colorful beach umbrellas. It was a picture perfect day – something to store up until next year.
Beach grass.River birches along the beach. I love to watch their silver leaves blowing in the breeze off the lake. Fall flower beds at the entrance to the park. Woodland path in the park – an example of a Carolinian forest according to the sign. I intend to walk this some day when tick season is over, as it is home to a snowy white owl and many species of birds.Another park with beautiful beds. I’m always happy to see pinks in the park.A shady spot to sit and watch the water. A riot of color in front of a riverside condo. My harvest of “novelty” purple bush beans. The verdict – pretty color – tasted like a bean when sampled raw – but somehow lacking in flavor once cooked. Zinnias for sale at the farmers market.Walking past the dill reminds me of my mother canning pickles.Summer fruit…..one of the best things about August.And now for the fauna part – kittens at a fruit stand out in the country. A big attraction for the kids.And last but not least – my new summer favorite flavor. Hey, it’s green!
Some of you may remember this jingle from childhood, especially if you’re a baseball fan:
“Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and CrackerJacks. I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team. If they don’t win it’s a shame
For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out, at the old ball game.”
You may even remember Crackerjacks – that sickeningly sweet caramel popcorn treat with the prize in the bottom of the box, and yes they still make it, although the toy is now a digital code to an online app.
The baseball playoffs have started and the remaining teams are battling it out to be in the World Series. My team has already been eliminated, but not before I watched 28 consecutive nail-biting games in the month of September. The Toronto Blue Jays hung in there but finally lost out to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees by a one game lead for the Wild Card spot.
Watching baseball can be addicting, especially when you start to structure your day around whether it’s an afternoon or evening game, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a fickle fan. I only tune in when it gets towards the end of the season, and only if the Jays have a shot at going further, and only if I like the team members, so that’s not every year as they’re constantly trading players. They had a good bunch of guys this year, some of them real characters, and you could tell they were having fun out there – but isn’t it always fun when your team is winning.
We only have one major league baseball team here in Canada, so there’s not a lot of choice when it comes to which team to root for. It not like hockey, our national sport, where there are seven teams competing. But who wants to hang out in a cold arena when you can have summer sunshine, fresh air and the smell of twenty dollar popcorn. The Skydome roof can be closed in twenty minutes if it looks like rain.
Unlike the Toronto Maple Leafs (who haven’t won a Stanley Cup in so long that no one remembers when), the Blue Jays have won the World Series – twice in fact – in 1992 and 1993. I still remember some of the players from those years, Pat Borders, Roberto Alomar and who can forget that game winning home run by Joe Carter. I was in Toronto for a conference that year and missed the parade by one day, but some of my work colleagues went and it was a wild and crazy time.
I’ve never been to a live Blue Jays game, although when I was there five years ago, my hotel was full of fans in their blue jerseys, and I debated skipping my course and going to the game instead (I was close to retiring anyway) but like a good little employee I did not, and they ended up losing anyway. The seats in the upper stratosphere are cheap, but you need a sherpa to guide you, and advance tickets require too much planning and mega-moolah for the hotel room, parking, and overpriced food and beverages.
Me in my “sponsored” baseball t-shirt and cringe-worthy Twiggy/sixties pixie hair cut…
People are often surprised that I watch baseball, considering I’m so nonathletic, but then I played girls little league when I was a kid – for three long years – where I was the worst player ever. My parents made me play, as my cousin next-door played, but she was almost as bad. I struck out every single time. I can still hear the “easy out” chants in my ear when I came up to bat. My “official” position was left field, where I was mostly bored. Luckily few balls ever came that way for I was just as bad at throwing. Usually I spent the time daydreaming, and if I could have, I would have brought a book.
I’ve hated sports ever since, especially anything requiring a ball and hand-eye coordination, like tennis, badminton, volleyball etc and I still have horrors of high school gym glass. I seemed to lack the stamina required for exercise, although to be fair to my younger self, I didn’t know at the time that I had a heart murmur.
