SNAP THAT

Hello and welcome to my post in memory of Toni Taddeo and the Tuesday 4 kept in her memory.   December is a month filled with religious significance for so many. Christmas (Dec 24-25) and Chanukah (Nov 28-Dec 6). Christians speak of the light coming into the world at Christmas and Chanukah is the festival of lights when the light was returned to the newly cleansed temple in Jerusalem. So they have a common connection: the light of God in the world.  Today's post is about December and what it has in store for us.    1.  How much importance do you place on December holidays?  Do you plan and prepare? Is that part of the fun for you or would you rather dispense with it? December holidays are very important to me (as are Easter and Thanksgiving).  I enjoy Christmas because it reminds me of the birth of Christ and the plan of salvation for all mankind. It is a chance for me to be quiet, spread some cheer and love to family, friends and sometimes strangers.  It is also time

I made this Christmas floral display illuminated by small lights for a cosy glow at night. This first set of sky photos was taken on Tuesday when I went to the hospital downtown for a scheduled appointment. (I apologize for the messy sizing and photo alignment today. I had a lot of trouble with blogger).   This week I tried a few new chicken dishes. I made a prawn salad in between to cut the heaviness but the hearty chicken dishes have been good during our cold, stormy weather. Creamy Tuscan Chicken Sesame Chicken Prawn Salad These last few photos were taken today during a short break from our relentless storms. Thank you for stopping by. Joining with Skywatch Friday today .  

It was a real treat to go to a restaurant on Monday night. I had so many errands to run and I didn't want to make a late dinner so I opted to go to a local Vietnamese restaurant.  This dinner consists of pork brochette, roll dip, crepes and fried rice and though it was a tad over done it was still very delicious. (Click on each photo to enlarge). I also made a library run. I picked up these three books which came up early on my hold request. I'm still working on 2 other books. I hope I can finish them all before someone else makes a request for them. That's always the challenge with popular books. While at the library I took notice of their digital language services. Some day I've got to investigate further and use the service.  Likewise with these free creative lessons also on digital offer.  I haven't done anything crafty for awhile so I started this doily.  I love making doilies and have missed doing so.  I've also been using the Instant Pot for cooking dinne

Hi friends and fellow bloggers, I said in an earlier post that I would be updating the work we are doing with Janet in Kenya to give a progress update on the business she is trying to establish. Here is a photo of the shop we rented. There is a shop/store on one side and her home on the other side.  Janet at her new shop. So far we have paid 2 months rent, a bit of food, a new, inexpensive telephone with camera and stock for the store. By far the most expensive thing is stock. For now Janet is selling maize (corn) that she grew on the family farm before her brother chased her away. She was able to gain access to the maize. Other than that she has stocked the shop with all kinds of hair pieces and yarn for hair weaving. My apologies for the quality of the photos but Janet and her daughters never had a phone of their own so they are new to taking smart phone photos.  The phone is also quite inexpensive so the camera quality is not that high.   It took awhile to get everything set up beca

  These are the books I've read in 2021. I met my reading challenge long ago and didn't set a new one. I'm reading now for pure pleasure rather than meeting a goal. I have no new number of books to read in 2021 or pages to complete. This year seems to have been the year for reading biographies and autobiographies. I read 8 of them and that is far more than usual. It was also a year for reading resource books on sewing projects and books written by Indigenous authors.  They were all very good too. The two books that show only a generic Goodreads cover are: Joseph William McKay - A Metis Business Leader in Colonial British Columbia & Merchant and Mills Sewing Book by Carolyn N.K. Denham. There are approximately 6 weeks left in the year.  I'll be interested in seeing how far I get for the rest of the year because soon I'll be too busy with cleaning and Christmas preparations and there will be less time for reading. Did I have a favourite book this year?  Not

I'm checking in after several days recuperating from double ear infections.  The ears seem to be getting better but I've had to reschedule my ENT appointment at the hospital. They don't see patients who exhibit cold or Covid like symptoms. Thankfully I have been rescheduled before the end of this month. I have sad news.  Pastor Jonah (in Kenya) lost another family member. Rebecca was his aunt on his father's side and the eldest remaining member of the family on his father's side. She was a strong, fearless woman who did her very best to keep her extended family on the straight and narrow path and to encourage them all to live in unity. She had been battling a number of health issues including Covid 19 at the end.  She didn't want to be a burden on her family and when she found out they were planning to sell family land to meet the hospital bills she refused further medical interventions, primarily oxygen, to hasten her demise.  Kindly keep this family in prayer.

Welcome to Tuesday 4 begun by our friend Toni Taddeo and kept up in her memory. This week let's talk about November!     1. Besides Thanksgiving is there anything about November you like/dislike? What I like about November is we are getting close to finishing the year. I'm always eager to finish one year and start the next as I set small goals, sometimes larger ones each year. What I dislike is the dark, rainy and generally cold weather. It takes me awhile to get used to weather transitions and I do really enjoy the early part of fall season before the more constant rains begin.  In fall 2021 it seems we've had much colder and wetter weather than we normally do.  I also dislike that I usually feel behind in Christmas preparations no matter my good intentions and early start to Christmas shopping. I did really enjoy the month of October with the lovely fall colours. Though November is not my favourite month largely due to wet and often windy weather, I try not to dwell on it

 Happy November! Things are still busy at my end but I'm also feeling a bit sick and it has been raining a whole lot. Pouring rain in fact. I'm on some new medications and it is upsetting my stomach and making me feel nauseous now and then. I'm on the lowest possible dosage and trying to adjust to it but it is slow going.  Other than that, the medicine seems to be doing what it is supposed to but doctors want me to work up to taking more as I'm not anywhere near a full dose yet. I would hate to have to stop it taking it. For now I'm not complaining too loudly to the doctor. I've been busy with multiple appointments and follow ups with insurance people regarding my accident. I guess I'm about half way through this process and I don't have the energy to do much about the follow up just now. It will all get done soon enough if I just put one foot in front of the other. Given the pouring rain I haven't been able to get out and take photos but there was a