Last Friday in July

A few photos taken just after 5 am on Friday (today).

Joining in with Skywatch Friday. Thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday 4 ~ Light

We are experiencing a heat wave this week and Tuesday will be very hot. After that it will cool a bit each day. I'm not sure what the rest of the summer holds since our warm weather came very late this year unlike last year where we battled constant heat and wildfires or smoke from wildfires. It seems that kind of weather has moved on to central an eastern Canada, parts of USA and Europe. Please stay safe and cool wherever you are.

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 Welcome to another Tuesday 4 by Toni Taddeo.

 

Let's talk about light, okay? You light up my life.. shine a light in the darkness, Miller Light. All kinds of light but how about at home?

1. Are you afraid of the dark? Is night or day your favorite time?

I'm not afraid of the dark in general; only if I am alone walking in the dark anywhere. Late at night or very early in the morning are my favourite times because it tends to be cooler and quiet. 

 2. Do you have night lights in your home?

I have a night light that plugs into the socket in my bathroom. When I use it I don't have to turn the hallway lights on if I get up in the middle of the night. I don't always use it though because light keeps me awake.

3. How low do you set your air conditioning?  Do you adjust it through the day?

I don't have any air conditioning though I wish I did. I do have a few fans and I turn them on and off all day long during hot summer days or when the air is stagnant.

4. Do you keep any outdoor or indoor lights on all night?

I don't keep lights on outside all night. In fact, it is forbidden by the strata by-laws to have light bulbs outside. I pretend I don't know that and I have a few solar lights in the garden to enjoy at night when I look out. Inside I only have the bathroom light which only throws light once it's dark. I don't use it all the time as light tends to keep me awake when it filters through the cracks around the door.  

Late at night I read or knit and sometimes watch TV. It seems I concentrate better when virtually everyone else is sleeping. (The photo shows 3 books I'm currently reading).  Thanks for stopping by!

A Hot Day in July

Thanks for stopping by. I'm a bit late for Skywatch Friday but here we go. It was a rather hot day and the sky had nary a cloud.

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On Friday, dear hubby and I took a far flung city tour on several different train routes of the sky train system.  I'd never been on these routes and I thought it would be a great way for Jonah to get an overview of the city and for me to get an idea of where I can get to on these routes. 

We set out on our city safari after fortifying ourselves with a large breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.  Have a look at our intended routes by viewing the map of the city's train system. 

We started our journey on the Expo line shown in dark blue on the map.  It's the oldest line of the Sky Train rapid transit system and is called the Expo Line after the 1986 World Exposition held in Vancouver. It was built to help move people around the city during the World Fair. Several other train lines have been added to the city's transit system since then and I have used the Expo line to the downtown and the train to the airport.  I've never taken the train out to the suburbs of Surrey or to Coquitlam.  I've never had a reason to go out to these suburbs but recently a good friend moved out to Coquitlam and she would like me to visit her. 

 

 

We decided to go as far as the train will take us so we followed the Expo Line (blue) out to King George station.  We didn't get off there just looked around and I was pleasantly surprised to see that a college and a satellite office of the Simon Fraser University are located just steps from the station. That's good to know.  It was a rather hot day and the train we were on for the first leg of the journey to King George Station in Surrey took about 1 hour. With the rocking motion Jonah fell asleep. On our return journey he stood up so he could view everything out the windows.

After that we got back onto the Expo Line and travelled north then west to Columbia station.  There we transferred to go east and north to Production Way-University.  Once there we transferred to the Millennium Line (yellow) and went all the way to Lafarge Lake-Douglas.  This is the last stop on this train route.  I enjoyed seeing the  fountain and the pretty flowers after making the short walk from the train stop.

 

This man was walking 5 dogs at once.

I've been wanting to go to this man made lake for awhile now. At Christmas they have a light display and so maybe next Christmas I will get there. It also seems to be a place where more and more festivals are happening too.  DH and I enjoyed the quiet and the scenery and made loose plans to pack a lunch and refreshments and head out there to spend the day enjoying the tranquility one day. I was wondering what all the tents are for just beyond the water. Apparently a Caribbean Festival starts on Saturday for the weekend. I'm sure it will be a much busier place this weekend.

