So yesterday something a little bit different. Irving offered to do barbecue for dinner, and that was fine with me. In anticipation, since he planned to do steaks, I prepared a cole slaw to accompany them. I'd like to use more wine vinegar in the dressing, but the fumes drive him crazy, so vinegar is applied with utter discretion. These were thick steaks and it took longer than he anticipated to cook adequately; we don't eat our meat until it's well done though there was still some 'pink' visible.  (Psst, I also put a dab of vinegar over the steaks to pre-prepare them, with pepper and garlic as a bit of a marinade beforehand). 

The piece de resistance for my money, is the garlic bread that Irving prepares on the barbecue along with the steak. I really love it. And it all went well with our dessert of kiwis and strawberries. Truth to tell, breakfast, with its fresh fruit, toasted bagels (I manage to slice mine into four separate thin pieces) and cream cheese is a favoured meal. Tonight we're having fresh vegetable salad with mixed pulses (beans) and Irving will whip up one of his tuna specials with chopped Vidalia onion.

It's quite nice to collaborate on meals and sometimes share putting it all together. More feasible in the summer months than at any other time. Irving contends that anything he prepares is a big hit with me because for a change someone else has prepared the food, so it 'tastes better' to me. He may be right. I do appreciate food more when he prepares it.

He went out for a few hours after breakfast to have a look at the items consigned for auction at a local auction house. Consignees in possession of paintings, jewellery, porcelains, furniture; hoping that at auction they will realize a better price if people have the opportunity to bid against others interested in acquiring something with age by skilled artisans and artists.

When he returned I was out in the backyard with Jackie and Jillie, cutting back some of the wild growth of our ailing Corkscrew Hazel tree. Right beside it is a climbing rose I was also cutting back. And as I did, a shower of Japanese beetles tumbled over me. So, they're back again, the dreadful little beasts. It's their depredations over the years that have impacted the health of the Hazel.

We decided to make ready for a tramp through the ravine with Jackie and Jillie. The temperature quite nice, at 24C, with a breeze and plenty of sun. Then whoops! we got as far as the ravine entrance and suddenly it wasn't sunny any longer and there was an ominous, prolonged boom of thunder. We looked at one another, did one of those shrugs, and continued on. The sky was still boasting plenty of blue, the sun was shining, and the dark clouds were moving steadily in.

We didn't get very far before the first drops began. In an ordinary rain the forest canopy fully leafed out can keep us fairly dry and it's no big worry. Rain accompanying a thunderstorm is an entirely other thing; rain tends o be heavy, penetrating and relentless for  however long it descends all the more so with a hefty wind driving it.

So we decided to turn back; not often we make that choice. Still, we'd been out a bit, giving J&J the chance to romp about slightly, and by the time we hauled ourselves up the hill to street level, I felt as though we'd been through the usual hour-and-a-half circuit. Once home, Irving stayed out with the puppies while I began cleaning up the garden at the front of the house. Cutting back spent roses, errant shrubs, sweeping the walkways. There's always plenty to do. And the satisfaction of getting it done is as great as the pleasure observing the tidied-up garden afterward.