SNAP THAT

Autumn.. the year's last, loveliest smile. William C. Bryant I'm nostalgic for these beautiful, sunny days of fall/autumn in Vancouver, Canada. Click here for more beautiful scenery from around the world.

Going around under an umbrella interferes with one's looking up at the sky. Jerzy Kosinski It was a rainy day today though not as wet as it could have been :-) Join in for more beautiful sky photos from around the world by clicking here .

The greatest wealth is health.  ~Virgil Since the summer I've had regular pain in one or both of my knees. It got to the point where I thought I had better see my doctor and get a referral to a physiotherapist because the problem has been interfering with my ability to do things and to take regular exercise. Last week, I started on my physiotherapy which includes a four-pronged approach to treatment: 1. Manual stimulation 2. Physical exercise, including stretching and strengthening 3. Ultrasound, and 4. Interferential Treatment. In manual stimulation the therapist is using his hands and fingers to manipulate the muscles around my knees. Among other things, I understand this helps to break up scar tissue, relieve pain and stimulate lymphatic flow. Then the therapist usually gives me ultrasound treatment. This is basically sound energy which is directed at my knee muscles and the sound energy causes vibration at the molecular level which then turns into heat energy. It d

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson I stumbled upon this wonderful quote over at Hope Filled Magazine Sunset over English Bay, Vancouver, Canada, Summer 2009  

Welcome to my new follower, Diane from Food, Fun and Life in the Charente.  So glad to have you as my 50th follower ;-) Don't get fancy. Have you cooked an apple pie? You don't know what you did wrong? Do this: Take two or three apples. Put them on a table. Study them. Paul Prudhomme Is there anything as good and comforting and joyful as a simple, home made apple pie?   I still don't have a pie pan so I made do with a spring form cake pan. I used this one because it is much smaller than the enamel dish I used last time I made pie. I think I'm going to have to invest in a pie plate if I'm going to continue to practise making pies. Overall though this pie crust was much flakier than the last one I made since I didn't have to roll the dough out so thin. I took the pie dough recipe from the internet. Pie Filling 1 double pie crust recipe  5 to 6 cups apples, peeled and thinly sliced 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (to your taste and depends on

 "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." Robert Brault One day I was sorting all my buttons by colour. I found this set of blues and near blues. Now I wonder what I'll use them for as I have buttons in several colours! I could make some crafts with them I guess as I don't make enough garments that will require so many buttons.  Whatever I decide to do with them, I know the buttons in various colours including these blue ones, are ready to be used. At first blush you may wonder what my selected quotation has to do with buttons.  It just strikes me that life is made up of so many little things and that we need to enjoy the journey that we call life. This journey that is made up of many little steps and little events and some big ones now and then. Some people have trouble enjoying what they feel are the mundane things of life. Things like sorting buttons or organizing the desk, the household, the car, etc. I fee

As you worship plantain, remember to worship banana as well. Ghanaian Proverb I sampled a dish made with plantains when I was in Kenya. I liked it very much but had a hard time locating a recipe that would replicate the particular dish I sampled. Today I came across this recipe that reminded me very much of the dish even though it is called "Ugandan Matoke" so I decided to try it out.  I found the recipe at www.food.com, although I've also seen it on a website featuring recipes from the Congo. See here if interested.  It stands to reason that this dish would be cooked in several different countries since these countries are not terribly far from one another and they all grow and eat plantains. This is what the cook who provided the recipe on www.food.com had to say about Matoke: Matoke (or Matooke) refer to the plantain or plantain banana in Uganda, where plantains are a staple crop. In Uganda, plantain bananas are often wrapped in plantain leaves and stea

After mostly two months of being away from home I've been madly scrambling to catch up to life. Unfortunately I first had to contend with a flu bug which made me more tired than usual, amongst other things. I think the bug is largely gone now though I am still tired. I am not complaining too loudly though. I am just glad to be home for awhile.  Before too long, I will be away again. In addition to getting to the doctor and a diabetes workshop where we discussed the importance of sleep and the things we can do to try and achieve a sleepy state on a sleepless night, I have also been busy at the dentist. Unfortunately, I needed a tooth extracted. My poor tooth had been loose for some time and it takes the brunt of my chewing processes since I have a loose tooth on the opposite side of my mouth. The dentist informed me that it should be pulled and so I agreed. Yikes, I haven't had a tooth pulled since I don't know when. I had to have extra freezing due to my pain threshold. S

I snapped these very interesting sky shots over Kamloops a few weeks ago. I really love how the light of the sun illuminates the dark clouds against the building. I hope you enjoy them too! God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.  Martin Luther, German Priest and scholar whose questioning of certain church practices led to the Protestant Reformation. 1483-1546     For more fabulous Sky Watch Fridays around the world, please join in here .

