Last Sunday was crisp and sunny, a perfect late summer day. We had Bella the Dog staying with us so went for a walk along Chapman Creek. We watched the salmon on their journey upstream, climbed on the rocks along the riverside, and then went to my in-laws’ to pick pears and apples from their trees.
On Tuesday the rain came. It poured. The joke is, of course, that in just a few days we are getting all the rain we didn’t have this summer. We need it though.
Tuesday was also Rose’s first session of music class. She is doing this once a week with her best little buddy. Because most drop-off classes her start at age 3 and because Rose was 2 when the pandemic began, this was the first time I have ever dropped her off and left her at a group activity. She was so excited about this and had no problem saying good-bye. And I got 45 minutes all to myself!
The dry and hot summer has meant some smaller harvests here but this week we had an abundance of pears and apples. (Friends brought us fruit from their trees as well as what we’d picked above.) We also have grapes growing in our backyard. I spent much of one day dealing with this bounty. I made applesauce and grape juice, prepped fruit for the freezer, and our dehydrator worked overtime. I think next year I really need to learn how to can.
It gives me immense satisfaction to look in our fridge and see the things that I’ve been able to make and prepare for my family.
The end of the week brought further storms and a lot more rain. On Friday Rose and I had a quiet day at home and baked cookies together. After a wet walk home from school, the girls curled up with hot chocolate and popcorn for their weekly TV time.
Happy weekend, friends! Hope you are cozy, safe, and dry, wherever you are.
Karissa Reads Books 
It’s cold and wet in Melbourne! Love seeing your late summer photos. What a gorgeous spot to walk!
We’ve had rain just about every day since then so I’m glad we got out to enjoy the sunshine that day!
It always lifts my day when I see Rose and Justin Beaver. There’s just something about the immense love she obviously feels for her stuffed friend that feels innocent and lovely.
When you mentioned rain, I immediately thought of your garden and how your people have been on water rationing! Did you stick out buckets or anything for after the rain to continue watering plants?
I have so much love for Justin Beaver! I sometimes imagine Rose’s inner world of her and Justin…kind of like Calvin and Hobbes.
We did put out a makeshift rain barrel! (Basically an old garbage can.) It absolutely poured over the weekend and while I was washing dishes one day and saving my grey water, I realized I could probably stop. We are back to Stage 1 restrictions this week and I doubt it will be necessary to save water again. Until next summer, I guess.
Even if you don’t have restrictions, I would imagine saving water to put on the garden later would be environmentally good? I actually don’t know a ton about water and the environment. I’ve studied how pollutants travel through water (FRIGHTENINGLY EASILY) but not so much about, you know, whether running the tap too long hurts the planet. I always think about this as I’m washing my hands for those 20 seconds.
I’ve thought of that…we get so much rain during the fall and winter and then end up being so limited in our water use during the summer. I think we’d need a better storage system if we wanted to collect and keep water that long. Any open water we have seems to become an attractant for wildlife and I would imagine germs too. I like the idea of collecting rain water in a more efficient manner though.
My big concern would be mosquitoes. They lay their eggs in still water. When we were all worried about the Zika virus, etc. we were told to dump any standing water containers, which could range from a bird bath to a used tire.
Yep, mosquitoes would definitely be one of the big issues. We see them even in the brief days we do let our pails fill up with rain water. We’re fortunate that instances of disease being spread through mosquitoes is very rare where we live but of course the possibility is never zero. And it’s annoying to feel like you’re making a pleasant place for mosquitoes to breed.
I tried to read a fairly new book called Mosquito, which covers the science and history of this pest, and how they’ve actually changed world history. They’re also the #1 killer of human beings across the globe. However, the mosquito book was too dense/smart for me, and I returned it to the library.
I had no idea about them being the #1 killer but I guess that’s not hard to understand. They’re so widespread and can spread disease so easily.
Your weather is sounding very Scottish! Rain is actually my favourite kind of weather – I love getting totally drenched and then coming home and getting all dry and warm again.
I actually love that too! As long as I’m on my way home, I never mind getting wet in the rain and I’m always telling the girls on wet walks after school that half the fun is arriving home and getting cozy again!
We had unseasonable sunshine last week but it’s now thoroughly autumnal with lots of rain and wind – which I am very happy about.
I also want to learn to can next year, on the wildly optimistic grounds that maybe I’ll have more produce coming from my allotment in late summer than I can reasonably eat or give away. It seems like it would be a useful skill.
We always seem to have too much fruit and veggies around this time of year but then in the winter we’re back to buying it again so it seems like it would make sense to can!