Thanks for dropping by!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know - Tuesday 4

 Hello!  Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 in memory of Toni Taddeo.

Let's inquire about stuff....

1. What gets your blood to boiling?

Injustice and mistreatment of people through any form (examples, government corruption, police brutality, unfair legislation, policies or court practices, the mean way some people treat others and so on).

2.What does a really good day look like for you? What makes you say, "That was a great day"?

 

It doesn't take a lot to make me happy. I love a beautiful, sunny or slightly rainy; not too hot or cold. I enjoy going for a short stroll and looking at the natural beauty around me. Then I would end my outing by reading a good book over a cup of fresh coffee.  Preferably at a coffee shop since I usually have only morning coffee at home. This is how I love to spend days alone. But I also enjoy going to a movie or a coffee outing with friends or having a dinner in or out with family and spending time talking to them.

3. Are you continuing to grow mentally, spiritually, talent wise or are you  just marking time?

 

I definitely continue to grow mentally and spiritually and there are still new talents I'd like to learn as long as I'm alive and able.  The internet is a big help these days with learning and staying on top of all kinds of things. You can even learn new skills and a variety of other things from watching You Tube videos. It is very helpful especially as one grows older or becomes less mobile. One of the things that make me sad is that time is flying by and I have so much I still want to do and learn and see.  There is far more on  my list than I will ever actually get to do. I try not to get too stressed about it because there is only so much time we all have. I am blessed to have had the time I have had and I pray I get to have more awesome times ahead.

 

4. Have you changed your hair style since high school?   Why or why not?

Oh yes, I had long straight hair in high school. During the ensuing years I've had all kinds of hair styles.  Some of them were super short, some were curly, some straight, some were 'big', some styles had bangs, some did not. Nowadays I have gone back to straight hair with no bangs. I colour it myself and now and then I go to the stylist. I prefer straight, longish hair that I can simply pull back during the day. The photo is of me getting my hair done in the salon in March after a long period of no appointments due to the pandemic.

Skywatch Friday

 Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

It's been awhile since I posted for Skywatch Friday so these are a few of the sky photos over the past several weeks. These photos were all taken over the months of June and July. Enjoy and thank you for stopping by!

Roof top of the city's central (main) library

Books, Books, Books - This is What I've Been Reading

I set the reading bar low in 2022 because I wanted to do other things. I haven't actually done the other things I had planned or hoped to do, but there is still time. This year I've read the following books. Forgive the lack of a good picture but it was the best I could do with the screenshot. My favourite reads out of these were the Ken Follett book (I've loved all of his books) and the Maye Musk memoir. It was very interesting to learn who raised Elon Musk and also to learn how Maye Musk and her family moved from Canada to South Africa and what brought her back to North America.

 

I'm reading several other books as shown in the photo below but am am really only focussed on the novel A Spool of Blue Thread. I've also placed a few books on hold though I'm trying to restrain myself so I can do some sewing. Perhaps if it gets too warm I won't be able to sew until the Fall but then I have the issue of less natural light. We shall see. There is the added issue of not yet finding patterns I would like to use for the items I want to make and like last summer I've been buying more clothing so I don't actually need anything more.

I hope your reading plans are going well and that you have something interesting to keep your mind occupied.  Weather where I am is hot this week.  I find I can't do much when the air is too still. That's when I sit and read or watch the television whilst sitting with open windows and fans blowing.

Until next time, keep well and keep safe. 

The Last Week

 Hello friends,

Thank you to all who left well wishes and comments on my last post. I truly appreciate your beautiful words.

I trust you are well and enjoying summer/winter wherever you are in the world. There is so much going on around the world.  Most of it is not that positive so it's important we do what we can to safeguard our mental and physical health to help us cope. Some of the ways I safeguard mine are through enjoying nature (the sky and gardening), reading, short walks and some self-care now and then (exercise, prayer, deep breathing, relaxation, slow routines, mani-pedis and massage). I was blessed to do most of the above this week. All the photos in this post were taken this week.

