One third of the way through July nearly

We are coming close now to four months (March 13) since we went into lockdown here in Canada. We are slowly emerging from that lockdown but I think it will be another two months before life has taken on a semblance of normalcy with that normalcy being everyone wearing face masks. Now mandatory in many of our big cities in any public areas that are indoor and if you can not distance two metres in outdoor areas. There is a big industry in facemasks and nice to see that something good comes out of our lockdown. Our industries are now producing PPE needed in vast quantities by our hospitals but also by any client based service. Local industries are producing masks in enormous quantities for those of us needing them.

We are still into our usual heat wave in July and this is pretty much the second week of continuous heat over 30 degrees celsius. I am still not complaining as the winters here are long and cold so a few weeks of heat is comforting. I have watered so much that the lawns are green for the most part but do need cutting once again so shall set myself to that task. Another couple of weeks and the pollens will be less and my daughter will cut the lawns again.

Must pick the raspberries today again with my daughter's help.

Suckering Tomato Plants

I think this is the first year that I have ever suckered tomato plants. These tomato plants were nearly five feet tall when I finally decided that I needed to cut the growing tip out of them to let the tomatoes that are on them develop and ripen. A very unusual task for me as I generally just let things grow!

Low accomplishment on the genealogy front; a few interesting matches on 23 and Me, Ancestry, FT DNA and My Heritage. I haven't really looked at the matches on Living DNA. I did Living DNA primarily to get a snapshot of where my DNA was said to be most common (and I also tested one of my brothers who is the least like me in terms of shared cM). I really haven't looked at the matches although I know there are some. I uploaded two other siblings to Living DNA as well. I did get a distinct difference in locations which fitted well with my phasing of my grandparents' DNA. On my paternal side I am looking principally at Hampshire (north west), Wiltshire (east half), and Dorset (south east) and I know that I am the strongest match to my paternal grandmother and my tested brother is a stronger match to our paternal grandfather. The percentages show this to be accurate. Then on the maternal side, my maternal grandfather has a split (his father's line was from Devon (Bishops Nympton) and Somerset (Selworthy and area) and his mother's line was from Holme in the Wolds, East Riding of Yorkshire and the area around this village and to the north). Then my maternal grandmother's line was at Birmingham with migration from Staffordshire, Leicestershire and possibly Shropshire in the early 1800s and also from Bermondsey, Surrey and area with that line moving to Birmingham in the latter part of the 1830s. This line can also be seen as my brother is a stronger match to the Pincombe line from Devon and I am the stronger match to the Gray line from the East Riding of Yorkshire. I am a stronger match to Birmingham and my brother shows a larger London match. Interesting to think about that in these few moments but back to other demands!

My sunflower that I moved is doing extremely well and I rather think the stem is thickening and I will see a goodsized flower on that plant. Mother Nature is an interesting part of our lives whether for the worst (and COVID-19 is the worst that I have seen from Mother Nature in my lifetime) or the better (all the bounty that surrounds us in this world.

Rain, finally rain

It finally rained last night although today will be another scorcher. Brilliant sun and hardly a cloud in the sky. Once the raspberries are dry I will go and pick them. Yesterday there were about two quarts and there will be more today. Almost all eaten though; they are quite delicious.

The sunflower that I moved is doing very well amazingly. I rather thought it would just wither away but the stem is strengthening and the new leaves are growing quickly. I will keep it staked though as it has a slight bend in it. Remembered to feed the birds this morning; not always the first thing in my mind each day but I am trying to put it there. It is interesting to see them swoop in for food.

Still no start on my husband's story but perhaps today. The girls are quite excited that he is going to write that (well I will type it but still he will dictate).

The Black Walnut continues in its pace across the yard. I suspect by the end of the summer it will be three quarters away across (the upper leaves). Unlike the Black Walnuts in the yard at our cottage, this Black Walnut has spread out like a maple tree. It is actually a beautiful specimen; I wouldn't want it though as it is killing their maple tree. Since it isn't really a garden tree but rather a predator; I wouldn't let it continue to grow. Not being a huge fan of gardening it probably doesn't personally bother me that much. Although I think it has affected the raspberries this year. The bushes are about half of the size that they usually are in terms of actual height. They are still quite full though and lots of raspberries. I picked them yesterday with gloves on though as my one hand swelled. I do have these allergies to some things especially strawberries so do tend to avoid touching a lot of plants with my bare hands.

Another busy day

Out today to the drugstore for my second Shingrix shot, a spare pair of compression stockings for Edward, another prescription for Edward and a few groceries. Managed it all in one hour and fifteen minutes. Everyone was wearing masks in the stores. Really nice to see. I think we will really corral COVID-19 if everybody wears a mask.

Would love to get some genealogy done but there just aren't enough hours in the day. Raspberries to pick and there is likely a quart or two of them and they are quite nice this year. We watered quite a bit to help them along. Radishes, green onions, lettuce and peppers available now in the backyard. The peas and beans are growing quickly and I need to thin out the carrots.

My orphaned sunflower is surviving; hated to pull it out of the ground where it was growing but it has transferred it would appear to its new spot where there is plenty of room for it to flourish.

Too busy

It is amazing to be so busy during a pandemic. I was up at 6:30 watering the gardens and lawns. I moved a sunflower that had managed to grow in the middle of a hosta plant and really did not expect it to survive although I had carefully dug around the foot high plant and carefully removed it since it was possible to do so. I planted it at the end of the garden where there was an empty spot. By the end of the day it looked a sad and sorry sight although I had filled the hole with water and watered it several times. Then it literally bent over and I thought it was finished. But I propped it up on a stake and tied it in two spots to the stake and watered it for a few more days. Then yesterday I saw a new small leaf growing at the top and the other leaves had started to lift themselves up in the air. Today it looks wonderful. I do think it might survive. I love sunflowers, the birds fly into the flower heads after they have gone to seed and eat the sunflower seeds. It is a marvelous sight to see them fly in, grab a seed and fly out again. We have planted several dozen around the yard this year and maybe we will have a very interesting fall before migration of the song birds back to the south again. It is these little items that are keeping me so very busy along with helping my husband. He is stronger the last couple of days. We went out to pick up a couple of things at Home Depot and Canadian Tire that he wanted to see before purchasing. A quick trip (about an hour and a half) but he is pretty tired now and will probably sleep some this afternoon.

I need to pick raspberries; picked about a pint yesterday. I also want to do some weeding and cultivating but will wait for everything to dry up a little. No rain in the forecast so I will repeat my watering routine again this evening and tomorrow morning. The lawn looks quite green and fresh. Mother Nature oozes from every crevice in the bounty around us although I am pulling out the common weeds but there are still plenty of them that grow that I do not get too!