Today’s post is a photo journal of a Saturday. I was inspired by the Photo an Hour posts that Janet (blogger at JBistheinitial) used to do, like this one.
I decided in advance to keep busy all day so I’d have things to photograph. I assure you I’ve had many, many lazier Saturdays than this one 🙂 I didn’t want to photograph a weekday because all you’d get would be captures of my work-at-home spreadsheets and incessant video conferences!
Wake Up
I woke up without an alarm at 7:30. Prior to March 14, I would get up at 5 to go to the gym. My new normal is 6:30. So this was quite a lie-in! Rom had got up early and started the laundry. He was on a video call with his brother’s family in Ireland so I joined in.
Breakfast 1
Time for a homemade latte and a bagel and some reading time at the kitchen table…
YouTube
…followed by some YouTube with Rom. We discovered we’d both found the same YouTuber in different ways – Rom had found a video about a self-taught coder and I had found one about living on a budget in NYC. It turns out The Come Up is a channel about coding and budgeting – we both really like it!
Cat 1
Gigi kept me company.
Cardinal
I was pleased to get a snap of our resident cardinal from the kitchen window.
Not warm yet
Walkie selfie
Next I headed out on a long walk around the neighbourhood and listened to my favourite new podcast, You’ll Do, a BBC4 show about couples – how they met, how they get along, what they like and don’t like about each other. It’s funny and touching.
Gym
It’s sad to pass by the building where my gym is, and see it deserted. I’d like to rollerblade in the parking lot but I don’t know if it’s allowed?
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- Canadian Tire (Hardware)
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- Pizza
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- Subway
Here are various businesses trying to stay somewhat open (click on any photo to enlarge)
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- For Constable Heidi Stevenson
You may have seen in the news that there was a horrific mass murder in Nova Scotia last week. Among the 22 victims was a police officer with ties to our local detachment 😦
Criminal cat
But there are many things that keep me smiling, like this cat flouting the law about walking in parks and on trails!
Litter
Many of you know I usually pick up litter on my walks but I’m taking a break during Covid times. I am itching to get out there with good gloves.
Early garden
Given the temperatures, the garden is in its early stages. Here are some hints of tulips, lamb’s ear and fritillaria.
Breakfast 2
I’m back and it’s time for another breakfast! I made a cinnamon loaf this week from my mom’s recipe.
Americano
Second coffee today. You will note I am no longer using my Moka pot. I was a menace to myself and my family! Due to inattention, I boiled it dry twice, forgot to put coffee in it once, and poured coffee on my hand on another occasion, giving myself a second-degree burn (it quickly and fully healed). It was clearly not safe to keep at it! Hence the new machine.
Next I painted my toenails (you surely do not need to see that). My housework for the day was sweeping and vacuuming. I spent about an hour adding videos to my YouTube “To Watch” list for future workouts. I like vegan cooking and meal planning videos, apartment tours and make-overs, Alexa Chung, Tan France, some stand-up comedy, some music videos, etc. – mostly light viewing to distract myself when I’m on the elliptical!
Lunch
Rom and I had a humble lunch of tinned vegetable soup and toast with cheese. Link is an avowed carnivore and made their own meal. After lunch, Rom napped and I read for a while. I have a container of small objects that need to be repaired (such as earrings and Christmas ornaments) so I took care of a couple of items.
Before
After
Next, a project. I had brought a drawer full of files home from work. I weeded and organized them. The big stack of loose paper is to be shredded!
Cat 2
Luna usually accompanies me to “work” but she was nowhere to be found, so here is a photo from a few months ago.
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- Before (taken Mar 24)
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- During
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- After
Another project. It had turned into a lovely day, 12C and sunny. Rom and I power-washed the vinyl siding on the shed. You might be able to see in the first photo that the damp weather causes the siding to get some mould, so it needs to be cleaned about once a year, as does the house.
Dinner
Dishes
Back inside for dinner and dishes. Rom and I are still splitting the cooking 50/50. My turn, so I made a Moroccan-inspired chick pea stew.
Link
Pokemon
One thing that gets Link out walking is Pokemon GO. A Lillipup was found at our nearest PokeStop! A second walk for me.
BBT LEGO
Mid-evening. This past week, Rom and I finished watching the final season of Big Bang Theory. We watched the entire series in order, but over a period of several years! Amazingly, we made it to the last episode without a spoiler. Long before, we had bought the commemorative LEGO set of Big Bang Theory, so I set about making it and got halfway through – while Rom watched Laurel and Hardy!
Brownies
Tea
I finished up with one of Link’s most excellent brownies, a cup of tea and another story from my Banana Yoshimoto book. It was a good day!
Do you have any weekend routines or projects?
An Exacting Life 
Fun!
We have yet to figure out a real weekend routine but I feel like we’re doing well if we manage all meals on time and we get PiC out for a run one of the two weekend days.
