5C's Que Pasa

We have had very few sunsets this month and a good deal of rain.  So just this past Tuesday, the 23rd, we are treated to a spectacle.

I first noticed the various colours on the  contours of the hills to the north.

Then to the south with a lovely reflection.

I was focusing on the brightly lit clouds to the east, when Air Canada flew over.

….and towards the west.

Wonderful reflections to the south from the setting sun.

Back to the west.

We did not water on Sunday, no idea why but I guess it did not need it.  Colin went to the gardens on Monday morning while I did my big walk of the day. He was back within a few minutes.  Turns out the bees began biting people on Sunday.  The bee keeper came and moved the entire hive to a very remote are of the property here in the park. However the bees were not happy and found their way back to the garden area on Monday. They were angry and attacking everyone. Several people got bit.  Colin saw an older gentleman walking his dog well away from the gardens swatting at his head.  He thought that he was hitting flies but it was bees.

A beekeepers hat was at one entrance to the garden area if anyone needed to use it.

And a second one at the other end.

I react very strongly to a bee sting.  When the bee hive was first introduced to the gardens, I was told that honey bees do not bite. I still kept my distance.  Guess they were wrong based on the number of bites in the past few days.  The first thing I said when Colin came back was that they needed to put another bee box out for those stray ones.  Colin and a neighbour tried later before dinner to water their gardens and no go. Too many bees. I texted the lady in charged and suggested that at the very least the beekeeper should water our gardens as we could not.  In the end Colin went after 7PM to water. The beekeeper was there with a can of Raid to protect those that were watering their gardens.

The beekeeper.

I did not find out until Tuesday that he had also set up a second home for the rogue bees on Monday evening.  One fellow did get bit but apparently is was by a wasp and not a bee. So the bees have been tamed , more or less.  Apparently he also did water gardens that evening for those who would not come into the area because of his bees 😀 I also discovered that he actually lives here in the park.  I suspect that I will soon know more about bees than I had planned to.  But I do want to know now that I have the opportunity.

I took this photo yesterday and they are still there today.

Colin was out early Tuesday morning and after my walk I went to the gardens. Just a few rogue bees.  Mostly mosquitoes. They have been beyond horrific, I guess due to all the rain we have had.  I have had up to 23 bites per garden visit. Yesterday I only got five and quickly left. The garden is growing quickly except for our poor tomatoes.  Those who read the blog will remember that the past two years we had more tomatoes than others.  We had more that we could eat. So disappointed with our tomatoes this season.

The leaves are curling up and turning brown.

Googling it, it appears to be blight caused by wet weather. So at this point we don’t know if we should wait it out or pull the plants and purchase new ones.

We are open to any and every suggestion.  Is is blight?  What should we do?  We have had wet weather for two days now but are expected sun for two days before rain on the weekend yet again.  Certainly not a sunny and warm start to our summer here in the Okanagan.

Yesterday after the thundershowers, wind and rain we walked to the garden.  Colin thought the tomato plants would be dead but they are still hanging in there. So perhaps we shall just wait and see for a few days before heading out to purchase new plants.  Sadly many of those tomatoes were grown from seeds by us. While there we were able to pick kale for dinner as well a a few young carrots and some ripe strawberries for dessert.

Friday began with some early morning kayakers.

Our family of ten which if memory serves me correctly originally was a family of eleven.

They were having so much fun in the weeds and doing a good deal of diving.

It was also chiropractor day in Vernon. It appears that many were planning to camp this weekend. A large class C on the left hauling a huge horse trailer ( Alberta plates ), in front of us a trailer and to the right another class C, both from BC.  Our park has only had maybe a dozen at the most of RVers here over the weekend. It is pretty quiet.

We had a sockeye salmon BBQ one evening. I lightly sautéed Swiss chard with kale and chopped onion and mushrooms.  A very tasty side that incorporated our garden veggies.

Our very first ever zucchini and it was a good weight @ .650 of a pound.  I don’t enjoy them as much when they are too big and almost flavourless. This was cooked on the BBQ mat along with the salmon.

Mamma and only six kids.  Sadly the family is decreasing in size. I believe that this is the family of nine ducklings that was born in our cedar hedge.

Today a good deal of time was spent by Colin weeding the garden and spraying our tomatoes that are now affected by ‘tomato blight’.  It is a result of cool wet weather. We do have one very slim pea pod but at least we do have a pea pod with many more to come 😀   We hope to save the tomatoes, the last two years we had so many and were eating them by now.  Looks like we will have a cucumber before tomatoes as the one I showed you in the last post has doubled in size and is about seven inches long.

