Monday, February 8, 2016

My World Today

Another week is here.

Today was a provincial holiday called "Family Day". The day is intended to enable families to spend time together and bond. The holiday was first enacted in Alberta and slowly over time other provinces have followed suit. I think it is only a matter of time before the holiday becomes a national one. It has already grown from a provincial holiday for one province to a provincial holiday for 6 provinces.

It was a beautiful day today but I stayed in and made some nice soup and bannock bread. I didn't think to get photos but the food was good.

Today I did a bit of Spring cleaning though it isn't Spring yet. I've got so many small and large chores that need doing so am getting a bit of a head start. I washed one of the furniture covers for the outside patio and tidied a few things outside that were an eyesore for long. I also emptied and trashed a lot of dried goods that seem to have provided sustenance for bugs and washed out two of my (lower)  kitchen cabinets.

I've never, ever had bugs in my dried goods before.  Now that they have started it seems I can't get rid of them. There are two types.  The first are tiny little black bugs that seem to like red lentils best (and brown rice).  The second type lay a lot of eggs and once hatched they look like small moths.  I first noticed the problem in some gluten free flour I'd purchased and thrown out long ago but I guess the eggs had spread.  Whenever I think I've gotten rid of the bugs, I find more.

It has been a real nuisance and a waste of money. The little black critters even get into airtight containers. They are so tiny that they just crawl under the lids. I'm hopeful I got rid of them all now but somehow I think I might find a few more. Mostly everything they might be interested in has been trashed so I hope that  means I've gotten rid of everything they like to eat.

I've been reading a few good books.

I'm still working on Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This book by a Nigerian author now living in USA is about a young Nigerian woman who moves to the USA. It begins with the woman getting her hair braided in a salon and flashes back to her family life and love life in Nigeria to set the backdrop of how she get to America. I'm just at the part where she is about to return to Nigeria and reunite with her first love. I'm enjoying the book very much and is the second novel I've read by this author. The first one I read was, Half a Yellow Sun.



Snow in May is a delightful little book of short stories set in the bleak landscape of Siberia, Russia.  Personally, I don't really enjoy short stories. I prefer the fully developed story line that a longer book can provide. But the cover of this book appealed to me. It was only when I got it home that I discovered it wasn't a novel.

The setting for all the short stories is Magadan, an isolated fishing and mining town in northern Russia.  It once was a transit center for prisoners sent to Stalin's labor camps. The young author, Kseniya Melnik, is also from Magadan and immigrated to Alaska at age fifteen. She earned an MFA from New York University and now lives in Texas.

The third book I'm reading is Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee.  I'm still in early stages of the book.  The protagonist, Jean Louise Finch, "Scout" has returned to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City to visit her aging father Atticus.  Atticus is a long-time lawyer in Maycomb and some of you may remember him from the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, also written by Harper Lee. This is only her second novel and it is rumoured that she actually wrote it first but it was never published until summer of 2015.  I am enjoying it so far despite some of the negative reviews it received. I was on the library's wait list for 7 months to get this book and I'll have to finish it and return it on time as there is still a significant waiting list of hopeful readers.



Tomorrow I'll be joining some elderly folks for a celebration of Chinese New Year.  There will be singing, dancing and some foods that are eaten especially at Chinese New Year. It should be interesting and I'm looking forward to it.

I leave you now with a few shots I took today. We were fortunate to have a wonderful, sunny day and I believe tomorrow will be much the same. After that we expect heavy rains for the rest of the week.


Much of the new snow that had fallen on the mountains last Friday has melted.




This is my world this Tuesday. 
I'm joining Lady Fi and others for Our World Tuesday.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Urk - hope you've got rid of all the bugs. Great shots!

I loved Americanah but had very mixed feelings about Go Set a Watchman.

jabbott said...

Hi Penny. Im sorry you got bugs in your cupboards they are a nusience for you. I will think of a way for you to keep your food safe. The books you reviewed sound really good x

Diane said...

Hi Penny, we used to get weevils in flour and rice in South Africa it was always a problem there. Thankfully I have never seen them here and I hope it is too cold for them! Have a good day Diane

Joyful said...

Hi Diane, I just looked up weavils on line. They look like weavils but I would need a microscope to be fully certain. I believe they came into my store house via a store bought product. I'm going to try freezing any new products for 4-5 days before putting in pantry and sprinkling some bay leaves around. Apparently these two things do help as well as disinfecting the cupboards with bleach water (which I've done).

Denise said...

hope the bugs are all gone.

Joanne Noragon said...

Bugs in dry goods is such a problem. We keep dry goods in glass jars with rubber canning lids. It's worked for years.

Jeanie said...

Family day is a wonderful concept!

I feel your pain with the kitchen moths. I've had them in the past and they were wretched and almost impossible to be rid of. I did get some sticky-back fly paper-like stuff from some company that I wish I could remember the name of. You stick it to the top of the cupboard under the shelves and the moths get stuck on them. They worked somewhat. I now keep my flour and such in the fridge, and let me tell you, stuff like that sure fills up the fridge. I don't know how they break through sealed containers but it's like they have thumbs! Rick has them now. Good luck. (Mine, I think, came in with a bag of birdseed, which now NEVER is in the house, only the garage. In a bin!)

Red said...

You make bannock? I remember bannock from my time in the Arctic. In the old houses and on the trail they couldn't make bread but found bannock was easy. Bannock also didn't freeze on the trail as it's so dry.

Joe Todd said...

I like your world .. Have a great day

Nancy Chan said...

Happy Family Day! I too have experienced the kitchen moths you have mentioned. Now I place my lentils and flours in the fridge to prevent the moths from coming.

affectioknit said...

I have made bannock...we enjoyed it...http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-29th-michaelmas.html
tonight we have the Shrove Tuesday dinner at Church...and then we'll be in Lent...
...sorry about your bugs...I keep my whole wheat flour in the freezer...but I've got lentils just in a jar in the cabinet...so now I'm sort of worried about them...
;)
~Have a lovely day!

Mereknits said...

It is always good to have a clean out but not because of bugs. We get them here too, weavels I think they are called. I think they come in from the store and infest everything.
I have even tried keeping everything in a separate plastic bag and container.

Good luck getting rid of them.
Meredith

Stephanie said...

It is best to store your flour in the fridge or freezer. I used to buy bulk. Not anymore. I prefer to buy flour in sealed bags. Less bugs that way.

Cynthia said...

I'm on a waiting list for Go Set s Watchman, too. I taught To Kill a Mockingbird to 9th graders for 30-some years and never got tired of it! It's my favorite movie ever, too. Looking forward to the book.
I find if I freeze flour, rice, etc for a few days, then put it in a glass jar with an airtight lid ... no bugs! I think the eggs are in there from the warehouse and/or store and are killed by freezing.

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