Summer Routine - the Outdoor Pool and Summer Breakfasts

The outdoor pool was OPEN yesterday, and I had the chance to swim in the long pool for the first time this year. So fun! Of course, they don't have a clock for the outdoor pool. They have something that they use for swimming meets, but it tracks time differently than a standard wall clock. So I ended up getting out of the pool and heading to the showers about ten minutes earlier than I should have. Bad me! I won't switch my wristwatch to the exercise setting today, I'll just let it stay on time so that a shortened workout won't happen again today. 

I've tried a lot of watches over the years in the 
pool, and this one is the only one I can actually 
see in the water, without my glasses. It's also 
easy to switch modes on it. BUT, I'll need to 
keep in on "time" instead of on "exercise" to 
actually use it outdoors. No problem, just a 
small shift in routine. 

I was in the mood for vegetable soup, and there were a LOT of very tasty veggies at the co-op and my local grocer. I ended up with eight quarts of soup by the time I had put it into containers. That's a LOT of soup - LOL. I think I'll take several of them and bag them, putting them into the freezer tomorrow. My entire side of the refrigerator is nothing but soup right now, and that's beyond ridiculous. 

Minus the sprinkles of Parmesan cheese, this is pretty 
close to what my vegetable soup looked like after I 
was done with this week's batch. It's really tasty, but 
it's a LOT of soup. A LOT!!! LOL

I think the baby robins have flown the nest. I haven't seen their little heads above the nest lever, Mama bird isn't hanging around any more, and it just has that feeling of desertion. Of course, they left a terrible mess behind. I was going to take a hose to it yesterday afternoon, but realized that DH hadn't connected the upper yard's hose to the house spigot, and although I tried, I was unsuccessful. The fact that I was attacked by a hoard of mosquitoes probably didn't help my cause. I left it for DH to do. I'll text him about getting it hooked up later today and see if he did tomorrow. If not, I'll try getting the upper hose connected later on Friday. I'd really like the entryway to look clean and fresh once again. 

The babies were already getting pretty big for the nest when I 
first posted this photo more than a week ago. I'm not seeing 
any sign of them now, and the nest looks abandoned. I think 
they have all left the nest. Now it's up to DH and I do to 
clean-up. They're very messy birds. 

Friday will be a very busy day, however. Not a lot of time to spend on hoses and outdoor cleanup. I'll be making my weekly Ogre Juice (alkagizer) as well as baking my next batch of fruit. I have four pears and four apples waiting for tomorrow in a bowl on my kitchen counter. I can't let them sit there for a long time - our counter space is limited and we'll need full access over the weekend. 

I love having a portion of baked fruit every morning for my 
breakfast. I vary what I bake, and tomorrow I'll use 
four apples, four pears and a bag of cherries. I might add some 
walnuts or pecans too, although not a lot of nuts - it should 
be primarily baked fruit. It's part of my daily breakfast, and 
I make it often - always different, but basically the same. 

So, I'm off to the pool. I'll leave my wristwatch on time instead of tracking meters and I'll be fine. Today I won't cut my workout short, thinking that I'm out of time. Having finally had a good chat with Aearwen yesterday, it's feeling like things are finally back to a normal rhythm. From me to you, have a glorious Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.