Even in paradise there's a certain routine

I'm happy to report that Phoenix and Ben made it back home to Canada safe and sound late last night (well, actually early this morning since it was 1 am). From all our talks and their Facebook posts, it appears they both had a fantastic time here and Panama. Of course, time flew WAY too fast, but some time is better than no time, so I'm very grateful.

Now daily routines will resume, for them as well as for us... it's called life... it's true, even in the beautiful paradise setting we're so blessed to live in.

Our new Bettys are now giving us 8 eggs a day: we're not at full production yet, but it won't be long now. They're getting bigger and plumper. They don't seem quite so skittish, either. They allow us to approach them and stroke their feathers... without making too big of a fuss.

Our garden is producing potatoes, onions, butternut squash and cucumber (although they look more like pickles to me). Our tomato plants are producing fruit, but they're really different from the variety I'm used to. I'm not sure what kind these are, but we have medium sized ones and tiny ones. I can't say they have a strong tomato flavour. I find them quite bland actually, which is a huge disappointment! I remember, as a child, picking tomatoes from my parents' garden and we'd cut them up, add a bit of onion salt and pepper and gobbled them up. They were so tasty. Not these one. We'll have to try again with a different variety... trial and error seems to be the name of this game.

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My kitchen herb garden right outside our back doors (where I transformed the hot tub) is now full of dill, sage, arugula, aloe vera (thought I'd killed the aloe, but they survived!), mint, lemon basil, and yet another tomato plant, which I did not plant. The seeds must germinate in the compost... it's the only explanation we have for all our random tomato plants.

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In the mornings, for the past couple of weeks, my task has been to paint the outside of the house: the railings, the walls, the concrete pillars, the supporting steal beams, just to freshen everything up. Here's a peek at the before and after of the water wheel. First, I power washed it as best as I could to remove all the old paint that was flaking off. Not having ever used a power washer before, there was a bit of a learning curve... I was completely drenched by the end of it all. I started to rain, but I wasn't quite finished and figured I couldn't get any wetter, so I kept going. It was kind of fun! The next day, I painted it. Kevin and I are rather pleased with the result.

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