Good House Keeping

Posted on August 13, 2026 by hafong

August 13th. I’m glad it’s a Thursday and not a Friday. I am superstitious. I used to cross my slippers when I go to bed to ward off ghosts. I was plagued by nightly visits then. You have to remember I ‘saw’ them when I was a child. I no longer do but I still sense their prescence and give them due respect.

It’s another grey morning. I made my daily visit to the garden and greenhouse. I did some housekeeping there yesterday. The bitter melon vines were overgrowing into every space possible. They were blocking the sunlight and air flow. It’s hard for me to trim them as I like to hang on to them for more fruit. It was creating a lot of humidity which led to red aphids on the pepper plants. Some of them were on the bitter melon leaves also. I sacrifice the pepper plants that had no fruit on them. I sprayed the others with soapy water. I trimmed off all the affected bitter melon leaves. Thank God they were just on one side.

After a severe pruning of the vines sunlight can get in and there is better air flow. It’s a lesson in letting go and not hanging onto every little things. More could mean less. This morning’s count of bitter melons is 22 big and small. hanI have given away 6 to friends at coffee, 2 to my father and we’ve eaten a few. I shall blanch and freeze some for winter.

I’m applying the ‘pruning’ rule to my closet this morning. What use are my high school grad and bridesmaid dresses hanging in the closet? They are taking up space and gathering dust, not only in the closet but also in my head. Yes, I take pride in that I made them both. Then there’s my mother’s 3 dresses also hanging there. One of them still have the price tag on it. She had not worn it. The original price was $100.00 marked down for $50.00. I was surprised that my mother did this. This was a dress from a long time back. I was happy that my mother valued herself to buy that dress even though she never wore it.

Against well given advice, I did try on my mother’s dresses. It did make giving them up harder. Two fit very nicely. They made me feel beautiful and elegant but where would I wear these dressy dresses to? I decided that they would all be donated. They would make nice gifts for someone. They do not look dated as I had thought.

Aiming for a Better Me

Posted on August 10, 2026 by hafong

August 10th morning coming down. Seems like summer made a sudden departure and we are left in the cool. It is grey and cool. I don’t feel an urge to pick up my heels for my morning walk. Instead, I’ll do my walking on the keyboard for awhile. I am making a conscious effort of not being a gerbil on a wheel. I’ll see if I can break some bad habits and become a better happier version of myself.

Beginnings of anything is the hardest part. I’m feeling stuck already. The thing I can/should do is to pay my house insurance. It is due on the 15th. I have a hot pink post it note to remind me. I’ve just taken time to make said payment for the insurance online. It took only minutes. That little initiative led me to change the bed linen and toss it in the laundry. While I was at it, I thought I might as well dust the bedroom. Having done all that, I felt a need to reward myself with a coffee.

On second thought a morning walk would be a better reward. A walk could loosen that stuck feeling, burn some calories and boost my mood. So that was what I did, my daily walk to the mall. While I was there I bought some B.C peaches and a bag of pluots. You may wonder, what the hell are pluots? They are a cross between a plum and an apricot. I haven’t tasted them yet. I’m hoping for delicious.

Now at the end of the day, I am waiting for my supper. I am pleased with my performance. I blanched and froze more beans, harvested some bitter melons, cucumbers, squash and 2 cherry tomatoes. I visited my father to see if he is ok. My sister had reported that he complained of a sleepless night because of his heart palpatations. I took the guy along so we can say we want to harvest the garlic planted in his garden. I do not want him to give him undue attention.

When we got there, I could see he had been out weeding in the front yard. There was clumps of dandelion strewn here and there. I could not find him in the house. When I went to the back door, I could see him standing on the step looking fine and perky. I made no big deal about it. In fact I made no mention of it. I did not ask about his night or his heart. But of course, he had to tell me. I told him I couldn’t sleep either. I reminded him his heart thing was nothing new and if it wasn’t too bad…..

I left it at that. I did not reprimand him or remind him that he said he was not going to go out ever again after he said he fell. He will do what he will do. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t hold him back. I have to be smart, not to waste my energy and lose my temper and mind. On the last drive to ER, I did wonder what would happen if I was to have a heart attack even if the guy was driving.

A Healthy Obsession

Posted on August 8, 2026 by hafong

Most days I am in the greenhouse first thing in the morning. I love to take in the sweet scent of the bitter melon blooms. This year I am blessed with 13 healthy productive plants. This morning’s count was 20 melons that I could see. Now there’s one less. I cooked photo #7 for lunch with an eggplant from my sister.

