Summer's Bounty and Reno's....

The expression "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" have taken on new meaning for me this year. It's certainly been crazy. The hazy is how I could describe my thoughts as I try to process all I need or want to do, and the lazy is how I feel but can't afford the luxury of such for more than a few hours, even on weekends.


We have a reno underway and this is a huge undertaking for just one person - my hubs. Our attached garage is done. We fear it won't make it through another winter so hubs has torn it down, saving an 8 ft section of the roof which is where our new mudroom will be. It will be nice to have a proper place to store winter gear and also a place to put my treadmill and gym which will mean I am out of excuses for not using them.


Housework waits for no one and I have two floors to contend with along with two dogs and a long-haired cat who shed like crazy and track in reno refuse. Our gentle Mike has been coming home lately covered in something very stinky so everything stops while he gets yet another bath. And dealing with the financial end of our reno job with a bank on the other side of the country, plus the discovery that hub's Visa card has a damaged chip while he's some 40 km away purchasing things needed for the reno has had me on the phone for what feels like hours at a time. It's been stressful trying to sort these gliches out over the phone, being put on hold each time I have to call back. Perhaps time to move the bank account - but I don't want to. I like my Vancouver account a lot and despite the inconvenience at this time, they are wonderful to deal with.

Support beams for the outside wall.
Everything to the left is torn down.

These techno posts are 8 ft down.
B'bye frost heaves.

A sorry site of what is soon to be history.

Progress of the demolition.

The sad cement floor will be covered with a deck.

We've done good on our red currants this year and we were able to cash in on the wild blueberries in the back field. It was a good year for the blueberries and I make freezer jam in small jars to last till next season (and I like to give some away as well). 

We also used some of the red currants to make a liquor which will be ready the end of October. Since I had purchased a rather large bottle of vodka, we decided to use the small amount of black currants from our young bush to make a black currant liquor and when our blackberries are ready, I think we'll do up some liquor from those as I don't do much baking and they'll get forgotten in the freezer. These are not big batches of liquor so I think I'll find pretty jars to store them in and save for a cold winter day where they'll be used to warm cold toes and noses.

Just before our chive flowers were finished, hubs came across a blog showing chive flower infused vinegar. It's a pretty pink, although you can't really see that in this photo but it makes a great salad dressing. We enjoyed some on a salad with freshly picked sugar snap peas, cucumbers and dill from our garden. Despite the horrid summer weather, our garden has manage to reward us with a variety of lovely things.