I hope this Friday finds you well and in good health. Hopefully you're not experiencing any extreme weather one way or the other.
I took a very quick road trip to Kamloops, BC which is 354 km (219 miles) northeast of where I live. It makes for a very long day to get to there and back to Vancouver as well as spend a few hours visiting in Kamloops. But I'm glad it done for now and hopefully I'll go again soon if the weather cooperates.
I captured these scenes on the way back to Vancouver, BC where I live. I'm getting a late start but I'm hoping to make a few more road trips before the end of summer.
What about you dear reader. Have you made any road trips in 2026 or have any planned for the summer?
Welcome to Tuesday 4 which was started by Toni Taddeo and kept up in memory and honor of her.
How about talking about cosmetics and toiletries this week?
Let's jump right in, shall we?
1. What brand of shampoo do you think works best for you and what does it do for you?
L'Oreal Colour Radiance to help protect and maintain the hair colour.
2. Do you use cosmetics and if so what do you use?
Mascara (mostly Maybelline but also L'Oreal and a few others) and lip gloss (mostly Rimmel but I've used many others as well) but only when going out. I've only ever used mascara and lip gloss. No foundation, blush & all the other things women use.
3. Do you use a washcloth on your face?
No. I use small, very lightweight flannel squares made for washing the face.
4. Do you have an all time favorite perfume or scent that you wear? If you don't wear perfumes, is there a scent that you love in general?
Long ago I wore scent but I no longer do. We're restricted from using fragrance in most public places here and have been for many years. At home, a family member is highly allergic to fragrance. I even need to be careful about using scents in lotions so I mostly use unscented products.
When I wore perfume there were several I liked to alternate: Y by Yves St. Laurent, Aromatics Elixer by Clinique & Knowing by Estee Lauder. I also used Chanel No. 5 on occasion but I found the scent too heavy for my taste.
The Estee Lauder fragrance seemed to change over time so I dropped it long before I stopped wearing fragrance altogether. The Y fragrance became difficult to source in Canada several years before I stopped wearing fragrance. I think they still sell the Clinique perfume. Except for Chanel #5, I suppose mostly what I used was Eau de Toilette, not Eau de Parfum and I do love a clean, not too heavy scent.
That's it for today's 4 questions. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week.
1. What special memories do you have about summer when you were younger?
I remember warmer weather because our summers were very short in the far north. We kids would play outside until midnight because it was so light outside. The sun didn't stay out all night but at midnight it still looked like twilight.
I also remember the annual trip to Bible Camp which I absolutely loved because there were lots of summer activities and lots of good food as well as good company and new friends from all around northern Alberta. I lived in British Columbia (BC) and the camp was in northern Alberta.
See the highway (SE) from Dawson Creek to Saskatoon Island Provincial Park
Each year my Sunday School teacher and her husband would drive one of my siblings and I to camp along with two of their children. It always seemed like a long drive in the hot sun but according to google it's only about a 1.25 hours drive southeast from Dawson Creek, BC. Camp was only a week long but it seemed much longer because we did so much in that one week. Specifically I remember lots of outdoor sports like softball and swimming. I loved singing around the campfire roasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate. We did a lot of church of course and Bible study along with crafting and other things. One summer my house mother was a missionary lady from Africa and that is when my interest in Africa began.
There was always a special church service on the last day and a nice luncheon to which the families of all the campers were invited. Then everyone headed for home to their different locations. It was always a sad day for us young people to part with our friends and fun activities.
2. What is the highest temperature you've experienced in summer? What about so far this summer? How do you weather the heat or humidity?
I'm not entirely sure but I think it was about 43 degrees Celsius or 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Some summers can be very hot here in Canada. In those summers we usually have a lot of wildfires all over the province where I live and often in other provinces as well. So far this summer it hasn't been too bad in BC. The hottest day I can recall so far is about 29.2 degrees Celsius or 84.5 Fahrenheit. Lytton, BC has been the hotspot of the province so far this year at 36.9 degrees Celsius or 98.4 Fahrenheit. Lytton is the town that burned to the ground due to heat and wildfires a few years ago. It still hasn't been rebuilt and right now there are wildfires in the area where the town is located.
When it's hot or humid I try to stay home. If I go out, it's usually late in the day. I also drink cold drinks and eat fruits like watermelon and cherries. I keep the fans on when I feel overly hot and will sometimes put an ice pack on my neck or back. We don't have air conditioning.
3. What's been on your menu so far this summer?
Usually in summer it's too hot to eat regular food so I keep the menu light with lots of salads and fruits like watermelon and cherries. We have lots of corn on the cob, peaches, nectarines and apricots and wild caught salmon from the ocean. The weather this summer has been much more bearable so far. It's almost the middle of July and our temperatures have been in the 22 - 26 Celsius range (71.6 - 78.8 Fahrenheit). Not too hot at all. Quite comfortable in fact. Right now (Sunday) it's overcast and has been for several days. It looks like rain but so far there is no shower in sight. July is usually a very hot month but this year the temperatures are several degrees cooler than usual. It seems like the very hot weather is being experienced in Eastern Canada this year and in Europe.
Given the nice temperatures we've been eating more or less the regular food we eat. However, because it's summer I'm also making an effort to make a few summer type meals. For example, on Thursday we had a delicious vegetable salad and a Chicken Bacon pie from frozen. Today I made BBQ ribs and a Penne Pasta Salad chock full of vegetables and feta cheese.
