SNAP THAT

  The campaign to help Jonah & Little Linet continues. Please read here . Yippee, I am ever closer to completing my reading goals early. I had a goal of reading 24 books throughout the year and being ill this past week gave me a chance to read 4 complete and finish two others that were "in progress".  I just have to read one and half more books (several in progress) and when I complete my 24th book, I am going to use the rest of the year to read the Bible from cover to cover. In fact, I've started already. It is something I've wanted to do for a long while but for some reason felt it was too big of a challenge.  Of course I often read the Bible in different studies, but reading it from cover to cover is something different. I recently came across a post on Fred Alton's blog about reading the Bible from cover to cover and decided to give it a try. He encouraged me to use audio bibles and to read along as I listen.  I think this is going to work out

I'm linking up with Internet Cafe Devotions today. I hope you will join me. Hello dear friends, How are you this fine day? Here where I live the skies have been gray since the weekend and we've been expecting rain. Our first rain for a long time. However the rain did not come and I see the forecast is for increasingly warmer temperatures and more sunshine for the rest of this week. That suits me just fine as I am already missing our Summer though it is now technically Fall/Autumn. The time just seems to pass so fast and where does it go? Recently, I've seen a theme in the blogs I read; people blogging about time and making the best of the time we have, not wasting it, and being grateful for the ability to just live and grow each day. For life goes in cycles To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 Right now it is my time to update you about Jonah and the Missions of Hope, and it is Jonah's t

It's been a long while since I baked anything or did much cooking.  The weather turned suddenly overcast on Friday.  Combined with all my reading this week and the changing weather, I worked up an appetite for something sweet. In my hurry to whip up the carrot cake (recipe below), I didn't worry about reducing the sugar or finding other ways to reduce the calories. My apologies. The carrot cake fresh out of the oven.  It needs to cool before frosting. I think you could easily reduce the sugar called for in this recipe by half and perhaps you can use apple sauce in place of the oil. In the version I made I didn't have quite enough pecans but I used what I did have (about 1/3 cup). I just put them in the food processor along with the carrots and chopped them all up together.  Often when I've had carrot cake in a coffee shop it has sultana raisins in it though my recipe doesn't call for it.  I didn't have any raisins so I threw in a handful of dried cranber

My get together with friends on Wednesday proved to be a good thing to get me out again but I over exerted myself and I spent the next day taking it easy again and reading.  I also managed to get out for a bit of grocery shopping and to run an errand at the post office. I finished the book, Medicine River by Thomas King.  The book had been on my "to read" list for many years and at last I can now say that I have finished it and it is no longer on my mind.  My mind does remind me from time to time of things that I have not done.  I found the book to be a satisfactory enough read but I wasn't overly impressed by it.  Perhaps my expectations were too high as I'd long been thinking about it.  The book is not so long and is written in an easy, conversational style which made me read it more slowly.  I read it as if I was hearing the characters in the book speaking. What distinguishes this book from many other books I've read, is that it was written by a Native Ame

Hello friends, I'm still recovering from my cold. I don't have it really bad right now. Just enough to make me feel more tired than usual and the odd bout of sneezing. Since I don't have a lot of energy I'm just doing bare minimum each day, a little laundry (it never seems to end), a little cleaning, a little blogging, and a little reading. Tomorrow I'll get out for the first time in what seems like ages. It will be nice to get together with a few ladies and be back in the land of the living, he he. I'm still reading "The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake and have started on a new book called, " Medicine River " by Thomas King.  The book chronicles the lives of a group of contemporary First Nations people living in Western Canada.  Thomas King is part Cherokee, Greek and German-American. He used to lives and works in Alberta, Canada as a professor.  I understand he now lives and works in Ontario, Canada.  His book was actually published in 1

In this series of posts about my jaunt to Whidbey Island, I left off my tour at the junction of LaConnor Whitney Rd. & Highway 20 headed west.  (You can click  Part 1 and Part 2   to read more of this journey if you like).  This is more of a photo journey rather than an informational one. This is the sign for the Swinomish Casino & Lodge on the Swinomish Reservation.  This hotel overlooks Padilla Bay and comes highly rated on Trip Advisor. I've enlarged this photo so you can read the signage to the left. We are on the Swinomish Reservation on Puget Sound.  The Swinomish Reservation is home to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe. There is a large tanker out there on Padilla Bay but I have no idea what it is carrying. We are still travelling on Highway 20 and are no on Fidalgo Island. If you go north on the Island you will hit Anacortes in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anaco

Hi friends, I haven't been feeling well this past few days. I'm very tired and now I am sneezing and headachey. Please say a little prayer for me as I've likely caught a cold from the changing season. I am keeping busy too and feel like I'm not making much progress. Too many things to do and so little time.  I mentioned that I recently purchased several books at a used book sale sponsored by the SPCA.  The first of the book I read was, "Out of Africa"and I enjoyed it so much. The book is very different from most books I've read.  Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dineson) tells of her time in Africa by writing about different people and themes, instead of telling her story through a linear (chronological ) time line.  Her lover Denys Finch Hatton, with whom she takes up after the break down of her marriage did not feature quite as prominently in the book as I thought he would.  Perhaps I just don't take to the subtle treatment of the character,or the idea

Hello friends, it has been awhile since you've heard from my friend Jonah in Kenya. Please click on the link below and read what he is up to. It would be wonderful if you could leave him a comment to encourage him at this time. Thanks and see you soon! Kenya Missions of Hope: Graduation Is Upon Us : Things have been challenging and hectic for me here as we prepared for my mother's graduation in one city and to present my thesis in anothe...

I'm linking up with Tina at Weekend Flowers , and Denise and the gang at Today's Flowers . I took this photo on the beach in White Rock. I love that you can see the ocean beyond the dandelions. The English name, dandelion , is a corruption of the French dent de lion which means "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves. (Wikipedia) I think the dandelion is really a weed, not a flower but even weeds can look pretty.  Dandelion greens are edible and are often sold in herbal stores as tea. Have you tasted dandelion tea?  Did you like it?  Dandelion has many different health benefits. You can read all about them here .

I left off on Chuckanut Drive on my scenic tour of western Washington State here (in case you missed it).  The weather that day was spectacular.  There were no clouds in sight.  The sun was shining but the intense heat of the summer was behind us. We are travelling south on highway 11 (green line) and saw the spectacular ocean shots in my post here . The drive was beautiful as we drove most of the way on Chuckanut Drive through this beautiful rain forest. This is the largest tourist stop on the drive where you take photos of the beautiful vistas. As we end our journey south on Chuckanut Drive we stopped in Burlington for a bite to eat before heading back on the freeway towards Whidbey Island. Before too long we get to the La Conner turn off. La Conner is a place I've had in mind to go for some years ever since it was featured on a show called,  "Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest" .  The show was produced in Washington State and featured lot