Well, I made it to Canada Day and we had a lovely BBQ and pool party with friends. It was the grand finale of a super busy period of our lives. Afterwards, we settled into a more chill summer vibe with The Eldest biking to her summer job everyday and hanging out with friends when she wasn’t working and The Youngest doing camp and hanging with friends when she wasn’t at camp. Mr. Tucker started biking to Muay Thai & I paddled twice a week leading up to the dragonboat festival in June (we won second place for the 200m in our category, thank you very much!). But life is not all roses and there was a horrible loss of one of The Youngest friend’s on the second-last day of school & it has cast a shadow over the summer as she works through the emotions that come with losing a friend.

I got overly-excited about an add-on for my CSA that added locally grown berries to our weekly order that I chose the largest sizes possible. I have made SO MUCH jam and have frozen SO MANY berries! Future me will appreciate it in the dead of winter when I can whip up some berry muffins with this summer’s berries. But today me sure cursed myself as I chopped fruit up and sterilized multiple jars.

July saw Mr. Tucker take two weeks off of paid work…to do work at home. We continue to clean out the dusty corners, repaint, organize and decorate the house in a more permanent way. While I felt increasingly unwell and exhausted, he got to work cleaning out closets, selling and donating things that we haven’t used or things the kids have outgrown. We also hosted a craft night for a friend’s birthday.

Sadly, the thing that was sapping me of my energy also landed me in the Emergency Room by the end of the month. Four hours later I was in surgery and I go back in on September 2nd for another surgical procedure (I am – for all intents and purposes – doing ok). I spent 4 days in the hospital covered in ice packs with a high fever that 1000mg of Tylenol (why don’t they just say 1 gram?) would barely touch. It was truly awful. The way I was raised guarantees that I will only go to the hospital when I am on death’s door. I gaslit myself so hard that it was all in my head that the doctors and nurses were horrified that I lived with so much pain for so long. I definitely was an absolute moron for not going sooner. Story of my life.

In August it was record wildfires and heatwaves. Friends stopped in to swim and escape the environmental catastrophe for a few hours. Judy[1] came up from California to visit & to do some recon (more on that at some point) and being able to see her and to have a fun swim party with the Cohens was an amazing way to catch up. Sadly, our tenant left on August 1st (but is paid until October). He was so great and I wish he had stayed longer. However, we will get the floors done in the condo and put it up for sale again hopefully by the end of the month. Cross all of your crossables that it sells quickly.

The Eldest passed her G2 driver test so now she can a> drive on her own, b> needs her own insurance. That little slice of heaven will cost more than what Mr. Tucker & I pay to insure both of us, together. We came to an agreement that she would pay part of her insurance (and any gas she uses) to get her used to the fact that car ownership is eye-wateringly expensive (this amount is proportional to her income as the point is to get her to appreciate and understand the responsibility, not to make her shoulder the exorbitant cost). She is only insured as a casual driver so I explained that she will rarely get the car but the idea is for her to build an insurance history so her rates go down. But, one at-fault accident and we pull the plug because her rates will double and that puts it out of the realm of affordability for us (and her – it would eat up 2/3rds of what she makes in a summer). She will continue to use the red and white limousine or her bicycle for most of her transportation needs.

The rest of the summer is all birthday parties and more dragon boat festivals.

We also headed to our local bike store to get tune-ups & to buy new helmets

…this is the bike store dog!

…and we had lunch dates

September is on our doorstep and the weather just turned from scorching to autumn this morning as the heatwave broke overnight. I woke up to some much-needed rain and when I got up I threw open all of the windows and the patio doors. The next couple of weeks will see the back-to-school chores begin: dental appointments, haircuts, and buying school supplies. The Eldest has a one week break between work and the start of the school year and we are going to spend it looking at post-secondary options so that she can redo her timetable if she needs to, depending on what programs she is looking at. She won’t be teaching skiing this winter, and instead will concentrate on school and getting her volunteer hours to graduate. I cannot believe she is already in grade 12. The days are long and the years are short, indeed.

[1]These are my Americans, get your own.