End of summer

Hard to believe that Labour Day is approaching already. As with much of time passing during this pandemic, it seems equally that summer went by so quickly and also dragged on forever. 

This past week was my first Bucket of Blooms monthly delivery after the event that was organized by my vendor friend. This one turned out to be gorgeous with roses, thistle, dahlia, clematis and campanula. 

It was a great decision to do this, it gave me an hour to create and learn, and will provide a few days of beautiful display and scent of roses. I'll continue to do this while our outer lives are so limited.

Over the weekend we all learned that Chadwick Boseman had passed away from colon cancer. In addition to the sadness from losing a talent so young, we learned he was battling the disease while producing amazing work. Such strength. 

On a cheerier note, my neighbour's older daughter celebrated her birthday. Her dad made chocolate souffles for her and did a few extras for some of us. 

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday night in our back patio area, talking and enjoying our desserts as the night cooled.

And to end the weekend, I finally got my act together to try a pita recipe that I'd found. The one I used is a whole wheat version. I used my pizza pan instead of direct on the grill grates (which just seems like a bad idea). It turned out to be pretty easy but relatively labour intensive since the bake times are short, meaning you stand by a hot oven making each one of the pitas individually. The place still smells like pita this morning. I'll try one later and see if the pockets formed. 

Rest in peace, Chiyako.

Yesterday, Gigi called to tell me that she had recently learned that Chiyako had passed. All she knew was that she had been hospitalized for pneumonia and had been poorly of late.

This was shocking news to all of us who knew her. It's been 10 years since she'd returned to Japan and it had not been possible to really keep in touch. She would drop a note for holidays and birthdays but I could never get a correspondence going. 

We originally met at Westside Ballet taking class with Aimee and then Joan. We, along with Yuki, shared a birthday month and year.  This picture was from a gathering at Joan's house in 2006, around Christmas. 

Nature as a restorative

I took a half day on Monday and met Gigi at Huntington Gardens. It's been so challenging not being able to think about or plan travel so I was excited when Gigi suggested the Garden which had recently re-opened. The Library and other indoor spaces are still closed. 

It was a hot day in San Marino but I so needed the time in this beautiful garden. One of the silver linings from this pandemic is that open public spaces are more sparsely populated. The gardens are still beautiful despite the terrible disease ravaging humanity and the ridiculous way that the federal government is NOT handling it. 

It was nice to have extended time with Gigi to just chitchat and shoot the breeze.

This is an art piece by Lita Albuquerque in the bamboo grove of the Japanese Garden.