A Beautiful Evening ~ Skywatch Friday

There are just some evenings that are very beautiful and peaceful.  This was the sunset on July 15, 2026. 

I captured these photos as I started on an short evening walk. 

Thank you for joining in with my Skywatch Friday Friday post this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Summertime ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Summer time is upon us. 

1. What special memories do you have about summer when you were younger?

I remember warmer weather because our summers were very short in the far north. We kids would play outside until midnight because it was so light outside. The sun didn't stay out all night but at midnight it still looked like twilight.

I also remember the annual trip to Bible Camp which I absolutely loved because there were lots of summer activities and lots of good food as well as good company and new friends from all around northern Alberta. I lived in British Columbia (BC) and the camp was in northern Alberta. 

See the highway (SE) from Dawson Creek to Saskatoon Island Provincial Park

Each year my Sunday School teacher and her husband would drive one of my siblings and I to camp along with two of their children. It always seemed like a long drive in the hot sun but according to google it's only about a 1.25 hours drive southeast from Dawson Creek, BC.  Camp was only a week long but it seemed much longer because we did so much in that one week.  Specifically I remember lots of outdoor sports like softball and swimming.  I loved singing around the campfire roasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate. We did a lot of church of course and Bible study along with crafting and other things. One summer my house mother was a missionary lady from Africa and that is when my interest in Africa began.

There was always a special church service on the last day and a nice luncheon to which the families of all the campers were invited.  Then everyone headed for home to their different locations. It was always a sad day for us young people to part with our friends and fun activities.

2. What is the highest temperature you've experienced in summer? What about so far this summer? How do you weather the heat or humidity?

I'm not entirely sure but I think it was about 43 degrees Celsius or 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit.  Some summers can be very hot here in Canada.  In those summers we usually have a lot of wildfires all over the province where I live and often in other provinces as well.  So far this summer it hasn't been too bad in BC.  The hottest day I can recall so far is about 29.2 degrees Celsius or 84.5 Fahrenheit.  Lytton, BC has been the hotspot of the province so far this year at 36.9 degrees Celsius or 98.4 Fahrenheit. Lytton is the town that burned to the ground due to heat and wildfires a few years ago. It still hasn't been rebuilt and right now there are wildfires in the area where the town is located.

When it's hot or humid I try to stay home. If I go out, it's usually late in the day. I also drink cold drinks and eat fruits like watermelon and cherries.  I keep the fans on when I feel overly hot and will sometimes put an ice pack on my neck or back.  We don't have air conditioning.

3. What's been on your menu so far this summer?

Usually in summer it's too hot to eat regular food so I keep the menu light with lots of salads and fruits like watermelon and cherries.   We have lots of corn on the cob, peaches, nectarines and apricots and wild caught salmon from the ocean.  The weather this summer has been much more bearable so far. It's almost the middle of July and our temperatures have been in the 22 - 26 Celsius range (71.6 - 78.8 Fahrenheit).  Not too hot at all. Quite comfortable in fact.  Right now (Sunday) it's overcast and has been for several days. It looks like rain but so far there is no shower in sight.  July is usually a very hot month but this year the temperatures are several degrees cooler than usual.  It seems like the very hot weather is being experienced in Eastern Canada this year and in Europe.

Given the nice temperatures we've been eating more or less the regular food we eat.  However, because it's summer I'm also making an effort to make a few summer type meals. For example, on Thursday we had a delicious vegetable salad and a Chicken Bacon pie from frozen. Today I made BBQ ribs and a Penne Pasta Salad chock full of vegetables and feta cheese.

Chicken & Bacon Pie

BBQ Ribs & Penne Salad

Penne Pasta Salad.  I was very generous with the feta cheese.

Another salad we like to have in summer is Potato and Egg and I plan to make it early in the week along with some hot dogs on buns.

4. What is on your reading list this summer... anything to recommend to us? What's on your TV this summer. Any music you're liking this summer?

There are a number of books on my reading list this summer:

I recommend Mansfield Park for Jane Austen fans.

I recommend both books. First one is set on a sheep farm in Australia, 2nd in NL., Canada.

I recommend if you like stories told through letters.

I recommend for insight into understanding how we spend money.

I recommend if you want to understand the immigrant experience.

I recommend if you like twisted mysteries.

I recommend The Hotel Nantucket if you like cosy reads set in beautiful places.

I recommend if you like spy stories where the spy is a woman.