I haven’t master the art of growing eggplants. I am still waiting for my first eggplant. The blossoms keep falling off before becoming a fruit. I looked into reasons why. Too hot, not enough water, severe pruning, etc. My best bet was unsuccessful pollination. It’s flower is like the tomato’s. It contains both male and female organs. I had been shaking it once in awhile. That hasn’t worked so I’ve been hand pollinating it with a small brush. I have only one bloom left. Cross my fingers and toes.

Talking about tomatoes, I have one ripe one on the vine. So far I’ve always had a big crop of tomatoes because I plant a lot of tomatoes except for this year. I’ve cut back. I might be sorry because this is the year of not great results.

However, we do have alot of beans. Buckets, buckets and buckets. I’m up to my ears blanching and freezing. I’m taking a little rest break to write this post.

Bitter Melons and Bread

Posted on August 3, 2026 by hafong

A cool August 3. It’s a sweater and bread baking kind of day. I had a slow start. I had phoned my sister to drop by to pick up some beets and a birthday present for her son. My nephew is going to Japan in October. I still have some Japanese yen from my last trip some 20 years ago. My intention of another trip came to naught so he might as well have it. It’s not big money, maybe $115 Canadian.

We had to have coffee and talked of our dad. It was not the best of things to talk about and left me not in the best of form. I had plans of baking bread. It was late in the morning but I carried on and hope for the best. The bread turned out ok though my memory got foggy and couldn’t quite remember the count of yeast and flour. My auto pilot must be functioning well. Now it is at the end of a strange feeling day. It remained cool and cloudy. I had to wear a sweater out to water the garden. It was nice to step inside the toasty warm greenhouse. It was heaven to see all my dangling bitter melons.

On cool cloudy difficult days, it is nice to have coffee with my sister, bake bread and bask in the warmth of the greenhouse amid the dangling bitter melons. Now the day is almost done and I can breathe a little easier. Tomorrow is a new start.

Thursday Show and Tell

Posted on July 30, 2026 by hafong

It’s Thursday, day 30 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m short of time and short of words. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. As you can see I do live in an urban forest, surrounded by trees. I’m grateful for their green and their shade. Both are cooling especially in this heat we find ourselves this summer.

We try to live as sustainably as we can, growing our own food as much as we can. We have 36 solar panels on the house and have added some on the garage in the back. We have a rain catchment by the side of the house. It is hidden behind a painting of a waterfall by the guy. We also have 3 sets of water catchment in the back. Doing our best but it’s probably not enough.

Wordless Wednesday – My Backyard Food Forest

Posted on July 29, 2026 by hafong

Another almost perfect summer day for day 29 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m almost at the finish line. I’m running low on energy as harvesting and perserving it has started. To make it easy, it’s a show and tell of my backyard food forest. You don’t need alot of space to grow alot of food. It’s alot of work but lots of satisfaction also.

The inground garden between the house and garage holds: Kiwis along garage wall. Aspargus, potatoes, tomatoes and Chinese long beans along fence by neighbour’s garage. Swedish beans and cauliflower in next bed. Garlic in the next bed over. Zucchinis and eggplants in far bed. Rhubarb, lovage and goiji berry at the end horizontal bed.

In the 2nd last photo, we have 3 haskap berry bushes and one sour cherry.

The Beat/Heat Keeps On

Posted on July 25, 2026 by hafong

It’s day 25 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. We’re marching towards the end of July and the Challenge. Another red sun in morning and it is 30℃ at 2:19 in the afternoon. My father should be home from the hospital soon. He was to be discharged yesterday but asked the doctor if he could stay another day. He wasn’t ready and anxious about getting sick again. Understandable as he’s had 2 bouts of respiratory distress in the last 2-3 weeks. I was happy that he could as his blood pressure was 200/something when we visited in the afternoon. It would be another round of what should we do if he was at home.

The hospital can be a life saver but at the same time untoward things can happen. For some unknown reason, his blood pressure pills were held for 3 days. Of course his blood pressure went up and up. Then they restarted them. It takes awhile before they could catch up their pace. It did get better and fairly good by morning. I did not pursue why the blood pressure meds were stopped as it would serve no purpose. No harm was done. And I just got a text from my brother he is home.

I’ve had a busy morning. Knowing it was going to be another hot day, I got right down to business with the grass whipper snipper. Then I hustled along with my morning walk to the mall. The trees cast enough shade along most of my walk. At Freshco I bought some bananas for my father, blueberries and cherries for myself. The bananas were a heavy lot. I had to rest a couple times on bus stop benches on the way home.