When I say my parents forced me to play, I mean I never spoke up and said I didn’t want to – I guess when you’re a kid you don’t feel like you don’t have a choice – it’s like piano or swimming lessons, they just sign you up. I was relieved when I was allowed to quit. Maybe they realized that striking out all the time was not good for a child’s self-esteem, but I don’t think parents really thought about things like that back in the sixties. I quit because my cousin quit. I can understand why soccer is a much more popular sport these days, as it requires less skill, although many girls play hockey now too. I think of my poor mother carting us around every night, but then I suppose she thought we might be bored without some kind of structured activity. My father hardly ever saw a game as we had a dairy farm, although he did catch a few weekend games the year my brother lost the provincial championship,
We had a big backyard on our farm and I was much happier playing the occasional game with my cousins next door, until someone broke a basement window, and we had to relocate the diamond to the little field in between us – if there weren’t any cows grazing in it. The backyard pickup games didn’t resume until decades later when there were grandchildren….funny how much more indulgent grandparents are.
Anyway, the end result of my short baseball career was a life-long aversion to sports. The only benefit was some knowledge of the rules of baseball, whereas I’m clueless when it comes to hockey or football and all those penalties.
A few observations on the sport…
My what a vast discrepancy in salaries there is. Yes, George Springer might be worth $25 million a year, (150 million over 6 years) but those two 22 year old rookies, Valdimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, (worth $600,00), were just as valuable for a whole lot less, not to mention doing just as well in the home run standings. That’s the thing about baseball – anyone can step up to the plate.
Speaking of the players, I can handle the wild haircuts (Lourdes Gurriel looks like a pineapple), and those ugly lumberjack beards, and the longish hair, but the spitting – just no. If there’s no crying in baseball there shouldn’t be any spitting either.
Every game counts – the Jays missed the wild card spot by one measly game. Yes, I know a team needs time to gel and they didn’t have a home stadium for most of the year – due to the pandemic they played in Dunedin and Buffalo until mid-summer – and home town enthusiasm means a lot, but a little more effort earlier on would have made all the difference.
Even baseball has it’s politics. While it’s generally minus the all out brawling of hockey, the #Cardgate episode illustrates just how overheated things can get. The opposing team picked up the play card the Blue Jays catcher had accidentally dropped at home plate and kept it. When the bat boy was sent over to the dugout to retrieve it, their player refused to give it up. The next night, said player got hit in the back while up at bat, by some rookie Jays pitcher, and a “heated discussion” ensued with the pitcher being ejected from the game. The ensuing debate went on for days, demonstrating poor sportsmanship all around.
Speaking of controversy, some of those umpire calls were so controversial, I wonder how long it will be until an electronic strike zone makes the calls at home plate. Apparently, the technology already exists.
The season goes on way too long – April to early November. The Jays played 162 games and won 91, but when the World Series is wrapping up to the threat of snow flurries, that’s crazy. I know they have to sell a lot of tickets to pay for the big salaries, but it must be exhausting for the players, especially with all the traveling and a game almost every day. Baseball is a young person’s game. Anyone over 30 is an oldster.
To be a major league baseball player you must have a unique sounding name, something that will roll off the sports announcers tongue with a melodious flare. The game announcers themselves all seem to have the same alternatively soothing/melodramatic/mesmerizing tone of voice. Sometimes I just like to listen to the ballgame on the radio, in the background, as a kind of nostalgic salute to childhood when my dad would have the ballgame on on Sunday afternoons. But then I grew up listening to Ernie Harwell voice the Detroit Tigers for 42 years, starting in 1960, back when Canada didn’t even field a team.
My mother told me a story about growing up in the Depression. The kids in her neighborhood all played baseball in the empty lots around town, girls and boys together. As her family was too poor to own a radio, her older brother used to sit outside the neighbor’s window, and listen to the ballgame on their wireless. The neighbor’s wife would graciously turn the volume way up so he could hear the announcer through the open window. I can picture that little boy sitting on the grass in the summer heat dreaming of baseball glory. (In 1939 when she was 13 they were finally able to afford their own radio.) Sadly, my uncle threw all his baseball cards away in the 1960’s, including the Babe Ruth ones, thinking they were worthless.
It will be a long six months until the boys of summer return.
PS. For anyone who remembers “candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize” here’s a link to an old tv commerical for CrackerJack.
