Sunday...

Today consisted of taking my son to his part time job to start at 10:00. He was still sleepy on the way there, regardless of having had a shower and breakfast. Teenagers are on a different time zone. When I got home, I had another cup of coffee and enjoyed some blog time. I like to see how people started out and figure out how they attain a lot of readers. I went back in time to read early postings by Cro Magnon of Magnon's Meanderings. (Sorry, that's not a link, I'm being lazy). What an interesting life he has had!

Then husband said he needed to go to town (the one 45 minutes away, not the one 13 minutes away) to get something for the ongoing bathroom project, so I got myself presentable (because you never know who you might run into at Home Depot???) and off we went. While he spent time at Princess Auto (all hail...) I was in Winners. I tend to refer to Winners shopping experiences as either a good Winners day or a bad Winners day. A bad Winners day means there was literally NOTHING that I wanted to buy, or that fit me, or didn't make me look fat, or made me try to look 20 again... But today ladies and gentlemen was a good Winners day!!  (I guess you might compare it to T.J. Max in that is carries clothing and home décor at a discounted price and they get new shipments in all the time). It was the perfect combination of nobody with me at the store (i.e. husband or offspring), tons of time because husband was at Princess Auto (all hail), they must have just brought in a new shipment that had yet to become shop worn with foundation smears or lipstick stains, and I was in the "right frame of mind". For a woman, I am a very poor shopper. There are those who love the idea of shopping all day, the whole shop til you drop mentality. That is NOT me.

Anyway, as the planets were all lined up and lady luck was smiling down at me, I found many tops and some bottoms, did the whole yes, no, maybe groupings in the changeroom, and walked out of there a happy woman.

After that, and ironically as I was paying for my treasures, he was finished at Princess Auto (all hail) and came in to find me, husband suggested we get a bite to eat. That sounded like a grand idea but I didn't want to go to some fast food place. We ended up going to a little restaurant that we hadn't been to for such a long time called, The European Café (or was it the European Bakery?). They have the most wonderful sandwiches on homemade breads and desserts to die for. I chose a sandwich that came on sunflower rye bread and had the most delectable combination of melted white cheddar cheese, sunflowers, red onion, bacon, slightly broiled tomato, and alfalfa sprouts. The sandwich was grilled and served with a dill pickle. It was heavenly and no, I didn't even think about taking a picture. Husband had a lovely pastrami on rye, but I think he regretted not ordering what I had. I did give him a few bites of mine.

We got home and I went for a little walk about the yard. I was wanting to spot a praying mantis because it is the right time of year. My poor perennial beds are just sad, tired, and dried up. The flowers in the urns and window boxes of the shed are the only real shots of colour in the back yard because I kept them watered.

I have one rose bush. It is some sort of Hansa rose and it does fairly well with total neglect. I saw that there are some brightly coloured rose hips on it. I have heard of people making jams or other things (tea?) with rose hips. They must have an awful lot of rose bushes to be able to gather enough to create something out of. I certainly don't have many.

I wandered over to my little vegetable garden to check for tomatoes. I could see a couple peeking through the leaves. I test them by giving a gentle tug. If  the fruit falls off into my hand, it is ready. If there is still some resistance, I leave it for another day or so. These weren't quite ready.

I did find one that was ready and left it on the back porch to take in later.

With the perennials that are still holding up in the dry heat we have had this summer, the colour scheme is yellow and purple. Of course, the Black Eyed Susan springs up throughout the yard. 

The delicate purple flowers behind it are Russian Sage. I really like how it combines with other more bold flowers.

There are also some phlox that have tolerated the heat. Generally, they aren't as happy this summer as they have been in the past. I'm not getting quite the show of colour that I normally would.

As I was sitting on the front porch, sending the pictures that I had taken with my phone to my computer, I heard a familiar humming sound. We get ruby throated hummingbirds (even when I forget to make more sugar water for their feeder!). I managed to capture this little guy on my phone. Can you spot him? (apologies to the neighbour for featuring his house on my blog)

It has been a beautiful Sunday afternoon, very "crickety" and warm. I hope you too had a nice end to your weekend.