Song of the Cicadas

Maybe my next house will have a screened-in porch, where I can enjoy a breezy 65-degree September morning, drinking hot coffee and listening to the sounds of nature without my neighbors seeing me in my pajamas and bra-less.

In the meantime, I’m on the patio in full view. Too gorgeous a morning not to. Listening to blue jays, crows, grackles, crickets, squirrels, and cicadas. I learned today that they are called dog day cicadas. The “dog days” of July and August, by the way, are named for the Dog Star, Sirius, which appears now. (But I don’t know why that star is called the Dog Star, sorry.)

The cicadas die off around mid-September, and that quietness is for me probably the true beginning of fall. But for now, they are a buzzin’, it’s Labor Day, and I’m going to the pool later for my last hurrah.

I’m working on a garden plan for next year. I’ve made a to-scale drawing of the back yard… that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I have a nebulous idea of having a large spiral planter for flowers and herbs in the center of the patio, and then just adding raised planters along the right hand side of the fence. And maybe a trellis for the back wall of the house, for beans.

Last Monday I was not quick enough to snag some free bricks someone put out around the corner. But it got me thinking that I should keep an eye on FB marketplace for them. Bricks or stone would be good to edge the new garden bed I created this year on the side of the house.

I spent some time on Saturday morning pulling weeds from the patio. I want to keep it nice and clear. Here’s a picture to remind myself that it can be weed free!

I weedwhacked on the side of the house near the fence on Sunday. The rest of the mowing and edging can wait for B., our neighbors ‘ daughter’s boyfriend who has been mowing it all summer since I continue to fail to get the push mower sharpened.

In other home improvement news, on Saturday Tom finally fixed the several small broken windows we had. (We have a lot of multipaned old-fashioned windows.) Now I don’t have to worry about a bat flying in while I’m on the powder room can any more. N. helped him, and the dog and cat stayed close by for moral support.

Otherwise this weekend so far, I’ve food shopped, cleaned, and preserved some garden produce. I roasted two pans of Amish paste tomatoes. I also dabbled in making a relish with the hot cherry peppers and one of my now-cured onions. It was fun, but I’m not sure if anyone will eat it. I haven’t tried it yet.

I also sliced up and froze two ears of corn leftover from dinner on Sunday.

F and I went to the farmers’ market for corn, cheddar cheese, potatoes and garlic (and Wawa for coffee). We also stopped in Haddon Culinary for a cupcake and to buy some gifts. Beautiful weather and everybody was out and about.

Prior to that, I was out in the garden doing some cleanup: pulling the dead Big Rainbow tomato plant and pruning the big Amish paste plant, and pulling weeds as mentioned. F woke me up nice and early at 7:15 asking for a ride to volleyball.

Saturday evening was dinner at my parents’ to celebrate my dad’s 77th birthday. The whole gang was there and Rocco got to play with his cousin Piper.

Yesterday was a lot of cleaning up and food shopping. I went to Acme and my receipt shows that I saved 19% overall and that 25 of the 35 items bought were on sale. I made good use of the Acme coupon app.

Last week I was able to work from home again. Back to normal this week (WFH Monday and Thursday only). I used that extra time not spent commuting to push wash along, call and make various doctor appointments, sweep and tidy up, and get a jump on dinner. On my lunch break, I walked Rocco and/or ran errands.

Did you see that Wendell Berry passed away? I need to remember to look for his books at the library. I’ve only ever read snippets of his work, but I feel like our general stances align.

Meals this week;

Monday: scrambled eggs, sausage and toast

Tuesday: chicken piccata, sauteed GBs from the garden, and grandma noodles. The chicken tasted very off — from being in the freezer too long? Not sure. But this adds fuel to my new theory that planning meals/buying food on the daily is better. The beans were a bit too crisp; maybe they needed longer in the microwave because there were so many of them. I also need to be sure to pick them before they get too big. But hey, the noodles were just right, and believe me, I’ve screwed them up in the past too.

Wednesday: Ellio’s pizza/scrounge

Thursday: beef tacos

Friday: Stella Pizza

Saturday: hoagies at my parents’

Sunday: BBQ ribs, corn on the cob and watermelon. Best meal of the week! I bought the prepared ribs, which I always feel bad about because I know they are not that hard to make from scratch.

Lunches: leftovers/sandwiches except one day where I went to Wawa.

Spending: $46 for a backpack for N, on sale at Staples; $20 for more EpiPens; $95 on school supplies; $10 on a birthday gift for my dad; $10 on brown paper seed packets from eBay, a little organizational treat for myself; $60 on a giant bag of dog food. I used a 20% off coupon on the school supplies at CVS and got 650 Fetch points for accessing Staples through Fetch.

Bummer of the week: having to toss a whole bag of carrots from Sprouts that I never got to that went moldy.

This morning, I’ll be back in the garden moving some things around, and I’ll probably walk Rocco, before I head to the pool. I’ll be picking beans too — the wall of Ideal Market flat beans has been giving at least 15 or so beans a day, and the new crop of Contender bush beans in the blue container is picking up speed as well. I think I do prefer the Contenders overall. They seem more… tender.