I ordered some extra large sticky pages for organizing ourselves and I’d love to set up some kind of a schedule to see if it feels better than our current laissez-faire situation. Partly I haven’t done it yet because I simply don’t feel like expending the energy to figure it out AND follow it – transitions aren’t a great load of fun and I like not feeling obligated to doing any specific thing on the weekend which is a huge contrast to our weekdays. But I suspect we may feel better having the option of a schedule. PiC will be tackling at least one small project today and I feel all done in already though it’s only midday. If he manages his bit I think we’ll be in good shape 😊
That cinnamon loaf looks terrific. Is that a recipe that can be shared?
For tasks, my favourite method (as espoused by readers Vivien and Fiona) is to use a Kanban board: write the tasks on post-it notes and place them in a group on the left (of the fridge door, bulletin board, etc.). Periodically everyone has to pick a task, do it, and move the post-it to the right side (the “done” area.) JB might like it! There are advanced versions such as creating an “in progress” area or dividing the tasks into categories.
I posted the cinnamon loaf recipe on the FB page – enjoy!
Oh thanks for sharing! I think that may be doable!
Love your day! Very full of pottering and “things to do”. I like a hobbit breakfast. I was shocked to find out they don’t snack in Japan, not even a morning tea!
How did you get that wave in the cake?
I wouldn’t like to see a cat in our National Parks or on the entrance to a path. Killers of native animals!
5°! I’m working out what to wear cause it is 14° now at 7am and only getting to 21°. I find it harder to dress for the inbetween weather. Neither warm nor cold.
7 hobbity meals per day sounds about right to me!
The loaf recipe is up on FB – it’s layered, so as the loaf rises, the cinnamon layer moves up or down.
I am not a fan of pet cats being outdoors either – many illnesses and injuries for the cats as well as the effects on wildlife – and gardens!
14 degrees going up to 21 sounds just like our September.
Well the random movement in the loaf certainly made a nice pattern with the cinnamon.
What a good posting idea!
That cinnamon loaf looks delicious!
I admire your ability to catch such a clear photo of that cardinal. I find birds incredibly difficult to photograph.
My weekend has been full of long periods of laziness. I’ve spent time reading books, writing blog posts, and watching movies between normal chores and routines like cooking and cleaning. I took a nap yesterday and went “out for coffee” (via a drive-thru for take-out) with my husband this morning. 🙂
Out for drive-through coffee – that is practically a date! I am spending lots of time reading and on YouTube.
My phone won’t cut it for the bird pics so I had my actual camera at the ready.
Ooh I like this plan. I might have to do this on our next delivery day. 🙂
I would love to see your whole day! Please do!
This came to me via email right at the start of the delivery day so I will do this and likely post it tomorrow, today will be the catchup post. 😉
This was great! You had quite a busy day – I feel rather slothful in comparison.
Haha, only because I had a list to keep me busy and give me things to photograph 🙂
❤ this post, Dar!
Thank you, Vera. I picture you writing at a desk with a cup of tea but maybe I am wrong!
Haha…sometimes I am, albeit with water, rather than tea. 🙂
It’s interesting how different and how similar many of our experiences are. We decided right from the start to make weekdays and weekends different from each other, and that has worked well for us. We know e have this lockdown far far easier than many ( maybe most), and are appreciative of that.
The biggest loss for us is seeing our adult children and their families, especially the granddaughter. I’m sure that having your adult child living with you is a blessing and maybe also a strain at times.
Keep well, all good wishes Deborah
Thanks, Deborah. Our lockdown is beyond easy; it feels luxurious. After 6 weeks together at home, we are all orbiting around each other nicely. Today the parks and trails reopened (although not beaches or playgrounds) and it was splendid to walk on a trail instead of the sidewalk along the street! I know you’ll see family as soon as it’s safe to do so. Hugs!
Pokemon Go! My husband jokes that I only wanted to buy our current house because it is next door to a gym in the game. I probably gave him that idea because on our first night in the house I walked through the whole place to check I could reach the gym in the game in every room. (The answer is: yes, I can!)
My Dad used to live next door to a Pokestop, but he had to leave the house to reach it. I tease him about the things I catch from my bed!
This weekend I need to catch up a bit on uni. I’m studying AV Preservation this semester, as part of my library degree. Some of the chemistry and technical aspects are a bit hard for me to get my head around, but I adore the lecturer and the topic is interesting, so it all balances out okay for motivation! It prompted me to get my old cassette collection out over the Easter break. I’m definitely not storing it correctly….
Lucky you, Pokemon catcher!
I eventually threw out my cassette collection because I tried playing tapes a few years ago and they had deteriorated. My worst experience was that prior to flash drives, I saved an important set of work files from 2004-ish onto writable CDs. They are now corrupted and unreadable. It’s rare I return to old work files, but I needed those ones!
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You have a somewhat busy life. Thanks for following my blog. I have added yours to my blog roll. David’s parents were from Canada. MIL from Calgary and FIL from New Brunswick.
Thank you for adding me! I’m enjoying your posts.
That slice of cinnamon loaf looks delicious.