Tuesdays With Jo

Dear Mother Jaskey, 

I am a little overwhelmed today.  Maverick is here. I'm mixing cinnamon rolls. I'm doing books  in the shop. Folks stopped for my corn cooker and the fertilizer spreader and iced tea. I ran to school to measure windows for Miss Lindsey. And its now 11am or like Colby would say, coffee o'clock. 

It is just fabulous to have my boy back. He is tanned with a charming short haircut. He talks fondly about Quesnel and work in BC. He helps me vacuum and take the meat off the grill and clear the table. One big change I've noticed is that he now drinks coffee. And not just any coffee. Fresh ground Moonshine beans french-pressed. 

This last week we've cleaned the teacherage, had folks and uncle Regs over for Sunday dinner, partied at Jay's with Merles, shopped Saskatoon, hosted Jeff's and Quinton's for nightlunch, canned peaches,  made peach jam, had Rennies over for supper/farewell/welcome and Pat has been full-fledged into harvesting for Jason.

Sometimes, like today, I take my treasured coffee cup and go sit for just a couple minutes on my back deck. My flowers are feeling tired, the crickets are chirping, the humming birds whiz by. But today, this moment,  is glorious. Its warm and beautiful and I'm thankful for so many things. Sometimes it makes my eyes water. 

Love, 

Jo

P.S. Those serene mamas that I used to admire? They were just tired. Now I know.

Tuesdays With Jo

Dear Mother Jaskey,

Another gorgeous week in August has passed us by. I'm sitting on my back deck with my  THM Good Girl Moonshine. Wyatt is doing flips on the tramp. The sprinkler is going in the garden. The crickets are chirping. And its +30.

We had a real whirlwind of a week; almost pre-Covid feeling. It was simply delightful to be with Karen and Em and Trish. And then Ryan & Arlene and family joined us too. Something like that just can't be planned. It was special. 

I turned 41 on Sunday. We went to church with our group (3) and groups 1 and 5. Pats mom invited us for dinner with Grandpa Esau. And then we went to Saskatoon and met Keith & Deana and their boys and biked along the river in the heat and ordered in pizza for supper. It was still +25 at 9 in the evening when we left, so we drove along Spadina, along the river, with our windows open, listening to the music vendors along the way, watching people ride and walk and bike along the river. Zach said it felt like Florida or another country all together. We finished the day with blizzards from Dairy Queen. 

I've got many lovely gifts and well wishes this year but possibly the best was a three-way call from Arnie and Char. We talked for almost 2 hours!

Pat and Zach are helping Jason with harvest today and Colby will too when he gets home (Only 6 more days.). 

Well, I just got informed that the bucking bronco show starts shortly and I am supposed to watch. 

Adios,

Jo

P.S. I washed my windows in the basement and in the procedure came face to face with frog eyes peering at me out of the dirt in the window well. It was rather disconcerting. 

P.P.S. I dug potatoes the other day and also dug up a squishy dusty frog which blinked at me lugubriosly. I am having frog trouble. 

P.P.P.S. Would you believe this? I heard something in the garage the other day and here it was this Giant frog hopping placidly along. I am abjectly adverse to frogs. I just developed this in my old age.

P.P.P.P.S. Frogs pee when they're scared. The end.

Tuesdays With Jo

Dear Mother Jaskey, 

It has been another delightful week in summer. This last week we went from the hot plus thirty days and nights above 20C to cooler evenings, crickets chirping and caragana seeds popping. I am always a little sentimental about fall.

One evening we had our neighbors, Rudi and Cindy Dueck and their four children, over for supper. I did my typical company meal which is grilled chicken (marinated in white sauce this time), baby potatoes with toppings (garden potatoes this time), corn, lettuce salad (I did the BLT one) and oreo dessert (I don't have a set company dessert 😅). I truly don't mean to have a company menu. Its just happened enough times that I tend to make fun of myself. 

I've canned 24 quarts and 32 pints of beans this last week. Do you think that will last us for a year? I hope so, as I have now lost interest and have given away the last picking. I used my pressure canner on my corn cooker on the back deck. That is some fast cooking! I can do two layers of pints in there, so 16 jars at a time. 

I am absolutely thrilled that your dear daughter Karen and her two dear daughters, Em and Trish, are about to arrive in the land of living skies! We are hosting a mini teachers prep here tomorrow and Trish is coming to attend. I shall immerse myself in much sisterly-ness.

Are you interested in the school cleaning evenings, the food prep, the shopping days for the aforementioned? I kind of think not. And so I shall close this epistle. 

Love, Jo

P.S. Wyatt has been asking for an Encyclopedia set to read.

P.P.S. Only 1.6 more weeks until Colby comes home.

P.P.P.S. I have been thinking a lot about Genevra. I imagine her with dark hair, blue eyes and a huge imagination at age two.

Tuesdays With Jo

Dear Mother Jaskey, 

Wyatt is cuddled in under my left arm reading the Adventures of Bobby Coon. Zach is reclining bareback on the couch. The flies are buzzing and my house is actually cooling down. Pat is gone for night, on the truck, hauling coal from Edmonton. 

Yesterday we got home from folks after camping for two nights in their backyard (definitely a story for another time) and our dogs met us with mouths full if quills. It consumed most of our day removing them, including a dose of relaxant from our neighbor Merle. They are a subdued pair. 

I've been working outside these days, trimming trees, fixing sprinklers, spraying weeds, picking beans. Every once in a great while Pat n i have a moment on the back deck and install another railing post. We are excited to announce an estimated finish date of June 2032, in which case we hope to have all the family down. 

I have been thinking about making a baby quilt for Diana's baby. Do you think she has plenty already and would prefer something else for a gift? 

Also, what makes King Tut turn brown? Could it actually be from neglect or lack of water? Asking for a friend. 

Love, Jo

P.S. Tonight Wyatt announced at the supper table that the Lord willing, Zach was going swimming with him tonight. Surely God understands. 

P.P.S. Are you serious about getting a letter from me once a week? My life seems awfully humdrum at times.

P.P.P.S. Will you write me back?

P.P.P.P.S. I love you