Travels in Beautiful BC and Kenya

Hi everyone,

I trust you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. I have a little of this and that to share with you today. It has been a busy time in so many ways.

My niece was here visiting me in Vancouver, British Columbia, all last week.  We had a very nice visit together and managed to make it out to a few scenic spots in town where we enjoyed the scenery and beaches, went to the movies, visited her brother and had a small birthday party with pizza and cake. She always looks forward to the birthday cake.

Downtown in the West end of Vancouver near Davie St.& Beach Ave. People everywhere were enjoying ice cream. There was a nice breeze at the beach.

A view from the beach to the west. There are ships and sailboats everywhere!

The Honda barge being readied for the Celebration of Lights (Fireworks) competition which begins July 25/15.

 Saturday we travelled home together and I had a chance to visit with my mom for a few hours too.

On my last visit with mom I took her one full slip but she needed a few more. I finally got around to making them and two long flowing dresses last week (I didn't get any good photos).  These will take her through the Summer and into the Fall seasons though I will probably make her another dress and a few more slips before winter arrives.

 We also took her a mini CD player. It was hard to find one that was just the right size and which came with a remote control. My brother finally went across the border to Bellingham, Washington to find one.

On the map you can see Bellingham in relation to Vancouver, and also Kamloops to the north where we travelled on Saturday.

The skies were overcast and very gray when we started our journey.  Our final destination was Kamloops which takes between 4-5 hours driving one way (this includes restroom stops and lunch or dinner stops).
The temperature was about 24 degrees Celsius on departure.   By late afternoon in Kamloops the temperature had soared to 34 degrees Celsius.

I'm posting a few scenic photos taken from the moving car. We travelled on the Coquihalla Highway

Big farm and silos in Chilliwack.

 I've posted scenes of this route before in several other posts.

 I always find the scenery very beautiful and ever changing depending on light of day and the seasons of the year.

Cornfields of Chilliwack. Hot weather is playing havoc with this year's crops.

Rocky mountain and babbling brook between the City of Chilliwack and the town of Hope.

Getting close to the town of Merritt. The landscape changes to sand and desert spaces.

Leaving Merritt and a view of the lake to the east.

Getting closer to Kamloops

The descent into Kamloops

View to the north.  I brightened this photo a bit so you can see the town better.

I took a few photos of the flora and fauna along the way. I think this photo was taken between Merritt and Kamloops.

This is actually a view from the mountains on the highway travelling south to Vancouver just after dusk.

While I was travelling a few hours north to see my mom,  one of my Kenyan friends was also travelling north in Kenya.

This was Jonah's monthly missions trip to the Pokot people.

The volunteer missions team makes a quick weekend trip to these people in the very dry desert area of Kenya.
It takes about 12 hours one way travelling from Kericho to Marsabit area.

I found a map which doesn't have too many places marked on it so you can easily find the start of the route and the destination.

The drought in northern Kenya is very bad this year and the people are very hungry. 

 I am sharing these photos and a short video in hopes some of my readers will feel inspired to help with the regular missions to these dear ones in Pokot country.

This video of the women singing and dancing really touched me.
I know the harsh conditions they live in and yet they can sing and dance in the sweltering heat.

Photo & Video Credits: Pokot photos & video by Jonah, Kenya Missions of Hope

Joining in with Lady Fi and others at Our World Tuesday

Thank you for your visit.