REMEMBER...... ...the value of time ...the success of perseverance ...the pleasure of working ...the dignity of simplicity ...the worth of character ...the power of kindness ...the influence of example ...the obligation of duty ...the wisdom of economy ...the virtue of patience ...the improvement of talent ...the joy of originating ~ Marshall Field Waiting for sunrise....

Here is a Maasai wedding necklace from Narok, Kenya.  Necklaces such as this are made by the  mothers of the brides and are worn by the bride when she goes to her husband's home for the first time. This particular necklace hangs in my living room as a wall ornament. You can learn more about the Maasai people here and more about the wedding jewellry here . Join Sally and all her friends for Blue Monday here .

Mount Paul in Kamloops, BC, with Sun Rivers development in the green space. You can see it is a bit of a foggy autumn day. I think the mountain looks very cool with the low lying cloud but too bad there is the railway development and commercial development in the foreground. Click here for more beautiful Scenic Sunday .

On my errand running early Friday evening, I decided to stop off at a local Japanese restaurant, Nikkuyu.  I always seem to forget that this particular place specializes mostly in sashimi and their selection of other foods is minimal. While I usually like sashimi, I generally eat it very sparingly. I also like sushi but not the nouveau favourite around here which is California rolls. This roll tends to find it's way into most combination dishes in Vancouver and I really don't like it. I think I probably had too much of it when I first started eating Japanese sushi. Not really knowing what I wanted and having another few small errands ahead of me I opted for the following dishes. BBQ beef enoki - this is thin slices of cooked beef wrapped around a bunch of enoki (Japanese mushrooms) and covered with some kind of sauce. The waitress got my order wrong as I had actually ordered BBQ beef and bamboo shoots with prawns but until I ate it I didn't really know the difference,

For more wonderful scenes of skies from around the world, click here .

My heart is swelled with gratitude for the miracle of the rescue of the Chilean miners. I watched with bated breath along with the rest of the world these past two nights and am so grateful this saga has a happy ending. It truly is a miracle. Chilean miner Mario Sepulveda, celebrating after leaving the rescue capsule during the rescue operation at the San Jose mine near Copiapo. Photograph: Hugo Intante/EPA (Photo from guardian.co.uk)

Thank you to my newest follower, Ginny Hartzler! You make my day ;-) Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Today I am thankful for: * a mom who though ill is still with us * a brother who tries to help though he has a lot to learn * friends and relatives who care * the Canadian medical system * books to read * a God who loves * a home * food * interests outside the home * faith * hope * love * a shower * music * internet * green grass * clean laundry * sunshine and the rain * natural beauty all around me * rest There are so many things to be grateful for and this list is just but a few of them.   My list is not in order of importance, just listed as they came to me. I am celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving today with the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, a stock reduction instead of the usual gravy and pumpkin pie. This bird is approximately 10 pounds. Here it looks like a monster bir

Welcome to my newest follower, Rachel.  It's so nice to have you :-) When I was browsing blogs the other day after making the loaves of bread from a fellow bloggers recipe, I also came across a blogger who made and froze chocolate chip cookies. I can't remember exactly where now but she didn't have the recipe on her blog, just a note about making Hershey's chocolate chip cookies. So on Saturday I decided to google the recipe and make them.  I also made pizza dough and pumpkin pie for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. I made 4 dozen cookies in 3 different sizes. The recipe says you can get 5 dozen cookies from this recipe but I tend to make mine a little larger. Lots of cookies for the freezer! Here everything is marked as to the contents of the bags and the dates of the packing though I hardly think they will last past due date in the freezer. Another view of the goods all laid out for the freezer. I saw the steam was gathering on the brea

I woke up a bit earlyish for me on a Saturday. It was likely because I had a long nap late yesterday and went to sleep at a reasonable hour. This after two nights of little sleep. I've been fighting a cold and when I went to sleep last night there was a great wind flapping up and expected rain in the forecast. I awoke this morning to rain and cloudy skies.  I stocked up on some cooking items earlier this week so I could do some baking this weekend.  This morning I got started. For lunch I made some pot barley and beef soup.  It was quite good. and I calculated the rough cost of each serving at about $1.40 Canadian but these are huge servings.  The soup bones were not cheap.  A package of 4 small bones was almost $3.50.  Even so it was a much better deal than buying a bowl of soup in the family restaurant across the street. You can see the fat at the top from the marrow in the bones. I love marrow with a bit of salt on it.  For some people though this is probably WAY too fatten