End of June

 Where did June go?  It seems I did nothing noteworthy; I feel so useless.  Reading, knitting watching TV mostly occupy my time.  Osher has filled some of my time, also Jean Martyn that I find very enjoyable.

I ordered groceries from Pick 'n' Save this time; they were out of Cheerios!  There must have been a special sale.  I ordered chicken breasts and got a huge family pack.  One breast was more than enough for one person.  I halved each and planned my Friday dinner for Peter and me using one chicken breast using a recipe I discovered on Facebook. The only place that I was able to find a jar of roasted red peppers was at Fresh Thyme, which I picked up after my hair; they also had Boursin garlic and herb cheese.  It's a very nice specialty store; it does not have as many items like cereal as big food chains. I put some spinach, a few strips of baked red peppers and garlic and herb cream cheese on each breast, then wrapped a bacon strip around, securing it with tooth picks.  I made salad and used the cauliflower from last week that I roasted with garlic and a bit or red pepper flakes.  Peter came while it was raining pretty hard, so he parked in the garage.  The meal was delicious; I don't know when I enjoyed cauliflower more; I wish that I had more.  We watched some prerecorded programs in the evening.

I made a fritata with spinach, garlic and peppers topped with guriere cheese, blueberries and yogurt for breakfast.  After breakfast we went to Home Depot for mulch for me, some plants for Peter.  Since we were in the neighborhood we paid a visit to Rudy.  He made coffee and we talked and he told me countless times how good I looked.  I'm glad I never bought one of those single serving coffee makers.  What an abuse of plastic, and each serving is barely a cup. 

Peter unloaded my three bags of red mulch and was on his way.

I went to 4:00 pm mass that was sparsely attended.  I had a delicious chicken breast sandwich and salad for my supper. 

Sunday, June 28th

After breakfast of a leftover fritata, I spread two bags of mulch on the garden and did a thorough watering.  Mostly relaxed the remainder of the day.

Blood Donation

 June 23, 2020

The last session of Spirituality and Justice was much better than the previous ones; I almost was not going to attend as were a lot of people, only nine in attendance.  Laurie asked Jackie about her personal involvement and that sparked a lot of Jackie's background as an activist.

The Blood Center sent an appeal for a desperate need of blood, so I thought I'd give it a try after almost two years of low iron counts.  I've been taking an iron supplement for quite a while and it really paid off.  My iron was way above the required count; the required level is 12.5, mine was 15.5!  Blood pressure was also good.  The only problem was that my right arm, which I generally use, was not cooperating, so I had to get stuck again for my left arm.  Everything went well.  I rested for the rest of the day.

Summer 2020

Friday, June 19th

After viewing an informative nutrition Osher program, I decided to make a completely meatless meal for our Friday dinner.  I never heard of Farro, so this was going to be an adventure.  I cooked the Farro, which looked like barley but a little larger.  It took about 30 minutes to cook.  I prepared cauliflower, red onion, red pepper, zucchini, and summer squash and grilled them in a vegetable basket.  I made the sauce that really finished the dish and gave it life.  I toasted some garlic french bread to complete the meal .Peter and I really enjoyed it. For dessert, Peter suggested a trip to Leon's.  There weren't crowds of people, but with the spacing it took longer to be served.  It was worth the wait.

Phone story: Peter's phone was not taking a charge, after numerous attempts.  He was so disgusted that he asked Terry to order a new phone for him.  She gave him a link and he ordered one.  In the meantime, Terry wanted to check the phone out herself.  She worked on it, put settings in order and it took a full charge.  She also told Peter not to activate the new phone, because this one still had life.  When he came over, I gave him the box with the new and old phones.  The old phone was dead again, most likely because it had been sitting idle for a few days with the power on.  But I started charging it and it started charging up to 1%.  Peter thought he'd continue charging it at his house.  And he left.

Saturday, June 21st

Peter was totally frustrated.  His old phone still didn't take a charge.  As a last resort, he activated his new phone.  He wasn't getting that one to work either, and somehow the old phone started charging to 100%.  He came over with both phones to see if I could help.  I called Track Phone technical support and eventually got his service in order.  With my difficulty hearing and Maria's accent it was amazing that I understood those directions.

We needed a break and headed out to Mariachi's for steak fajita and Margaritas.  This would be our first venture to a restaurant since the pandemic. The staff were wearing masks and tables were separated.  We were very satisfied sharing the fajita with 6 tortillas.  

We stopped off at ECU's ATM to get some money, then drove to Warnimont Park and sat near the edge of a grassy area looking out at the beautiful lake.  We stayed until the black flies started to bite.  We took a detour to avoid the Black Lives Matter march that was going down one of the South Milwaukee streets.

Sunday, June 21st

I went to 10:30 mass, which was sparsely attended maybe 30 people.  In Romans 5:12-15, though sin is not accounted when there is no law, I compared it to there is no COVID-19 when there is no testing. 

Purple Heart is coming for a pick-up tomorrow, so I had to get my discards together.  I looked at the drawers with all my craft supplies that I haven't touched for over ten years, and don't anticipate any crafting urge in the near future.  Instead of separating the items, and there was plenty, I left them all in the drawers and donated it as is.  I managed to get both drawer sets upstairs, regretting that I didn't invite Peter to help me.  Then I looked at the sewing machine that I touched maybe once since 2001.  I sorted things out and then thought Peter could come over and we'd carry it upstairs to donate that also.  After calling him and trying to lift one end of the machine, I didn't think I'd be able to be much help.  He thought Purple Heart might be able to take it upstairs.  Peter brought his old phone with over 1500 photos that he wanted transferred to his computer.  I was able to do that.  It took some searching to find the phone file, then the pictures.  But he's happy to be able to see them on his computer. 

We headed out to the Rock, sitting high up overlooking the landscape on a beautiful breezy afternoon.  Peter went back for our steins to pour our beers into.  We ended up at Point After on 76th and Rawson for a Reuben sandwich that we split and beers.  Somehow the computer registered two Reubens, but we paid for just one and we each had a take-home.  That was pretty filling.

Thus ended a lovely first day of summer weekend.

 

Breakfast Visitors

June 4, 2020

The day was so lovely to have my breakfast on my patio.  But it is getting very difficult to balance my tray and keep Hello Dolly indoors at the same time.  She is determined to run out the door.  As I'm having by breakfast, what should stroll by on my lawn but two sandhill cranes.  Fortunately, I had my phone with me.  I gasped, slowly raised my phone and took a picture.  What a thrill!

 

Gift Plant

 June 2, 2020

I attended the first of three sessions on Spirituality of Peace on Zoom. We discussed Little Fires Everywhere in Book Club via Zoom.  Then I picked up my groceries at Festival Foods at 3:00 pm.  I was almost finished putting them away when Peter came over with a hardy Mandavilla.  I couldn't let him stand outside in the heat, so I invited him in, first time we got together since the March 15th Founders Day Dinner; except when he dropped over to check on my landscaping. 

He really misses our togetherness.  We visited for a while and he thought not getting together was my excuse.  I think he almost fainted when I told him to stay longer.

I think hummingbirds should like this.