On the television I have several streaming services and I usually select a spy movie. I just finished watching the series The Agency with a stellar cast including Michael Fassbender. I've also watched several series on Paramount Plus:  The Marshals, The Madison & The Dutton Ranch.  On Brit Box I've watched The Other Bennett Sister and I'm now watching A Woman of Independent Means.  The latter is a series based on the novel by the same name which I read decades ago and which has stayed with me throughout the years.  The content is perfectly captured in the title. A young woman rises from abject poverty to become extremely wealthy despite all the challenges along the way.

I also saw quite a good, long movie on my library streaming service over the weekend.  It's called Tomiris, about the Queen of the Massagetae people on the steppes east of the Caspian Sea. I've been trying to find the exact location of the area where the Massagetae people lived but since historical records are scarce there isn't accurate information.  I do believe that the people didn't actually live in Iran but in what is now Turkmenistan and in the other countries of Central Asia with the words ending in 'Stan". In the movie, Tomiris is depicted as a woman destined to protect her people and their lands from the encroachment of Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great hailed from Persis, an ancient region in southwestern Iran in what is now called the Fars Province. Click on the link below to enlarge the map of the Persian Empire.




If you can find it on a streaming service you use, I'd highly recommend it. Please note you'll need to turn on the subtitles. If you're in Europe I've read you can watch it on Amazon or Apple TV.



As for music, I'm not one to sit and listen to music though I really do love it.
Recently though I heard this song on Instagram and I had to look up the singer. You might like him too. 
Dusty Rivers is an 80 year old blues and soul singer. He appears to be a real person with a real discography.  It also appears that he uses AI to generate his image in the songs on his YouTube channel. Anyway I really love his voice and have listened to this song a few times. The content of the song no doubt has to do with the result of aging and no longer needing to strive so hard. Perhaps he has also a better appreciation for different things as he nears his last chapter.

 I do spend more time listening to music on occasion and when I do I love to listen to gospel, especially the old hymns, the occasional contemporary gospel song and gospel songs in other languages.  I also l love folk music and the music of the 1970s.

A Midweek Colourful Sky ~ Skywatch Friday

Vancouver's English Bay Beach

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. I've had a very busy week of running to and fro.

I took the following photos on Tuesday evening after a busy day and a late night coffee break.

I was in the nick of time to capture the colour in the sky. The moment I finished, the colour disappeared. 

Thank you for stopping by my Skywatch Friday post.  I hope to see you again soon. x

Ch-Ch-Changes - Part 1

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Lately I've been feeling quite tired. It's partly because I've just been so busy for so very long and I don't see much of an end in sight. I also haven't had a real rest for a very long time.  The latest forced period of rest was due to being sick with the shingles and in a great deal of pain so that just tired me out more than anything.

I have some plans for very short trips before the end of summer so we'll see how that goes.  Of course I'll share scenic photos when I'm on my way or when I'm back.  I love taking scenic photos.

In the meantime, here at home I'm still beavering away on making a lot of small changes to the home. I've got got plans for some medium size changes a little later this year. There's only so much that can get done in a given week. It's an achievement just to get the gardens in on time.

This year my home garden was planted by my brother. Thank goodness. I was stricken with shingles and couldn't do much besides sleep so he decided to weed and garden for me.  He also had to buy a lot of soil first to add to what was already there.  I didn't go crazy on buying plants because the garden is going to undergo stress very soon when Phase 2 of the patio renovations begin later this month.

Part of the patio garden

One thing I chose for the balcony garden was a small rose bush called Maui Sunrise. It's already given me a lot of joy with its big showy blooms and plenty of beautiful colour.

A few weeks before getting sick, I planted the plot at the community gardens.  In truth it really hasn't done well. It's been overridden with invasive plants from elsewhere so I've been doing a lot of pulling up rather than a lot of harvesting.  It's too sad looking to post a photo here. In fact, I don't even think I took a proper photo of it this year simply because it looks that bad. But at least I've tried.

Here are a few photos of some of the small home decor changes and DIYs around the house.

New shelf for the primary bathroom

New shower curtain for the primary bathroom

This one comes with tassels. I still need to steam the wrinkles.

New shelf for the master bathroom.

New shower curtain for the master bathroom.

I recently purchased a very thin summer blanket and a white linen/cotton bedspread. It was proving time consuming and difficult to make the bed every day. I bought the new duvet cover and put the thin blanket inside. You can see it's still lumpy but it's a bit easier to make the bed. The bed looks so small in the photo but it's actually a queen size.

A new striped bedspread & pillowcase.

Fresh Rabbit's Paw Fern for the living room

New bathroom fan/motor

New bathroom light fixture

The master bathroom also had a lighting upgrade but I cannot find the photo right now. The below photo is the former look with gold finish. It's now a matte black finish. Some of you will remember when I changed out several of the door knobs from gold or brass finish to black.

