VegTrug Part Deux

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Almost mid-July already...as far as our flower pots and VegTrug go, it might as well be August. Today, I replaced all the herbs in the VegTrug. Everything did so well so early in the season that all the herbs, except for the rosemary, went to seed. And that's not from lack of cutting back or using them. On Friday, I was lucky to find beautiful pots of coriander, basil and chives. We now have a supply of fresh herbs for a few months I hope.

Some of our flower pots in the front also were starting to look sad so I replaced them. Our strawberry planter is done and gone....yesterday we caught Mr. Squirrel getting a strawberry or two, the last of them...all this while we were sitting on the deck. Cooper & Spicy were not impressed by this little visitor but they didn't try to chase it, only because the squirrel left the same way it came in...up and down the deck railing, and the gate to the deck was up. There was no escape route for our pooches, this time.

Last Thursday, I had a wonderful lunch with Diane and Lise. It was good to get together again. We had a lot of catching up to do. Although our birthdays are scattered throughout the year, we all share the same birth year. Last year, we joined the sixties club and started this lovely lunch tradition. All three of us go back a long way, having worked for many many years for JTI-Macdonald. We are now happily retired and keep in touch throughout the year. Our lunch took place in the Old Montreal at William-Grey Terrasse, with a beautiful view of the Old Port, including the Cirque du Soleil's Big Top and La Grande Roue. A great reunion it was!

Thursday night, we had quite the rain storm and lots of thunder. We lost power for three hours but, lucky for us, the power went out as I was getting dinner ready. So we ate, then spent the rest of the evening in the living room with candles. At 9:30 we went to bed and the power came back around 10:00 pm. We needed the rain but we could have done without the power failure.

Our pooches are doing well. We had some lovely walks with them last week and met a woman who is thinking about getting a Havanese. She wanted to know all about the breed, their dispositions, etc. We spent some time chatting with her.  She was happy to be able to see, in person, not only one but two Havanese. She thought they were lovely little creatures....of course they are!

Quebec Strawberries are available everywhere now and they are delicious. I bought some last week but I was finding they weren't lasting long. Russell then told me how to keep them longer: soak them in a bath of white vinegar and water for a few minutes, pat them dry and put them in the fridge. I thought he was making that up so I Googled it (sorry Russell) .... sure enough he was right. So, I did just that and so far, our fresh strawberries are lasting much longer than normal. They are crisp, red and very fresh. Thank you Russell! Never too old to learn a new trick.

That's my mid-July blog. I hope you have a great week! Summer is far from over!

VegTrug part deux...freshly planted and looking awesome.

VegTrug pre-replant...looking sad and overgrown.

View of the Old Port from the William-Grey Terrasse.

The Sexygenerians at lunch...good food and even better
conversations and laughter.

Daylillies on full bloom in the back garden.

Who knew that squirrels liked strawberries...
caught in the act...little thief.

A bad hair day for Spicy...she loves to
mess up her topknot...she gets more treats
that way...clever.

Cooper is ever optimistic at meal time and
not far from the action. 

Cooper and Spicy love to dine alfresco on the back deck.