As always I love receiving your comments or hearing from you about the missions.x

 ~~~~~~

If you can help, kindly send your donations via Pay Pal to kerichojoy[at]gmail[dot]com 

 You can write also write me at the same address if you have any questions,
or if you have any problems viewing the video.

Saturday's Critters

The following beauties were all photographed at Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory last week.

The conservatory contains three habitats: tropical rainforest, subtropical rainforest, and desert. Over 200 birds of various species reside within the dome and are allowed to fly free.

I love the deep, rich colours in these plants.

 

The Bloedel Floral Conservatory houses about 500 species and varieties of plants from deep jungle to desert clime, all within the dome. The conservatory is home to Bougainvilleas and Browallias, citrus and coffee trees, Eucalypti and epiphytes, Euphorbia and various figs, Gardenia and Hibiscus. Magnolia trees share space with delicate lilies, yucca with pteris (ferns).

Perhaps you can just make out the waterfall beyond the palm fronds.

Also on display are an array of tropical fish. 

Koi Fish Pond

If you missed my post about the macaws and cockatoo at the Conservatory, you might want to have a look here.

Today I'm joining in with host Eileen at Saturday's Critters.

Another Beautiful Sky Over Vancouver

Hi friends,

I hope you are all having a lovely week so far.

I have had a visitor all week and we have been busy trying to make the most of our time together. Check out skies from earlier this week if you missed it.

The weather has been cooperating very nicely too. The temperatures have dropped about 10 degrees Celsius and the temperatures are now very pleasant unlike much of the summer where it has been so very hot.

Tonight rain is in the forecast and we sorely need it. But only a very small amount of rain is forecast. I hope the forecast is wrong and we get a lot more rain than predicted so our water reservoirs can fill up.

 Earlier this week we also had lovely skies over Vancouver. 

You can check some out in my earlier post.

I took these photos on Wednesday evening. 

I was indoors when I spotted the soft pink clouds out my window.  

I grabbed my camera and ran out to capture the sky before the light completely faded.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday this week.

Drop in there and check out other awesome skies from around the world.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy weekend. x

A Beautiful Day at the Beach

Hello friends,

 I hope this day finds you well and in good health. 

This week I have a visitor and so I am doing things I haven't done in awhile. 

Today we went to the airport to pick up my nephew who has had several weeks holiday in Croatia and several surrounding countries. 

I took his sister with me to greet him at the airport. After taking him home to the university we stopped for a beautiful view at the beach. There are several beach areas in Vancouver.  This beach is called Jericho Beach.
 (The high rises in some photos is where downtown Vancouver and the West End are located).
My niece remarked how much she enjoyed the breeze. 

Tomorrow we are taking in a movie.
Thursday we will celebrate her birthday which we do together each year.

The weather today was a lot cooler and much nicer than it has been.

I heard we are getting a bit more rain soon.

That will be most welcome.

I hope you are enjoying your summer so far.

I know many are on holiday right now.

Have a great week!

Greek Dinner Revisited

Hi friends,

I don't know about you but when it is very hot outside I find it difficult to know what to eat. Only a few things appeal to me. Greek foods seem to agree with me well in this heat. You might remember I made a Greek dinner a few weeks ago.  It was time for another one.

This time I cooked the potatoes extra long to make sure they were brown. In my oven that takes awhile.

You can find the recipe here 

I skipped the oregano spice but made sure to put lots of garlic, lemon juice and oil. 

I didn't feel like making kebabs or souvlaki so cubed the pork, marinated it and put it on my indoor grill. It is so quick to cook but you need a bit of time for the marinade to work.

Frugal Tip: Purchase a full boneless pork loin roast and slice into pork chops as well as pork cubes for stir fry, kebabs and marinated cubes (as in photo below). I was able to get a full side of pork loin roast on sale for only $12.  It was a fabulously frugal way to get some nice dinners.

Here is a recipe. Again I skipped the oregano. I do like oregano but I am out of it at the  moment.

I also made some Greek Tzadziki (Cucumber) Sauce. I didn't have thick yogurt on hand so I strained the whey out of some before I used it. I found it was much runnier (thinner consistency) than last time even though I drained a lot of whey from the yogurt and water from the cucumbers too. You can avoid that problem by buying thicker yogurt or straining yours longer.  I decided to thicken up the sauce by adding a bit of ground up flax seeds.  This not only made it the right consistency but gave me some needed fibre. It didn't affect the taste either.  Here is a recipe for the sauce (minus the flax seeds).

Frugal Tip:  Purchase plain yogurt on sale and strain the whey out using a thin cloth. You can make it to your preferred consistency and save on cost of buying more expensive Greek yogurt.

To round out the meal there was some toasted pita bread and leftover green salad from the previous night's dinner. A few cherries for dessert. I love cherries and eat a lot of them during their brief season.

Frugal Tips:  There can be a tremendous gap in pricing at local food markets for fruits in season. Shop around. Prices in my neighbourhood range anywhere from $2.49 per pound to $9.99 per pound for cherries. One week a local grocer might have them on at the highest cost but the next week their cost is lowest. You can save a lot of money just by being willing to go a few blocks more for your treats.  Another tip is to purchase flax seeds whole and grind them yourself as needed. Store both the bag of whole seeds and the ground up seeds in the fridge to keep it from going rancid so quickly due to the oil in the seeds.

As you know I've been mentioning the excessive heat for long but in anticipation of some small rain we are having, it cooled off on Friday and Saturday. 

The predicted rain arrived on Saturday but there wasn't a lot of it.
Thunder and lightening storms are predicted for the rest of the province and the fear is the lightening will cause more wild fires.
We already have over 200 fires burning and the cost to the treasury is now in excess of 100 Million Dollars (Canadian).

Sunday (June 11th) called for a bit more rain. It did come down a bit but not a whole lot.

Here is a photo I took on Saturday morning.

The sky is very dark with a combination of smoke and rain clouds.

Today is Monday and we have a lot of blue in the skies for the first time in a week. The sun is also out in full force and there are a few clouds in the sky.
I may add today's pic later but right now am preparing to green my niece who will arrive within the hour.



Thank you for sharing my world with me.
Joining in with Our World Tuesday

I hope you visit again soon.

xx

Saturday's Critters

Hello friends,

I'm joining up with Eileen at Saturday's Critters today. Stop by and see all the other fabulous creatures featured there. Have a wonderful Saturday!

This is a resident Salmon Crested Cockatoo at the Bloedel Conservatory located in the Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.

Entrance to the Blodel Conservatory

A cockatoo is a type of parrot. See the distribution of the cockatoo in the image below.

Image credit:  Wikipedia

As you can see in the first photo, the cockatoo was at rest and  and very placid. I got several photos of him staring at me intently.

A few minutes later he was squawking loudly and putting on quite the show.

 I think he enjoyed an audience of more than one. Either that or one of the children agitated him.

In any case, it was fun to see the bird in action. I wasn't quick enough to capture it hanging upside down on the branches with feathers puffed out.