Overall it was a good weekend in that we both relaxed a good deal, Colin with his guitars and me reading a book and not blogging. The novel was light but thought provoking written by Jennifer Weiner, entitled “Mrs. Every-thing”. We finished watching the TV series ‘The Kominsky Method‘.  Starring Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas, very entertaining. Thank you to Jannose and Colin for recommending this series. We are open to other suggestions s to what to watch in the weeks to come, not only TV series but movies as well.

Today both cars and the golf cart got washed, the house siding cleaned ( so many spiders), and both the driveway and the patio power washed. Looking forward to a shrimp ( from Mazatlan) stir fry tonight.

In other news, Dallas was able to give out 130 food packages this past Friday on the Isla.  Between my donations, thanks to you my blog readers and to a few other donors we have enough funding to do yet another despensa next Friday. Likely the last one. Things are looking more positive in Mazatlan with more stores opening and if the Covid numbers go in the correct direction there is a good chance that the beaches will open July 1st.  Fingers crossed pleased. That will certainly help open up the Isla economy so that the Mexicans can earn pesos to feed their families.  Perfect timing as our funding is running out re distributing the food packets.

We have been munching on banana loaf and orange cranberry loaf for the past few nights.  How lucky are we to have a resident baker? Good thing I got these as Colin has been too busy to bake his now famous ( at least to us ) banana loaf.  Perhaps tomorrow.

There were water-skiers yesterday. Often my photos are taken through our windows as by the time I go outside it is too late.

Here I sit at 7PM with all the windows open and it is 83F at my desk. It is 84F outside with not even a whiff of a breeze.  Just a few days ago I had a heater turned on behind my desk and we were using the fireplace in the morning and at night.

Just as the sun was setting yesterday.  You can still see a lot of white on top of the mountain.  We might be setting a new record for snow at this time of year.  Two flocks of geese arrived a few days ago and appear to have settled on our lake for now.

I know that our plants were so happy to see a bit of sun yesterday. One of our tomatoes to the left of the cucumber plant, then our Swiss chard pot and the carrot pot.

So happy to see this tiny cuke coming along considering the same plant as this one totally died in the garden. You can see how small the cucumber is by the size of its tendril wrapped around the thin metal of the tomato cage I used for support. I actually have four of these wee cukes on the plant thus far.  Who would have thought that the plant in the garden would die but not the one in the pot? I wish more of the yellow flowers would actually turn into a fruit. So many flowers but…….guess I am going to have to start hand pollinating.

This potted bean plant almost died because of all the rain. The ones in the garden have for the most part died because of insects. This plant was yellow two days ago and with just a bit of sunshine it is greening up.

Looks like we just might have some beans. First time we have grown beans.

Finally some pea flowers. A few of the other garden plots have pink pea flowers. I guess they are a different type. Can anyone suggest the best peas to grow? Would really appreciate it for next summer.

A couple here in the park would like to build a park home like ours and asked to visit ours. So many do want to see our home before they build theirs.

We were reluctant to have people in our home at this time but figured that we could manage it.  I asked them to use the hand sanitizer that I generously pumped onto their hands and explained that we would need to stay as far apart as we could.  It actually worked out just fine except for one thing.  I didn’t realize that the gentleman was so unsteady on his feet and he kept having to lean on or hang onto our various pieces of furniture in every area and room.  At about the thirty minute mark I suggested that we go sit outside to continue the conversation.  Colin placed the chairs far apart, more than it looks in the photo.  Once they left Colin went through the house with Clorox wipes wiping down the touched surfaces.  I did serve wine and beer but no snacks.

Dinner last night was special. We actually made our entire salad from romaine lettuce grown in our garden. Every bite of the lettuce was a burst of flavour.  You really don’t want to eat store bought romaine after growing your own. At the moment we only have the two plants in the garden.  Certainly more next summer.

Dinner included four items that we have grown. The green steamed kale is in the middle at the bottom of the plate. We grew the beets last summer and stored them here in our fridge over the winter.  This is the last of them.  New ones are growing.  Those tiny carrots came from both the garden and the pot here in our yard. I just had to pull some and try them.  Yummy.  Next at the top is our Caesar salad with our own romaine.  I can hardly wait for our own tomatoes. To the right is a mix of rice and quinoa and then the soy protein turkey cutlets and gravy made by Gardein.  A very pleasing and healthy meal.

I cringe when I see this at the doctors office.