Sunday September 22 is the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of the Autumn season. Let's talk about it okay?
1. Are there pumpkins or chrysanthemums on your porch or are you planning on putting some out?
No. I don't have a porch but I also don't care for mums or using seasonal decor except at Christmas. Even that is minimal.
2. What seasonal changes are you noticing in your part of the world? What would you add or take away?
I've noticed a drastic change in temperature. We've had some lovely sunny days with brilliant, blue skies but we are now in the period where rain can happen at any time. If I could add or take away, I would increase the temperatures just a wee bit and take away some rainy days. We do need rainy days to keep our trees and grass green.
4. If there was a free week long tour of New England, complete with peak colors and a trip to Plimouth, Massachusetts (the colony site with historical players), would you come along? If that doesn't suit, where would you like to go for your Autumn trip?
Absolutely. I love autumn colours. The closest I've gotten to the beautiful autumn colours in the east is in Quebec and southern Ontario. In fact, many years ago I took my mother on an escorted Fall Colour Tour and we both enjoyed it so much. The foliage was absolutely spectacular. We get beautiful foliage here in BC too but not so many deep reds (maple trees) which I absolutely love. An alternative trip would be to New York City. I think it would be the perfect season for walking and sightseeing in Manhattan.
The weather has definitely turned cooler though it has been beautiful and sunny. I enjoy this time of year before the rains fall. One can still enjoy the light and sunshine, some floral blooms remain and fall colours are starting to set in.
Hello friends and fellow bloggers,
I hope the end of the week finds you well and in good health.
On my end it's been a hectic week and I suffered a bit of ill health here and there but am more or less fine. I think it's just the transition from hot to coolish weather that usually gets to me at the change of seasons. But I'm enjoying getting out in the cooler weather while the sun still shines.
I hope you enjoy today's skies over Vancouver.
The moon is out and shining bright. It's time to say goodnight.
Enjoy your weekend and thank you for visiting. This is my submission to Skywatch Friday.
Hello friends and fellow bloggers,
This is a continuation of my decluttering and reorganizing efforts.
I'm so happy that at long last I've been getting to little bits of clutter that doesn't seem to have a permanent home. I should throw it all out but that is not like me, ha ha. Instead, I stash it and hold on to it. Now at last I'm going through it, sorting, organizing and disposing of it as needed. I can't tell you how good this makes me feel because these little bits stashed in bags and containers of all kinds is so much visual clutter.
Visual clutter as opposed to hidden clutter, makes me uncomfortable and anxious every time I look it. I don't have hide away places where I can stash everything until I'm ready to deal with it. That's probably a good thing. I want things 'out' so it's easier to access them and organize whenever I have a few minutes here and there. That time is now.
Tuesday and Wednesday I dealt with clutter in the living room and organized the TV cabinet shelves. I've still got too much 'stuff' housed there but I did get rid of a large bag of books and CDs & I will be getting rid of more.
I've got a CD player or two and so I can still listen to them. I have a lot of study materials on them so I've kept those that I want to study soon. Mainly foreign languages and Bible studies.
Does anyone out there still listen to CDs?
I also continue making small decor changes. Although the changes are small they take so much time to research or consider products, order them, assess how they are working and package, return and reorder them as needed. Here are some of the recent changes.
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| This one is for paper recycling. |
Replaced shopping bags with covered bins for recycling containers and papers. I got the new to me Sterlite bin from a woman in the neighbourhood. Previously I thrifted a covered Ikea bin which I'm using for containers.
Replaced the blue scatter mats (as in the photo above). Every time I look at these mats in the entry way and kitchen I cringe a little because the edges are becoming quite frayed and the white-ish gray colour is looking 'dirty'. I'm loving the lighter, brighter colours in the new mat and I hope they last for a while.
Covered chairs with slipcovers to bring cohesion to 2 different coloured chairs in 2 different styles which I've now put close to one another. First I tried gray slipcovers. They were supposed to be a light gray colour but instead they were quite dark. I returned them for this beige colour which I prefer. The problem is the covers aren't quite long enough to cover the bottom of the chairs. I've ordered another style and I hope they will work better.
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| I've ordered a different type to see if it will work. |
Replacing old outlet covers with new ones. No amount of washing the grooves made the plate look clean. It's hard to wash the switches. They need to be changed or removed to be washed and dried properly. I figure if I am going to remove them or have them removed, they may as well be replaced. Only a few need the switch mechanism changed but this is actually quite a low priority in the long list of things to do.
Hello friends and fellow bloggers,
A happy Monday to you all. I hope you have a beautiful week ahead.
Yesterday was "Car Free Day" on my city street. I didn't go out because I don't want to line up to buy something to eat and I don't need anything the small shops are sending. But the event was incredibly well attended. By the time I went out to buy a few things at the local pharmacy the stalls were mostly gone but the police were still in attendance directing traffic. There were also a lot of pedestrians walking here and there since no buses or cars were permitted until around 9 p.m.
I was amazed to see what looks to be a small ferris wheel being packed up and taken away. I guess the small kids had a lot of fun.
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| It just needs a good cleaning and it will be ready for use. |
Hello friends and fellow bloggers,
Happy Friday and best wishes to you wherever you are in the world.
Our weather this week has been a bit cool and overcast. It also rained a bit but today, Thursday, the sun came out and we had a brilliant day. However, as you can see from the first photo we are again expecting some rain. I'm happy there'll also be a bit of sunshine because I'm no where near ready for winter which is when we typically get a lot of rain.
