Staycate the Premises

I hate to be writing this post, because it means my staycation is finally over. What a lovely break it was. I randomly, at the last minute, took off on Thursday and Friday, mainly because the weather was supposed to be wonderful. I wasn’t 100% sure what I’d do, but it all fell into place.

I should mention that I also finally made it to the pool last Monday night and made progress on Ready Player One, which I’m enjoying.

Also on Monday, I spied what I think is a fritillary butterfly flitting among the marigolds. Maybe a variegated fritillary? Exciting — I don’t see too many butterflies out there.

I kicked off staycation on Thursday by having my coffee out back with the dogs. Later, I had an important phone call scheduled as well as a visit with the dog trainer. But in between those I worked in the garden and in the kitchen.

First I harvested three big onions!

They went up on the playset to cure. My grand onion total is… 5. It will be better next year!

I also picked sage, marjoram, basil, oregano and parsley for drying.

Finally, I collected lettuce seeds from one plant. The other plant was still blooming.

Inside, I roasted, pureed, de-seeded, and froze more tomatoes.

Later, we headed out to dinner. Kids’ choice, and they picked the Cheesecake Factory, as I said it needed to be near Costco, our next stop. Food was good and we shared a piece of tiramisu.

Costco, on my vacation? Well, it was a treat to go on a weekday evening — it wasn’t busy at all. And I wanted to get towels there for college and for us. And I used my annual gift certificate, all $16 of it.

After that I probably did more in the garden. The weather was simply amazing and I stayed outside as much as possible. It was helpful in trying to potty train Molly.

Friday was supposed to be my big day to “do something.” But Tom ended up having to work and F said she was beached out. So I decided to dedicate the rest of my staycation to materially improving the back yard and garden. We kicked off that plan by fueling up with Wawa (iced latte for me). (I should mention that every morning and evening we were also feeding our vacationing friends’ cats.) I located and secured a used tall planter on Facebook marketplace for pickup that night. Then it was off to Ace Hardware for soil to fill it and twine to tie up more tomato vines. Then Acme for s’mores supplies for that night. F and I then headed over to Plato’s Closet where we both made out well — I got two pairs of badly needed shorts for $20 (in perfect condition) as well as a fun T shirt and flip flops. From there we meandered down to Mount Royal, where the planter was waiting ($40).

We just scrounged for dinner, then had a fire, beers and s’mores later on. Fiona had two friends over and the pups romped around. Perfect night for a fire. Long story but one of the girls is actually about to move in next door and we met her mother when she came to pick her up!

Those two days alone were great… mentally relaxing but physically busy. And I must have stopped every five minutes to marvel at the weather.

But wait, there’s more! Saturday F and I went to a nearby yard sale and I found the perfect-sized piece for the space next to our fridge, for $10! It’s narrow enough to fit and tall enough for the cat’s food to be safe from the dogs. And it’s antique. I love it.

Not gonna lie, it felt great to pull the trigger on all these purchases that fulfilled needs AND were previously owned. I did not have to think twice.

Also got my next book at the yard sale:

He also wrote *The Leftovers*, which was turned into one of my top 5 favorite series

Then it was off to Medford Lakes to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. Last time I was at the lake I didn’t swim for some reason but I had no inhibitions this time. The water felt great. I also got to meet my sister’s new dog, Piper. Such a sweetie.

Capped off Saturday with dinner out, just me and Tom, at Holy City Publick House, and a trip to the park with Rocco.

Back at home, I passed out hard on the couch before 10:30, a cool breeze blowing through the living room window.

Sunday was the only day that was a little off. It was marred by the worry that we had somehow inadvertently killed one of the cats we were pet sitting, because we couldn’t find her. Irrational perhaps, but I couldn’t relax until she finally appeared late in the afternoon. I also was feeling a little sick Sunday, so I mostly just cleaned, put all the Costco stuff away, stopped at Walgreens, and mowed the front and back lawns. All of us went to the diner for dinner. The cherry on the top, the bow on my staycation was half a pint of Netflix and Chill’d by Ben and Jerry’s. The End.

Other stuff got done over the course of the four days as well, as far as cleaning up the front, side and back yards. They really look much better. I picked some carrots; they are a little woody but not too bad.

Today… back to reality. But I saw more butterflies! This one might be a silver spotted skipper. Terrible picture, the sun was in my eyes. Ignore the plastic tag sticking up behind it.