Well Friday was our coldest day to start this winter and it was a welcomed relief after days of hot humidity and bright sunshine. I love the sunshine but the 46 degrees was so good and the gentle breeze made it feel even cooler in the shade. I donned long pants for a change as we attended a school function for Eliza Faye at 9 and they were needed as the school sits among large trees and it brought goose bumps to your arms after finally finding a parking space.
I started the day with my usual routines that start with a 6'ish roll out after sleeping in so many days with this chest cold which kept me down for about a week. I'm still hacking occasionally but nothing like before and I'm regaining my stamina and desire to work and be active after laying around with none of the aforementioned. This cooler temps which by 10 AM was back into the low 60's was perfect for working outside with the bright sunshine. Our mountain friends were under a severe weather warning with ice everywhere and cold temps but they too had bright sunshine after a day of overcast skies with rain and snow mixture but their temps were in the 20's, yikes.
Chris, Nancy's first cousin was still here after a week but she was flying home in the early evening to Pa. which had several inches of snow and cold temps there. She wasn't thrilled about that but she left wearing sandals in the mid afternoon with temps nearing 70's and bright sunshine. In the morning we took off for Keswick School where granddaughter Eliza Faye was in her first school program and she was a hoot with her movements to the short songs they sang. She was blowing kisses to us and bowed after each song. She is just a cutie and so animated as were most of the kids in this program. We skipped Sam's program out on the football field as I had a 10 o'clock appointment with the truck for service.
The appointment fell through as I made plans to have it done after Thanksgiving but Tyler sent pics of Sam's program. Ava was playing basketball later in the day in Tampa with her first game of the season against a much older team of girls but they did well despite losing their first ever organized game against another school. What great experience for her in competition sports. Amy called later in the day on their way home and said Ava was pumped after her first game.
We dropped Chris off at 2 ish then headed home. The small airport was packed with new arrivals as well as many leaving for the cold climate. This airport is under new construction again and does offer some respite from using TIA which is always packed with constant activity. We headed home so Nancy could clean house and I worked outside in the yard until dark. I had two loads of clothes on the line as it was a perfect day for drying clothes outside in the bright sunshine. I hand watered and fed the new seedlings and did notice a couple new tomato seedlings popping through the ground which I will move up to bigger pots. I need to find some carrot seeds as Home depot has already moved their seeds out of the store for Christmas decorations. Everything in the garden is doing awesome as well, especially all of the fixen's for fresh garden salads which will start this next week. All of the Swiss chard, beet greens, kale and three kinds of lettuces will make for great fresh salads for the next months and I should have plenty to share with family and neighbors.
I do have a problem with nematodes so I wanted to do something natural to ward them away from the roots of my Swiss chard which they love to attack. I know that marigolds are natural deterrent to them so I brought back lots of dried marigold heads from the cabin and decided to sow the dried heads in the ground when I set the seedlings out. I'm wondering if this will help but it a good way to use the heads anyhow. I have lots of marigolds seedlings up already to be planted around the tomato plants as well when I set them in the ground. I'm missing my abundance of earthworms as the garden dried out during the summer and I'm trying to keep the ground wet to bring them back as well as add compost for them to eat.
Well we were expecting an old friend from Nancy' high school days who is visiting from Colorado to come by but she never showed. We ate light for supper with a chicken pot pie after a large lunch of grilled sandwiches and chips. We sat and watched the news then I headed in to shower and watch the bedroom TV and the Gold Rush show which Nancy cares nothing about but instead check HBO and the movie Dillinger was on and I watched that until it was lights out around 10'ish.
Today we leave here and travel to Tampa to watch Gabe play baseball around 10 then head back to get ready for tomorrow big birthday dinner and celebration for Annsley and Gabe with a roast lamb dinner and all the fixen's. The kiddos wanted this and it's funny I never ate lamb until Nancy's mom GG, prepared it and now its become one of our favorite meats for special family dinners. It's expensive but oh so good especially the gravy over smashed taters, LATER
