It's not the Heat....

It's a toasty day today.  I haven't heard the explanation, but apparently we are enjoying a wave of hot, humid air from somewhere down in the States.  I haven't turned the air conditioning on, and have no intention of doing so because of the new time-of-day hydro charges imposed on us by our present government.  That's a rant for another day, and one that nobody else is interested in hearing about in this blog.  Anyway.  The heat and humidity are only going to hang around today, and then the temperature will drop fairly dramatically and I'm hopeful that we'll finally get some badly needed rain.

I buzzed around this morning and got everything on my list done.  First of all was to mail that baby afghan to my cousin's daughter.  The baby was over a week late but arrived safely last night.  I had been procrastinating with the afghan because it's hot to knit when the project is long enough to occupy your lap.  I was beginning to feel like the babe would not arrive until I finished my project, and as it happens I finished around 4pm yesterday and he was born around 8:30.  Coincidence?  You decide.

Then I went grocery shopping.  I'm going to spatchcock a smallish chicken and marinate it for a few hours this afternoon.  Then I'll cook it on the barbecue and we'll have leftovers for a couple of days.  When it gets this hot out I try to plan things so that I cook early in the morning, or barbecue later in the afternoon.  With a couple of salads that should do us for a while, I hope.

I still haven't bought all my container plants.  The pansies are not happy with the heat, so I have to replace them soon.  I used to plant coleus and begonias and such because of all the shade in the backyard, but of course that has changed.  I'm going to experiment with geraniums and wax begonias for one container, and wait to see the results before I go nuts.   I have been given a bitter melon plant and some Japanese eggplants by someone who works with my husband.  I've never grown either, but will plant them by my back deck and keep my fingers crossed.  There is definitely a rabbit roaming the neighbourhood and nibbling gardens, but maybe it's called bitter melon for a reason?  There's a picture of it above, doesn't it look pretty?  I love growing things I've never tried before, and I have no idea what is going to happen next.  If I'm successful, I'll have to check out some recipes.

Now that the baby project is over, I have to get my act together and finish the hand pieced quilt square before next week's class.  I've received an email with the square we'll be tackling on Saturday and it looks like I'll have to hit the store to find a new blue and green fabric to coordinate with the ones I have.  Possibly a new gold or yellow background fabric as well.  I enjoy searching out the perfect match for what I already have and would have done that today if I had remembered to bring my glasses.  It's hard to match colours using sunglasses!  Since I'm only buying fat quarters, it isn't a decision that will break the bank.