SNAP THAT

Hello friends, It's been a very busy week  and I managed to get a lot done.  Top it off the weather has cooperated so nicely. Instead of the rain we were anticipating at the end of last week, the weather has remained sunny and even quite hot at times. My little garden has seen it's better days but is still blooming so I'm enjoying the colour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't think I've ever shared in this space that I have intentions of writing a book.  It has been on my list of things 'to do' for awhile now. My mom and other family matriarchs are no longer alive.  Once I am gone there will be very little remembrance of certain things, especially the spiritual heritage but also other important family information.  If you have ever grown up in a family knowing little about your family background you will appreciate how important it is for someone to leave a record behind for you.  Even a partial record is a true gem to the recipient. My late

Much colder weather definitely arrived last weekend and carried through most of the week. We also had some rain. The first in a long while.  We didn't have the best summer. We had very inclement weather until well into May. After that we went directly to extremely hot weather interspersed with very smokey skies from all the wildfires burning to the north of us. Once that was over we went directly to very cold-ish temperatures and rain for a few days. The current forecast is expected to be sunny for the rest of the week. I'm not sure what the temperatures are going to be but I'm already "missing"summer because winter won't be very far behind. We Canadians do like to complain about our weather. At times when I want to complain about things like the weather, I remind myself that other places have seen much worse and are dealing with real devastation. There doesn't seem to be such a thing normal weather anymore.  What we used t

Hello friends, I'm so excited to be able to say I've met my reading goals for the year.  It was an eclectic mix of books for sure. My official reading goal is modest . I've only selected 35 books for the year. I already have a few more books on the go but these are various coloured icing on the cake :-) I hope all is going well for you wherever you are. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm so pleased to know that many of my blog friends in Florida have now reported they are safe after Hurricane Irma and they all came out reasonably unscathed. Thank God for that though I am still waiting to hear from one friend in Orlando. Hurricane Irma also left many Canadians  stranded in the Caribbean.  Some on holiday but also residents and seasonal residents, students and business people. Canada has airlifted 1,652 citizens out of the Caribbean since Saturday, according to the latest figures from Global Affairs. Some Canadians are unhappy that the government help arr

Today the world lost a bright light, a legend in the music industry. The gentle giant known as Don Williams.  He was only 78 years old. I'm so very sad and I join his millions of fans around the world in wishing him God speed to eternal glory and comfort for his wife and loved ones. I first heard his music when I was baby sitting for a neighbour at the young age of 16. I've been a fan ever since. No one could sing a song and make it sound so sweet like he could. Don Williams was a master crooner. Virtually every song he sang is a favourite of mine. But this one I share with you as it was one I often played. It's called "Lord I Hope this Day is Good". I think this concert was in South Africa. Even when I travelled to Kenya I was astonished to hear his music in so many taxi rides I took. It seems his fame extended all around the world. This documentary of his trip to Harere in Zimbabwe, Africa is also a favourite of mine.  You can't help but be

Hello everyone, Greetings from Vancouver where the temperature is still like the middle of summer .  The weather forecast for the day was 34 Celsius and sunny skies.  The weather will cool off considerably by the weekend. I guess then it will be time to clear the garden. I usually just leave everything until the Spring but it makes more work for me then to put the garden in.  If I clear it before the Winter this year it hopefully means I will be better prepared to put my garden in next year. I wonder if I will ever get the hang of the "gardening thing"? I'm lucky to get some containers planted each year to enjoy some beautiful blossoms but this year due to prolonged rainfall during the time when we should have been planting gardens, there were fewer options for the starter plants I wanted. I even went to many more places to look for them. I finally got most of what I did plant from Costco (the red geraniums below) and Home Depot (the pink petunias

Hi friends, Last time I wrote about having cataract surgery. It has been 1 week since I had my 2nd eye (left eye) done and I am doing well. The actual surgical procedure was a little more uncomfortable than the 1st eye (right eye) during the procedure but not so bad. After I got home and put some drops in it seemed to be better and I haven't had any issues since then. In about 3 weeks I will return for my last visit to the eye specialist and she will give me a reading prescription. For now I am using the dollar store reading glasses which I had already been using. I've spent the last week trying to catch up on a whole lot of things: Kenyan missions, laboratory appointments, posting and receiving mail, paying bills, a lot of reading and visiting with a good friend.  I don't get to visit with my friend that often and it is a true delight when I do get to see her.  She is a very busy lady.  She is busy ministering daily to elderly people in care homes of whom have no one t