33 and a Third

Got a kick out of Debbie’s blatherings for today. I had just planned to write a “looking for work” log.

I started looking in earnest a couple of weeks ago. My sabbatical has drawn to an end, and I’m anxious to get back to work. I have to admit things got off to a slow start, as life got a little distracting (see my last log entry). My previous employer was kind enough to hold a position for me, but I decided to try to look for work a little closer to home. This is going to be difficult, as there aren’t that many offices out where I live, in Scarborough (Ontario!). So — if anyone reading this knows of companies with head offices, or at least large IT departments, in the Scarborough area, please Email me!!

The picture above is of Ronnie’s pikachu pillow. He loves to cuddle up to it every night. I liked the way he looked out my living room window as he dried from his latest bath (in the washing machine).

Thorold

I decided to take the kids to Thorold and let Reid have the house to himself while he works to meet his deadline. I brought our new digital camera this time, so I could take a couple of shots of my parents’ garden. I spoke about their garden a few logs ago — despite the shots below, their garden is winding down. Lots of things have been ripped out, having finished producing for the season. I should note that among my relatives and Italian friends, this is often a typical garden.

Tomatoes! The plants are winding down and the ripe tomatoes have already been picked. But there’s more to go!

Ronnie running down the path along the back of the yard. To the left, is a fence the green beans grow on. They’re done now and they’ve been ripped out, but when they’re at their peak, they reach the very top - maybe 10 or 12 feet!

My parents somehow planted tons of spaghetti squash when they meant to plant a variety. We did find the occasional one that was of another type, but somehow, the spaghetti squash took over. My Dad and I counted between 40 and 50 of them!! Those are pepper plants in the foreground.

What a rude looking squash! It’s my parents’ favourite type. I think it’s really a butternut squash, but because it’s grown vertically, it turns out elongated.

Here are a few unique trees my Dad grows: on the left, the shortest, is a lemon tree. The middle one is a fig tree, and on the right is an olive tree. We had an orange tree for 15 years, I think. They all produce fruit. Other than the fig trees, they’re all put indoors for the winter. The smell that the citrus trees give off when they’re in flower is incredible.

The grapes over the driveway are beginning to ripen, and are just beginning to give off an aroma. My Dad’s been having trouble with opossums eating his grapes. And he has various things up to scare the birds away, like pie plates. You can just see my dad, relaxing in a lawn chair, off in the distance. We sat out in their shade a lot this Sunday. It was lovely.

I remember when I was a little girl and my Dad convinced me to climb to the very top of the ladder (boy was I scared), and I poked my head up above the grapes. I remember my delight at looking at the cloud of grape leaves and how beautiful it looked. The photo does not do it justice, of course. This time I got a little surprise, too. He had put up a scarecrow (you can just see it off in the distance), an owl and a fish kite (??) to scare off the birds.