PS. Thanks to Ally for pointing out this Carly Simon version of Take Me Out to The Ballgame. The song was written in 1908 and popular in vaudeville shows a century ago.
The lawn is littered with leaves from the windstorm last week. The tips of the leaves are starting to change. The sun is still warm but the air feels cooler and the days are getting shorter. Summer is over. I’ve been on a blogging hiatus for the past two months, but thought I would post some garden pictures from the last few months as a last look at the season.
We’ve had so much rain this summer that the vinca outgrew the pots….a bargain that I will definitely be buying again next year.
And the color went nicely with the pink Knock-Out roses.
The dipladenia did well too. Like it’s cousin the mandevilla, it’s a tropical plant which thrived in this year’s sauna-like weather.
I bought a blue lightweight collapsible patio hose, (in the background below), but it rained so often, that I only used it a couple of times. This was the first year I bought begonias – only because I couldn’t find pink geraniums.
Sometimes they looked okay, but sometimes they just had too much rain or not enough sun or something.
I think I prefer geraniums.
The clematis did so well, that for the first time it actually grew over the arch of the arbor.
It was lush with greenery, but not with flowers.
Sometimes seed packages can be misleading….these look blue and pink to me?
But I got deep purple morning glories and fuchsia zinnias…..
These morning glories turned out pink, but I could have sworn that package was blue too?
My neighbor’s lotus flower was only out for three hours….they have short life-spans….but it was perfection while it bloomed.
A sunny break from all that pink…
More mellow yellow….
The new lavender plants did well, the new rose bushes not so much….
As for the vegetable garden, I’ve never seen so much lettuce, all from four boxes of seedlings and two packages of seeds. I didn’t have to buy lettuce all summer and even had enough to share with the neighbors. Same with the tomatoes the whole month of August….from two seedlings, one beefsteak and one Roma, although the beefsteak were on the small side, probably from lack of sun.
I was pleased with my Brussel Sprout plant too….a new experiment for me. Fellow blogger, Dorothy, of Dorothy’s New Vintage Kitchen, (see recipe for sweet and sour brussel sprouts), advised me to prune the leaves off so it resembled a pineapple, as that helps the plant to concentrate it’s growth towards the sprouts. The few I have been able to harvest were tasty little things, but they were difficult to remove from the stem, so I think they have to mature a bit more. I hated brussel sprouts when I was a kid – the smell of these min-cabbages reminded me of my grandmother’s house – but they are full of vitamins and antioxidants, so I’ve learned to appreciate them. While the rain made everything flourish, and it was nice not to have to drag the hose around watering, the heat and humidity and mosquitoes made sitting outside unpleasant, both day and night. So much for enjoying the garden or the beauty of nature.
We’ve had very few of the sunny blue-sky, low-humidity days that I remember summer being about. I don’t mind the hot temperatures, but the humidity just saps my energy, and the gloomy skies don’t help either. I took to walking in the cool of the evening, but even then some nights the air was so thick I couldn’t walk at all.
Even now, the end of September, the weather continues warmer than usual. We haven’t had any those brisk, frost-warning fall days yet. Usually this time of year, I’m more than ready for the change of seasons, but not this year. It’s like I’m still waiting for the real summer to happen. It was the summer that wasn’t summer. Will this be the new norm?
I don’t mean to be a whiner, in view of the many areas of the world facing drought and wildfires, but it makes me wonder if we’re ruining the earth, or maybe have already ruined it?
There’s still time for one last bonfire…..under a full moon.
And one last look at the lake…
And also time to plan for next year….
PS. I have no idea why there are two different sizes of font in this post, and some of it showed up as captions? It was all in regular font in the draft version – maybe I’ve been away too long…..
Sailboat on the lake – beachfront view You can never have too many sailboat paintings….. Sailboat on the river…. Sailboat framed in blue…. Sailboat under the bridge Sailboat Race Under the Bridge Sailboat race at the marina The Regatta Cruising with the sails down Sailboat art cards To the Lighthouse Sailboat in darker blue Sailboat in choppy waters Stormy Weather Sailboat summer is passing….enjoy it before it’s gone!
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