Author: thecapeblog

I was ready to strangle Ron yesterday morning when he informed me (semi-accurately) that the visit from our friends Wes and Susan was to include lunch here.

This is after several conversations in which I sounded him out on which restaurant we should take them.

We DID end up eating here, and it was fabulous. The important details that Ron left out were a) we had everything we needed without doing an extra shop and b) Wes did all the cooking and Susan made the salad.

Turns out (dumb luck, karma) Wes wanted to make a brunch dish that included onions, garlic (from our garden), peppers, olive oil, seasonings and eggs – all of which we had. Plus makings for both a green salad and a fruit salad.

Wes is a fabulous cook, and putting the meal together went quite smoothly, including clearing and setting up our table. We even had enough clean dishes and flatware without my having to run the dishwasher ahead of time, something I usually do before visitors get here since we don’t have tons of either.

It was a nice, relaxed visit, and our house was quite comfortable with the air conditioners and a fan going.

We’d watered and planted earlier in the day. A friend of one of our neighbors came over to admire the gardens.

Great feast and lots of music at Ed’s, including a solo by Emme!

Bought two beautiful delphinium at Nessrella’s, exactly what I wanted for the front garden, and at an excellent price.

We came home and found that Fluffles had urinated in the living room. I was so furious that I put him outside for the night.

That put a crimp in our plans, but we drove to Hyannis anyway to see the fireworks and visit the used record store. We didn’t find the store until after it closed and the fireworks were a disappointment – hard to see past the treeline and hidden by clouds. Would have been better to go to New Seabury.

Fluffles had fled the porch but showed up as shortly after I walked on to the deck. He was none the worse for wear.

Impressive display last night at Willowbend. This may become a tradition for us.

Changed the water filter yesterday.

Ron had good reports from both his primary and his cardiologist this week. He’s pleased that his new retirement benefit amount is almost the same as his old one, even though he added me as a contingent annuitant. Thank you, Cal.

I finished Preferred Customer and added CMPS to NEPS.

James’ a/c arrived as promised yesterday. We are told he is enjoying it.

Put up more pictures in the kitchen and living room and pseudo-tiles on the wall behind the stove.

Ron brought home the van but has to bring it back next week because the cruise control isn’t working now.

I planted up a few annuals to replace the gone-bys from early Spring.

Wisteria lasted much too short a time and is making seed pods.

Hydrangeas are in fully bloom and very pretty. Monarda has started. Roses are in between blooms. Front gardens are gathering compliments.

I did a little pruning of the rhodies at Edgewater yesterday. They were engulfing the front steps.

Ron cleaned the filter and is putting a new drain on the dehumidifier.

I cleaned out the Weber, which seems to be working “good enough”, and some gutter debris that was clogging one of the downspouts. I also moved the clock above the lamp in the living room.

“Biddy brunch” today, then transfer station.

I uploaded Preferred Customer for testing yesterday.

We had a nice Saturday afternoon. We drove up to FarFar’s and dropped in to the bakery next door. We got there one minute before closing, so the owners treated us to two loaves. Made French toast with the comped baguette this morning. We bought a couple of loaves and two bags of cookies. Then drove to the foot of the Powder Point bridge, did some cleanup of the little beach there.

Around 2:30 last night, and more expected this morning.

We were up at 6 to get ourselves ready to talk with Jim, our new carpenter, who arrived as promised at 7. I put together a banana sour cream coffee cake, something I’ve wanted to bake for a while.

Fluffles is much better today.

Wisteria blossomed this year, beautiful, fragrant blooms, and the Autumn Clematis is doing well, too. Guess the problem was soil, not sun. Still disappointed with the peony; I may replant it.

The Endless Summers, Daylilies and Larkspur are just starting. The “random” garden is definitely holding its own. We should have color all season.

We went to a lecture at WHRC this week, first time for us. Subject was preventing deforestation in the Congo.

Ron is bringing in the van for servicing this morning.

A lot to catch up on.

This has been an expensive week, but more of that later.

We’ve done a fair amount of yard work recently. Of course, I was too upset about the loss of my websites to keep notes. We’ve mostly pruned and weeded and watered. The biggest job was clearing the strawberries out of the vegetable garden. The squirrels ate or chewed most of the fruit anyway, so it was no great loss.

Five of the baby trees are doing well: the red maple, 2 fir trees, an Eastern Redbud and another little mystery tree. I’ll have to see if I can find the diagram I put on this blog.

We have 5 or so little tomatoes, kale, chard and one other leafy green vegetable. The asparagus are 5 feet high.

The corner garden is gorgeous, exactly as I’d hoped. Adding the “rescue” plants did the job.

Fluffles has not been doing well.

This week, we hired Capizzi to fix the wall at Edgewater. I flipped our bed around to optimize air conditioning in this room – it’s been steamy the last couple of days – and that means rehanging the door. A carpenter should be coming over tomorrow to look at it. I bought a fourth air conditioner for Edgewater. The closet blocks the air flow, so we hope the additional unit will solve that problem. Our electric bill was sky high because of a stupid decision I made about our supply fee.

Last Sunday, I took off to Wellfleet to see a PIFF film about the Bauhaus homes in the Cape Cod National Seashore. Ron brought some donations to Moonakis for a yard sale to benefit the Downwinders. I ended up filling the back of the truck with books that didn’t get sold; Paul was kind enough to let me scavenge for whatever I wanted, so I brought home a nice picture frame for Emma’s Mashpee Meetinghouse print and a pretty oil painting. This inspired me to rearrange our artwork, and we both like the results.

We found an excellent home for the books: brought them to Sturgis and got to meet the people with whom I’ve been corresponding.

Ron sawed through the semi-felled tree today. It took 15 minutes, start to finish. The prep on the other hand, took several hours and many months of mulling.

We’ve been talking about cutting down that tree since the winter. We finally bought a chain saw a couple of weeks ago.

After punting because of anticipated rain, we finally got it together this morning. Well, sort of.

Ron couldn’t start the chain saw. I couldn’t start it either. I asked if it was out of gas: “No”. Long story bearable, he brought me home so I could do some work, then brought the chain saw to Botello. In the parking lot, he realized that the chain saw didn’t start because it was out of gas.

Unfortunately, by this time, he’d misplaced a tool needed to adjust the chain. He went to the other end of town to get money, only to discover that Botello gives the tool away free. Back at Edgewater, he cut down the tree in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I took a break from work and brought a rake and hoe to weed the grass garden. So, we both did our share of yard work today.

We are supposed to get a days worth of rain starting this afternoon, so I put down 5-10-5 on the lawn.

Ron detailed the interior of his van.