Today (July 10th) was a lovely day.

 

I had my second booster shot a few days ago. All went well save for a sore arm on the second day after the shot. Not everyone in my province has had their first booster shot yet let alone their second shot. They have to be eligible first and eligibility is generally based on health status and age. For some reason the head doctor here makes the age cut off very high unlike all other jurisdictions in the country. I think that is wrong headed but I'm not the one making the decisions.  Just the other day however I read that the government has opened things to everyone aged 12 and older to get a booster shot in the fall when Covid cases are expected to increase once more. 

Jonah had his 2 vaccinations in Kenya and that was good enough to travel and enter Canada when he travelled in May.  But like most insurance there is a waiting period to get a health card here in the province of BC before he can register for his booster shots. Once the waiting period is over he can complete health card registration provided he has received the permanent resident (PR) card issued federally. 

Canada is very backlogged in virtually every area of service due to the pandemic so PR cards and other things are taking months to receive instead of a week or two. We were happy that Jonah's card did indeed arrive at just under 2 months wait time and he has been able to register or apply for the last bits of documentation he needs.  It's a huge relief since many people are experiencing significantly longer wait times.

 

Jonah has been very busy getting accustomed to life and work here and he has been enjoying both.  The other day he joined the work party at the community garden to help repair the raised beds that were falling apart and to do some extensive weeding around the plots. Weeding and general upkeep of the community garden area is the responsibility of all gardeners who have a plot but most of them don't seem to do much. Maybe they don't know that they have to volunteer 4 hours of time over the summer to the work needs of the garden. I certainly didn't know until the new chairman pointed it out a few weeks ago. Basically, Jonah's garden work on Saturday fulfilled the volunteer hours required for this year.  In addition, my nephew's girlfriend put in several hours of work a few weeks ago so we have more than covered our volunteer work hours requirement for the year.  We only have one plot which my nephew's girlfriend has planted and tended this year.  I'm hoping next year she will be able to get her own plot because she loves the gardening process. I hope they don't say she is disqualified due to living too far from the neighbourhood.

 

My left leg is still giving me problems though I do see signs of improvement here and there. I'm trying to make sure I take time to do the exercises and the walking recommended by the physiotherapist.  It's been a difficult balance  because it doesn't take too long before I've overdone the walking. I had such a day on Friday when Jonah and I went out to do our business. I came home very tired and spent the rest of the weekend indoors to recover and get the housework done slowly so I can be ready for the week ahead. I also spent some time outside in the garden. When I wasn't outside I left my patio door wide open and enjoyed seeing the little hummingbirds come by.  I also enjoyed the chirping of birds. They were very active this weekend. I don't remember hearing them last summer when there was so much smoke in the air. That couldn't have been good for their little lungs at all.

I finished reading this new book French Braid by Anne Tyler.   It was a quick read and I enjoyed it although it was far from one of my favourite reads.  Unbeknownst to me I also started reading another book by Anne Tyler just a few days before.  That one is called A Spool of Blue Thread: A Novel.  I thought the two books seemed quite similar but French Braid seemed to flow a bit better and so I finished it first.

Last, but not least, I finally made time on Wednesday to get a mani-pedi. I've been needing a good clean up of the nails for quite some time but don't like to pay the prices or sit for so long. I was glad I did get there as the young woman who worked on me had a very pleasant personality and I asked her to give me an extra long hand massage because she asked me to wait for my manicure while she worked on another client who was there with a friend. I agreed to her request and she gave me a nice long massage when she returned to work on my fingernails. 

In the "old" days one would always get a wonderful hand and foot massage as part of the mani-pedi. Nowadays you mostly have to pay a premium for these services.  If a salon does happen to include a massage with their basic service it is usually nothing to speak of.  Often you don't even get one especially since they started using gel nail polish. While I was waiting for the nail tech to be free, I enjoyed a nice, long massage on the massage chair.

It's been a busy week despite the leg issue and I'm expecting another busy week ahead. 

I wish you all a wonderful and happy week where ever you are in the world. 

Stay safe. 💓💓💓