This week

Perennial Hibiscus

Sometimes I feel I haven't been blogging for over a month. What with company and surgery and trying to catch up, I guess it may be true. Here is a recap of my week. 

We left Toronto about 5 P.M. on Saturday and got home about 4 hours later. We used a gift certificate to buy Boston pizza (so only 47 cents out of pocket), and went to bed early. 

Sunday I made some dog biscuits, did up two loads of laundry and hung them out, and answered a lot of phone calls.  I made up a "sort of" menu plan for the week using up leftovers from the fridge and making up a small grocery list. We rested and napped a lot. 

Monday took my husband in to the Renal Transplant unit in Kingston. He was retaining fluids again and was not feeling well at all. His breathing was laboured  and his legs were very swollen. They took blood and gave him another chest X-ray. They scheduled another ultrasound of the kidney, prescribed diuretics and wanted to see him again on Thursday. His creatine was up again to 195, but they determined that the kidney was still fine.....just a little banged up after surgery and still trying to rid the body of all the dyes used during the procedure.  Three hours later, I stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart on the way home to pick up the diuretics and the few items on my grocery list. At 2 o'clock I went back into Kingston to pick up my granddaughter who rented a car to drive to Sudbury on Friday morning. We stopped at Michael's and the Dollar Store on the way back to pick up a few crafting supplies to finish the scrap booking pages we started before leaving for Toronto the week before. When we arrived home, all I had to do was put a tablecloth on the dining table and set it for dinner. My good friends from Charleston Lake were bringing out supper. She made a lovely roast of beef with corn on the cob and roasted potatoes, corn and parsnip. She also made another pan of those lemon squares that everyone here loves. I made a pasta bake for granddaughter #1 (a vegetarian) using up some leftover spaghetti sauce with TVP and loaded with shredded mozzarella cheese. She also enjoyed the corn on the cob. 

Tuesday my granddaughter and I finished up the scrap booking pages and made two "Welcome Baby" cards for friends of hers. I packed her a big dinner and drove her to the Bus Station in Kingston to catch the shuttle to the Toronto International airport to catch her 6:30 flight back to Vancouver. As for the rest of us, we had enough leftovers from the dinner delivered the night before from Charleston Lake, I only had to make some gravy. 

I don't even remember Wednesday. I think I slipped into a catatonic state. I remember that it was extremely hot and humid all this week and even moving was an effort. I tried to catch up on some emails but I am sure I fell asleep on the couch at some point. 

Thursday started bright and early with an 8:30 appointment at the Kingston General Hospital again. All good news! Although his creatin had crept up some more to 212, his chest was clear, as was the transplanted kidney. He lost over 10 pounds, so over 5 litres of fluid, and was down to his normal weight. They suspended the water pills. His hemoglobin is down however (not unexpected after surgery), so he was prescribed iron. He is feeling a lot better. Losing all that fluid meant he is breathing better and there is not as much pressure on his heart function. Yay! He has another appointment for blood work this Tuesday, the day after Labour Day. I came home and mowed the front and back yards and checked on the garden for the first time in almost two weeks. I pulled all these beans and thinned some of the carrots. (They hadn't been thinned all of August) We were invited out to dinner again at Charleston Lake. Friends from Montreal are staying there, so we were invited to spend some time and enjoy another lovely home prepared meal of roast pork loin, broccoli, carrots and parsnip, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a cucumber, tomato, onion and feta salad. The tomatoes and cucumber were from her veggie garden.

Some more veggies from the garden

This morning started with the Costco Pickup. While my husband made the deliveries, I mowed some of the back property and emptied the trailer of almost a full yard of  top soil that was purchased back in July. The humidity had dropped this morning and there is a beautiful breeze that makes going outside much more inviting. It was a big job finished. I also dealt with the veggies from yesterday's harvest. Some of the burgundy beans are bigger than I enjoy eating, so I saved some to dry for seeds for next spring. Some of the large ones I snapped into pieces for adding to soups and stews this winter. The smaller ones I added to the green beans. The smallest carrots will get used in making soups. The largest ones have been chopped and the baby carrots we will eat fresh. Everything but the baby carrots are in the freezer. I lost a lot of broccoli by not being home last week. Most of it had bolted. The turnips will be left until after the first frost (to sweeten them up) I have more carrots to pull, cucumbers and tomatoes to bring in tomorrow.  I also did two more loads of laundry and hung outdoors. I think tonight will be an early night. I am tuckered. Have a great week-end everyone. I am planning to answer emails, read blogs and make a few comments.