Neil and his Dad finished combining last evening! That was so good to hear. Now if only the harvest would produce some much-needed cash. We'll see.The harvest took seven and a half weeks this year. It's unusual for the harvest to be so steady with no real breaks. There are often breaks while waiting for certain crops to ripen, but not this year. They may even have finished a week or so earlier if not for a few equipment breakdowns and the odd little rain. I'm so happy it's done now (and it is convenient timing for me), but I think a few longer breaks would have been nice. We're all very tired.
The city strike ended on the weekend and the leisure centres will open again soon. The one where I had registered the girls for swimming lessons will open early next week, so I think the girls' lessons may begin as early as next Tuesday (Madeline on Tuesdays and Sophia on Thursdays). The city website says dates for registered programs will be adjusted. I'm so glad Neil will be more available to help with this. I couldn't have handled it on my own this month.
The temperature dipped to minus seven last night. I hope that doesn't mark the end of this nice weather we've been having! After work yesterday, I picked all of the tomatoes that were at least starting to turn colour, about 30. I probably left twice as many green ones out there, but I don't have time to process a bunch of tomatoes. Neil picked all of the jalepeno peppers on Sunday, so they're in the fridge, and there's nothing else edible (except basil) in the garden that would be hurt by the frost. I made some of our favourite fresh salsa on Sunday with our own tomatoes, peppers, and red onions. We'll certainly make a few more batches with our bounty.
I have to attend the Annual General Meeting for the Preschool Fine Arts tonight. It is my last duty as a board member for that preschool. If you recall any of the trials and tribulations I went through with my position last year (for example, see Lessons learned), you'll know I'm positively ecstatic about this coming to an end! I have already purged 918 preschool email messages from my computer. Yes, 918, including both sent and received. It was craziness. Way too much work. It will be nice to see the other board members tonight (they are nice people), but otherwise, I wish I didn't have to go. Oh well. The nice thing is that Neil is coming home today, so I don't have to take the girls with me or over to Laurel's. It will also be great to have a break from putting the girls to bed! I find that to be the most difficult part of the day--when I'm very tired and they're not very cooperative.
P.S. For a good laugh, see What have I done? in which I speculate that I may have made the wrong decision in volunteering to be the preschool volunteer coordinator.