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July 31, 2011
Out Of the Weeds
 Good morning, campers. Actually, they aren’t up yet – except maybe the ones in tents. Despite forecasts to the contrary, I woke up at 4am to the now familiar sound of showers, and dashed outside to rescue anything caught in the wet. Lovely. Luckily someone else had been there before me, perhaps before they retired for the night, and put most of the chairs and baby Olson supplies under the canopies. The Sesame Street book talked to me when I picked it up, so I guess that’s a good sign. I found a puddle in my cushy camp chair, a couple of soggy rolls of paper towels and other items at the uncovered fringes of the outdoor kitchen, and moved several damp chairs and other things under cover to hopefully dry out by morning. The rain has already stopped, and we only got about half a centimeter, but I’m peeved that showers didn’t show up in our forecast, as we could have prevented all our things from getting wet. At least I moved my new paper lanterns under cover before I went to bed! Since my early morning exercise woke me up completely, I’m enjoying one of Richard’s delectable brownies from the best ever brownie mix from Costco (thanks to the Lunds’ friend Ottawa for introducing us to these at Marrowstone!) and catching up on one of the last pre-party tasks I didn’t get done by Friday afternoon. Posting the pics of all our preparations. Richard and I have been working every evening and long hours on weekends on projects in the yard and shop, as well as planning menus, seating, decorations, etc, to get ready for this weekend, and I think the lack of sleep and bad backs were worth it. We were really in the weeds Friday morning, but it all came together. I didn’t quite get everything done in my garden, but overall, the place looks great. And the food… Richard has outdone himself. But more on that later. |
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 I had to show you this photo from a couple of weeks ago. I was pruning my roses when movement inches from my nose made me look up past the mass of branches I was removing below my office window. Don’t know how I missed it before, but the size of this nest was incredible. I had to admire the papery quality, all the folds and whorls, so delicate. But these black and white wasps are among the most aggressive, likely to sting. One person has already been stung this weekend – by the more common yellow leatherjackets (is the name because they dive-bomb like fighter pilots?) – so I don’t feel quite so guilty about destroying this beautiful thing. Busy bees ourselves, we had quite a stressful week trying to finish major projects on Sunday and evenings after work, and although we both had Thursday as well as Friday off, it wasn't quite enough time. Next year, the 5th UNniversary, which will involve more work for Richard as we'll have a larger group of guests (only 13 of us this year), we're hoping to convince one of our guests to come up early on the Thursday. One extra set of hands (and muscles) would be a huge help. Everyone pitched in as they arrived on Friday night, and by nightfall nearly everything was done, but with the smoker malfunction at 1:30am keeping Richard and I up, we both got only two hours sleep that night. It was a 22 hour day for me and I felt it yesterday. But Saturday was spent mostly relaxing in the sun with great food and company and everybody pitched in on meal prep and cleanup, so I think it was a success. A surprise guest who'd never been here before was very impressed so that was a nice pat on the back for Richard and I. We will do it again next year, with a few helping hands. And now it's time to prep for Sunday breakfast and see if the chairs have dried out. I see blue sky! |
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First on the list – flowerbed rehab.
It took me a weekend – much better.
Under the tarp, mulch awaited shoveling into beds.
Cleared the patio to make room for these.
I started expanding these beds in May.
My back wasn’t up to getting the flowers planted Friday.
Thank goodness for the weed trimmer for tough spots.
Here’s an appealing shady spot. Fixed that.
Visions of French country dining but no time for a tabletop.
We had to buy apricots – ours are still green.
Another area that needed some work.
Petunias, check. The toilet didn’t go 'til Friday – thanks, Chris.
Thursday AM, locked out and in the weeds!
Lots to cut down, pick up, set up, and put up. Like lights.
These were thankfully already prepped for Rick’s stag.
Kitchen, check. Now we’re ready – let’s eat.Posted by anita at July 31, 2011 6:06 AM
Comments
Wow, you had time to do a blog post in the middle of your big weekend after not posting for weeks! Everything looks great. Happy BC Day tomorrow!
Posted by: marja-leena | 20:09 31 July 2011
Thanks! It wasn't so much a matter of having time, as being up in the middle of the night and not able to go back to sleep once dawn invaded our bedroom. Blackout curtains are moving up my wishlist.
The party went great, Sunday turned into another beautiful day, and we had lots of help taking down the big stuff on Monday. I had hoped to do another post tonight of the food etc, but we've still got party cleanup to do in the yard, and I'm preparing for more visiting. So, this weekend perhaps. Not so many photos this year, as we didn't do much but sit around relaxing. And eating. So nice!
A belated Happy BC Day to everybody!
Posted by: anita | 18:33 02 August 2011