Summer weather is over! Sept 23 - 30th

Monday I went to my Chair Yoga. Boy did Ross work us hard on our cores. I realize now the chair is only to help balance you, not for sitting. LOL

Tuesday is the day I put "summer" away. The rest of my front planters were emptied out ready for my gardener to move them under the sundeck for the winter. I put the rest of the deck and driveway furniture away using my "green dumper" and adjustable dolly into the basement. Most of it I did while Ray's at physio, so he couldn't try to help me lol. He did disconnect my front irrigation though and blew out the lines. With all the lifting, I'm pretty sore afterwards, even after having a hot tub. 

The rest of the day we spent sitting in our chairs on the deck, the ones we just cover and use over the winter. It's a really warm, humid afternoon at about 21C (70F). Last warm day, the rain begins tomorrow. I went to bed at 8:30 pm and asleep immediately. 

Wednesday off to exercise class. Wasn't sure if I would go as I'm so sore, but decided to go after loosening up in the hot tub. What beautiful warm fall afternoon. Great water reflections.

Ray finally got to take off the bandage from knee surgery. He is healing well. He can bend to 112 degrees, at 4 weeks. Awesome.

Thursday Raywent to physio, so that pretty much did him in for the day. I puttered in my kitchen a bit, another batch of tomato sauce with the last of my tomatoes and an apple pie. Ray bought a bag of apples at the Duncan Farmer's Market last weekend and they were already going soft, So instead of throwing them into the compost, I got out my "Johnny Apple Peeler" and made him a pie. Today is a miserable rainy day. Our gardener postponed taking our planters off the deck until tomorrow, so he wouldn't be tracking all that dirt and mud through the house, since that is how we get them off the deck.

Tonight's my Island Art Night at Jake's. My first time painting on a canvas. It was 2 hours of lots of laughs. My picture actually turned out not too bad. The hardest part is that I had a TV behind me that kept changing colours which would reflect on my canvas. That made it hard to seeif I had the appropriate coverage of paint. My picture turned out not too bad.

How it starts out. Mario gave us a stencil to trace out the plane and then paint it.

My tablemates.

I'm definitely going to give it another try and booked for the October 24th class. Pat, our neighbour, is also coming with me.

Friday, definitely a bit tired after staying up later than usual. Then moving fast in the morning as Sean's coming at 8am to clear off all the planters and put them under the deck for the winter. First Ralph and Sean had to dig a bunch of the dirt out and dump it into my front garden before moving them with my dolly. Now I have to finish cleaning the deck this weekend. They also helped me pull the ladders up on the dock, so now I just have to clean them from the green slime from the lake. I'm glad I went into the water on the last warm day and tied the ropes to them instead of swimming now!

Dirty deck!

While I'm busy with that Ray started figuring out his Christmas Village .... I had hauled out all the boxes of houses etc. He has 47 houses, 3 trains, 10 other bigger features, lots of people and a bunch of diecast cars. He will have to paint everything white, make hills and carve out his foam. A lot of figuring out how to go vertical! He started it downstairs, so has 2 months to figure it out before moving it upstairs. 

Decided not to go to my exercise class as I'd done a bunch already today. At 2pm I drove into Duncan to the Toyoto dealer for the first service on our new car and get our extra key fob programmed. Due to a chip shortage, we only received one key fob for the car. A bit of a pain between the two of us, as I clip my keys to my purse and often leave Ray in the car while doing a small shop. Then he is stuck unable to open windows etc. Also a bunch of times, he comes into the store with me for picking his stuff, then waits in the car. Several times he went to the car and then realizes he can't get in. Problem now solved. lol

Saturday morning we have a bit of a nice sunrise before the clouds moved in again. Morning temps are certainly chillier at 5C instead of 11C now. They have opened up the weir more, so more water is getting into the river for the salmon. 

I spent the morning pressure washing the gazebo and ladders down on the dock and then moved up to do the front of the house and part of the driveway to clear up all the dirt from the planters. My hose to the dock is 10 feet too short, so borrowed one from Pat and Darryl ... Ray gave all our extra hose away with the motorhome. 

That's exhausting work lol. Ray took me out for lunch as I'm too tired to throw something together. lol Sure looks much better. Tomorrow the sundeck! I kept 3 planters of herbs until they die off later in the fall.

Sunday, I managed to get the sundeck all pressure washed. This is my last big job for the fall. Looks much better. I'm glad to get it done on a nice day instead of the rain.

Ray played with his village setup downstairs for a bit. We have to make 2 villages .... so he can show off his 3 train sets. lol

He still has lots of pieces to figure out, then he will be painting the foam white, gluing his tracks and then build boxes to raise up the houses ... alot of work to do.

Monday, the last day of September OMG. This month went so fast. A very foggy start to the morning where we couldn't see across the lake. By 8 am though the sun broke through. Today is "take it easy" day, with both of us quite sore. I see a hot tub in my future, while Ray is still unable to go in until his incision scar is "scab free".

We did manage to hang our 2 new paintings. 

After doing a bit of grocery shopping, Ray took me out to lunch at Jake's for Seniors Day ... 25% off food. Great deal.