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| I tried to capture the birds in flight but they are far away. |
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| I never get tired of this view. |
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| I'm also very happy for these trees since I no longer have trees in my garden. |
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| The time was approximately 6:15 p.m. |
Hello friends and fellow bloggers,
How are you all doing? I hope you are well and enjoying the season wherever you are in the world. Here in my city, we are transitioning from summer to fall or autumn season. It happens like clock work every year that I can feel the distinct shift to chilly weather on September 1st.
This year I felt it a bit earlier but then hot weather returned after that. By the time I post this blog we will be in the midst of 2 days of much cooler weather. When I went out to buy a few grocery items on Monday night, it was spitting a bit of rain.
Anyway, many of you already know that I suffer from a few chronic medical conditions though they are mostly manageable as long as I can keep on top of things and do what I need to do. But you may not know that I also suffer from something called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). It's the one thing that is much harder to manage and there are all kinds of symptoms that can arise as a result of it.
I have periods where I am feeling reasonable and able to look after what I need to but there are also periods when my energy is very low or virtually non-existent. I've just actually come through a prolonged period where I was feeling reasonable and could do what I planned to do almost every day. But for the past several weeks I could feel myself veering into a low that I haven't felt in a while.
I've been trying to pace myself and manage things so that I don't go into a zero energy phase. In that phase it is hard to get out of bed, let alone get up and shower to greet the day.
Do you or anyone you know also suffer from this?
Here is a simple chart that illustrates some of the myriad symptoms that people with ME/CFS exhibit.
Recently, I started going to a new church that meets at night, not in the morning. One Sunday I discovered that one of the pastors also has ME/CFS and that's one of the reasons the church gathering is at night and not in the morning.
I was relieved that she would be able to relate to my symptoms and possible understand why it is difficult for me to fully engage in all that churches do. Sometimes it's even difficult just to get to church. Having said that, it is easier to attend night service because it means I have more time to get ready for the day and get going.
I've had ME/CFS now for many years. It's the primary reason I had to retire from work in 2006, much earlier than I wanted.
Having this problem changed my life in so many ways and led me to a much more restricted way of life than I had been living before. My concentrations level was so bad in those days that I couldn't even read a page of a novel. That is what actually led me to start this blog and also to challenge myself to set reading goals.
Happily my concentration is much improved. But I still go through phases where I can't concentrate enough to read or to write. Lack of concentration affects my ability to write blog posts or do anything that requires sustained effort. For example, whenever I write I post, I end up going back to correct it several times after posting because I wasn't able to catch all the mistakes the first time around. This is rather frustrating and annoying but it isn't the end of the world so I try not to dwell on it. I try to keep my perfectionist tendencies reined in otherwise I'd stop doing a lot of things. In relation to my reading habit, I've always enjoyed it and now that I set annual reading goals, I read far more than I ever have though there are still periods when I cannot read much at all. Like right now.
Making appointments in my calendar for everything I do is also helpful. I go to the extent of blocking out all the 'to dos' in the calendar and I try to do this for several weeks in advance. I write things on a wall calendar because then I can see things at a glance and make adjustments if needed. I've come to know what I can actually accomplish in a given period of time so sometimes I have to make a lot of adjustments when other things crop up that are priorities like lab work and appointments.
It also takes me far longer to accomplish things than it ever did. It isn't just from growing older. It has more to do with energy levels as a result of illness though I know some of it has to do with aging. I am a young senior, however so I keep on going and don't feel that age is a reason for my limitations at this point.
I would love to get into better routines and meal planning but I'm simply not there yet. I'm not sure if I will ever be because routines and meal planning were never really my thing. The reason I'd like them now is it brings more structure to daily life and getting things done. It also means I always have something on hand to eat rather than have to worry about having nothing ready when I am not up to cooking. My dear husband is not a cook so I can't really rely on him and I'd rather not have to order take out for all the times I don't feel like cooking.
So lately I've been making a few meals ahead. No more than 2 or 3 items to have in the refrigerator for meal times. While I do have a small freezer, I've found that preparing a few weeks or meals ahead doesn't really work at this point. I may revisit the idea in future.
Here are the foods I cooked this week. They aren't as healthy as I would otherwise make when I have more energy. These foods were largely cooked in the Instant Pot (IP), a lifesaver when one doesn't have much time or energy to make meals. Food also tastes much more flavourful when cooked in the Instant Pot. Other meals were quickly made on the stove top.
This week I was proud of myself for making 2 meals without meat though they were not veganized (Taco Soup with Lentils and Garbanzo Bean Soup). I am going to try to make meatless meals more often because we've been eating far too much beef these past few months. I was also told by one of my doctors that chicken is not good for my cholesterol levels. We have eaten a lot of chicken in the past. I've cut way back on chicken but we are having some this week. I'm also reinstituting more avocados, nuts and olive oil in to our diet and reducing butter and dairy in general though this is harder for me to do.
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| Pork roast with root veggies and cabbage |
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| Taco Soup made with lentils instead of beef |
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| Leftover pork and potatoes with scrambled eggs/beans |
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| New pototoes and ground beef with veggies in mushroom sauce |
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| Seasoned roast chicken, cooked in IP & browned in oven |
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| IP Garbanzo and veggie soup in chicken broth |
Thank you for reading this far. If you have ME/CFS, I'd love to hear how long you've had it and how you manage it.
Hi friends and fellow bloggers, Here are a couple of snapshots to end the month. Wishing you a fabulous end of November. See you in the mon...