This heat is here to stay. So are life’s little stresses. I have to think cool, feel strong and heave on. I’ve swept up the grass clippings and washed the walk off. Already hot, I filled the raised beds in the back yard with water and watered the greenhouse. Perhaps I might have a beer with supper tonight. Or I might have it now.

Posted on July 24, 2026 by hafong

The house feels amazingly cool at 23℃ this morning. It is already 20℃ at 8:30 in the morning. There’s a red ring around the sun. The sky is hazy. No smell of smoke in the air. A good sign. I feel the strangeness of everything in the now. I feel as if I’m in one of Barbara Atwood’s science fiction novels. I haven’t read many of her books. The ones I started, I couldn’t finish. I found them too strange and unsettling. That is how I am feeling these days. I am a chicken shit.

I’m trying to get a start on my day and not wallow in my feelings and moods. I wish I could be more organized and have a plan on how to tackle each day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge like many of my fellow bloggers. Alas, it’s a bit late in the game. We’re into day 24. Perhaps I am not doing too bad as I’ve only missed a day. Still having a plan is better than flying by the seat of my pants. It’s a bit of a struggle living on the fly. Things have caught up and I am in a hell of a clutter.

Before it was mostly paper. The paper still exist. I can’t seem to deal with opening the mail. I toss them on the table meaning to later…Of course the later never comes. Now, I have alot of my mother’s clothes. I have sorted some and donated them. Then there’s the

Whining and Sighing

Posted on July 23, 2026 by hafong

Photo by Puwadon Sang-ngern on Pexels.com

An already hot morning at 10:30 on this day 23 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am on the brink of giving in to the everythings of this world. I haven’t quite fallen in. The sun is unbearably hot with less ozone protection. Researching, I find that Canada’s and the northern regionss ozone have thinned by an average of about 7% since the 1980s. Supposedly the ozone layer is healing. Truth or fake news? Our planet seemed to be heating up every year.

I’ve discovered that cucumber male flowers can become sterile due to heat. My plants in the greenhouse are full of male flowers, more than the female ones. I have pollinated the girls and yet besides the one cucmber we already ate, none came to fruit. So I’m guessing that the males must be shooting blanks. They can recover with cooler weather. If heat can do this to cucumbers, what does it do to us and all living things? Is this not a signal for us to change how we are conducting business on this earth? We can’t eat the greenbacks. Why don’t use them resuscitate this one earth we have?

I probably should stop reading the news. It makes me more melancholic than my natural melancholic self. There’s no fun or use in it. It’s not something I want to bring to the keyboard. I have to pull myself up by the bootstrap, snap out of my old mold, crack the whip and do whatever I have to do. I have to admit that I am a little buried under a little pile of mental overwhelm. Life seems to have no rest stops when you have a 95 year old father. Not complaining. It is what it is. It is not at all the physical thing. He is very low maintenance. It’s the emotional and psychological components that weighs on me.

Enough whining and sighing. Time to get on with the rest of the day. Not sure if my father is being discharged from the hospital today or tomorrow. Will find out soon enough. My brother is there now and he will let me know. Good to have younger siblings. They have more energy and reserve.

A Certain Kind of Light

Posted on July 7, 2026 by hafong

It’s the 7th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am late coming to the keyboard. Life is busy in this time of my life. My father is almost 95 and every day can be unpredictable. He has congestive heart failure and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). We spent alot of time at the doctor’s, walk-in clince and ER last year after my mother passed. We were thankful that this year has been much better. Still there are episodes.

Today was a doctor day. We were fortunate that we got an appointment. He has been seen, x-rayed and on medications. He is tough and still interested in life and this world of ours. I think he will be okay. I have accepted that this is what is and that I still have a life to tend to. I will be okay also. It was just a little difficult to manage a wheelchair and doors alone. Lucky for me that there were many friendly hands to help.

After the doctor, we went and renewed our application for wheelchair parking permit for another 3 years. Then it was time for coffee at the mall with our friends. Life is still very good and beautiful. Good friends to have coffee with help. Then there’s my gardens. My front yard is so beautiful. It is hard to described. It is bathed in a certain kind of light in the afternoon. It reminds me of the opening line in the Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody. For all the issues I have with my father, I guess I do love him.

“There’s a light, a certain kind of light, that never shone on me”.

My front yard has been an issue with my neighbour for many years. She objects growing vegetables in the fron yard. She calls my raised beds coffins. She has reported me to the city about my messy yard. The city does not agree with her. Maybe all of this is because she really does not like me. I find that hard to understand because I don’t have a relationship with her. Now in these times I wonder if it is because of the colour of my skin. And I am an immigrant. I feel my yard is breath takingly beautiful in a certain kind of light in the afternoon, weeds and all.

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity

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