Another bathroom project was restoring the master bathtub. It was looking so dirty where the anti-slip adhesives were affixed to the tub. It looks newer now and the drain ring and overflow cap which showed a lot of wear have been replaced.

Before

After

I'll continue to work on the bathtub after the caulking and regrouting have been redone in both bathrooms.  I'd looked into replacing the tub with a shower but the price was absolutely ridiculous.  The company that gave me a quote was asking for an amount which was more than sufficient for an entire bathroom redo but it was only to replace the tub. I know there are better prices out there but for now I'm going for a temporary fix just because there are a lot of bigger projects yet to do in the kitchen, dining room, living room and both bathrooms.

New kitchen cabinet knobs

Old kitchen cabinet knobs

New combo oven/microwave.

The cabinets got a good scrub but they are always in need of a good scrub. The grimy grease collects so easily even though I wipe everything down on a daily basis.

There are a number of projects which I want to complete before the end of the year. Let's hope it all goes well. I've discovered I am not a big fan of home renovations and decorating. It takes too much time, energy and money but sometimes you just have to do it.  My long time readers will know that I've already made a lot of small changes over the past 2 years or more. But this year's changes are more wide-ranging and hopefully will last longer than the former changes.

What Do You Call It? - Tuesday 4

Welcome to Tuesday 4 which was started by our friend Toni Taddeo and kept up in memory of her. Different sections of the USA have different words and customs they use. Let's talk about them. 

1. In New Jersey you put your groceries in a paper bag or plastic bag.  In Athens, Ohio where I went to university, you put them in a paper sack. Is it bag, sack or something else where you live? 

I live on the west coast of Canada.  When we go shopping, especially at the supermarket for groceries, we're always asked if we want to purchase a bag.  I generally take my own and also a bag on wheels because I tend to overshop.

Bags are generally made of fabric, plastic or paper and we no longer get them free in the market place.  In fact we haven't for many years already and most of us have learned to carry our own to the grocery store otherwise we have to buy one at the store. The cost runs anywhere from 25 cents for a paper bag up to $2.50 for a reusable bag.  I often see people carrying their food purchases in their hands.  No bag.  This works if you only buy a few items.

2. Though no one seems to wear them anymore, NJ says "stockings". Athens, Ohio used to call them "hose" and in Britain they are "tights". What about where you live? 

We use all 3 terms depending on what the item is. If they're made of sheer fabric we call them nylons (old term, from the 60s and 70s), pantyhose or hose.  I think before that they were called "sheers".  Pantyhose cover the entire foot, legs and derriere, making it much easier to keep the stockings where they're supposed to be.  On the legs rather than down at the ankles.  I still remember the days when we had to wear some kind of strap around our waists with clips on elastics that were used to secure your nylons and keep them from falling down.  I wasn't quite old enough to have to use these but I definitely remember them. Pantyhose were a huge improvement and more comfortable.  These days most people don't wear any hose except at all except perhaps knee high hose, sometimes called "trouser socks".

"Tights" are like pantyhose except they are made of much thicker material and usually worn on colder days.

We use the words "stockings" or "socks" if they cover the foot and ankle, or the foot up to the calf.  Knee high stockings cover the foot up to the knees. 

Sorry if this explanation sounds too basic but there may be people reading, especially men, who have no idea! LOL

3.  Soda, Pop, Coke? 

Hero, sub, grinder, hoagie? 

We use both terms "soda" and "pop" interchangeably, but pop is probably used more often where I live. People will often say "coke" as a general term when they want a cold drink but when they get to where they will buy it of course they have to be more specific with the tupe of soda or pop they want such as Pepsi, Fanta (Orange), Root Beer, Coke, Sprite, etc. 

We say "sub", short for submarine sandwich but sometimes stores and restaurants will call them Heroes or Hoagies. 

4. Shopping cart or trolley. buggy? What do you call it? 

I call it a shopping cart if you're referring to the metal cart on wheels that you push around in the grocery store and in which you place your intended purchases. I also have a shopping bag on wheels which I like to call a 'buggy' even though that isn't the proper name for it.  I got that terminology from my late mom.  I looked it up and I guess such an invention goes by several names including: a shopping trolley, shopping caddie, granny cart, bundle buggy, or a rolling grocery cart.  Based on this brief research, I guess "buggy " is the short form of "bundle buggy" and an appropriate term to use after all. Who knew? Not me! LOL.

My old buggy

A rare, full shopping cart

My newer, black buggy. I need a new one again.

Thank you for reading this far. I look forward to reading about the terms used where you live. Enjoy your week and please visit again soon. xx