Weekending

How was your weekend? I hope it was good and you accomplished something that you wanted to - whether that was relaxing, reading, knitting, or laundry and cleaning the kitchen. (Those last couple aren't terribly exciting, and yet somebody still has to do them sometime. It's usually me. )

I worked in the kitchen much of Saturday, taking care of garden produce. This wasn't exciting either, just hot and not very photo-worthy. I blanched and froze two and a half gallons of snow peas and four quarts of string beans, took care of eight zucchini by making two dozen zucchini muffins and freezing six cups of grated zucchini, and made a big batch of Napa cabbage and ramen salad. (If you make it, I don't toast the ramen in butter, and when I make the dressing, I make twice as much, but halve the amount of sugar and oil. I also don't boil the dressing, I just mix it up in a mason jar. YMMV, but I love the taste of the dressing and could happily eat the salad without any Napa cabbage in it! I don't even mind it on the second day when the ramen is soggy.) There were two dozen muffins there, but Justin stopped by on his way to fish in the Delaware River and had a couple. (I'm probably lucky he didn't eat more.)

John's oldest sister came for a visit and brought me a stunning orchid cactus. I think I had given her cuttings from mine about a decade ago, but my original one has since died. It's wonderful to have a thriving and blooming orchid cactus again, kind of like mine is back again. (Please ignore any porch railings in the photo that need to be painted and/or replaced. That's a home improvement story for another day.) 

I was thrilled to find this hibiscus bud beginning to unfurl on one of my oldest indoor hibiscus plants. (The original story of this one is here.) It hasn't bloomed in a couple of years, so I'm grateful for this blossom.

This is a second hibiscus with the same Polish heritage. When I got it four years ago, it had a serious infestation of whiteflies, and I wasn't sure it would survive. I never got rid of the whiteflies completely, so I sprayed it again this spring and then made the mistake of leaving it outdoors in too bright sunlight too early. Many of the leaves got burned and dropped off, but I'm also grateful that this one looks like it's making a good recovery. The original owners of these hibiscus, Joe and Vicki, have both died, so I want to be extra careful with these living reminders of two lovely family friends. 

So that was my weekend with a nice visit, a lovely gift, lots of work, and still some time to knit and read. I hope your week is off to a good start!