Chicken & Bacon Pie
BBQ Ribs & Penne Salad
Penne Pasta Salad. I was very generous with the feta cheese.
Another salad we like to have in summer is Potato and Egg and I plan to make it early in the week along with some hot dogs on buns.
4. What is on your reading list this summer... anything to recommend to us? What's on your TV this summer. Any music you're liking this summer?
There are a number of books on my reading list this summer:
I recommend Mansfield Park for Jane Austen fans.
I recommend both books. First one is set on a sheep farm in Australia, 2nd in NL., Canada.
I recommend if you like stories told through letters.
I recommend for insight into understanding how we spend money.
I recommend if you want to understand the immigrant experience.
I recommend if you like twisted mysteries.
I recommend The Hotel Nantucket if you like cosy reads set in beautiful places.
I recommend if you like spy stories where the spy is a woman.
On the television I have several streaming services and I usually select a spy movie. I just finished watching the series The Agency with a stellar cast including Michael Fassbender. I've also watched several series on Paramount Plus: The Marshals, The Madison & The Dutton Ranch. On Brit Box I've watched The Other Bennett Sister and I'm now watching A Woman of Substance. The latter is a series based on the novel by the same name which I read decades ago and which has stayed with me throughout the years. The content is perfectly captured in the title. A young woman rises from abject poverty to become extremely wealthy despite all the challenges along the way.
I also saw quite a good, long movie on my library streaming service over the weekend. It's called Tomiris, about the Queen of the Massagetae people on the steppes east of the Caspian Sea. I've been trying to find the exact location of the area where the Massagetae people lived but since historical records are scarce there isn't accurate information. I do believe that the people didn't actually live in Iran but in what is now Turkmenistan and in the other countries of Central Asia with the words ending in 'Stan". In the movie, Tomiris is depicted as a woman destined to protect her people and their lands from the encroachment of Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great hailed from Persis, an ancient region in southwestern Iran in what is now called the Fars Province. Click on the link below to enlarge the map of the Persian Empire.
If you can find it on a streaming service you use, I'd highly recommend it. Please note you'll need to turn on the subtitles. If you're in Europe I've read you can watch it on Amazon or Apple TV.
As for music, I'm not one to sit and listen to music though I really do love it. Recently though I heard this song on Instagram and I had to look up the singer. You might like him too. Dusty Rivers is an 80 year old blues and soul singer. He appears to be a real person with a real discography. It also appears that he uses AI to generate his image in the songs on his YouTube channel. Anyway I really love his voice and have listened to this song a few times. The content of the song no doubt has to do with the result of aging and no longer needing to strive so hard. Perhaps he has also a better appreciation for different things as he nears his last chapter.
I do spend more time listening to music on occasion and when I do I love to listen to gospel, especially the old hymns, the occasional contemporary gospel song and gospel songs in other languages. I also l love folk music and the music of the 1970s.
Lately I've been feeling quite tired. It's partly because I've just been so busy for so very long and I don't see much of an end in sight. I also haven't had a real rest for a very long time. The latest forced period of rest was due to being sick with the shingles and in a great deal of pain so that just tired me out more than anything.
I have some plans for very short trips before the end of summer so we'll see how that goes. Of course I'll share scenic photos when I'm on my way or when I'm back. I love taking scenic photos.
In the meantime, here at home I'm still beavering away on making a lot of small changes to the home. I've got got plans for some medium size changes a little later this year. There's only so much that can get done in a given week. It's an achievement just to get the gardens in on time.
This year my home garden was planted by my brother. Thank goodness. I was stricken with shingles and couldn't do much besides sleep so he decided to weed and garden for me. He also had to buy a lot of soil first to add to what was already there. I didn't go crazy on buying plants because the garden is going to undergo stress very soon when Phase 2 of the patio renovations begin later this month.
Part of the patio garden
One thing I chose for the balcony garden was a small rose bush called Maui Sunrise. It's already given me a lot of joy with its big showy blooms and plenty of beautiful colour.
A few weeks before getting sick, I planted the plot at the community gardens. In truth it really hasn't done well. It's been overridden with invasive plants from elsewhere so I've been doing a lot of pulling up rather than a lot of harvesting. It's too sad looking to post a photo here. In fact, I don't even think I took a proper photo of it this year simply because it looks that bad. But at least I've tried.
Here are a few photos of some of the small home decor changes and DIYs around the house.
New shelf for the primary bathroom
New shower curtain for the primary bathroom
This one comes with tassels. I still need to steam the wrinkles.
New shelf for the master bathroom.
New shower curtain for the master bathroom.
I recently purchased a very thin summer blanket and a white linen/cotton bedspread. It was proving time consuming and difficult to make the bed every day. I bought the new duvet cover and put the thin blanket inside. You can see it's still lumpy but it's a bit easier to make the bed. The bed looks so small in the photo but it's actually a queen size.
A new striped bedspread & pillowcase.
Fresh Rabbit's Paw Fern for the living room
New bathroom fan/motor
New bathroom light fixture
The master bathroom also had a lighting upgrade but I cannot find the photo right now. The below photo is the former look with gold finish. It's now a matte black finish. Some of you will remember when I changed out several of the door knobs from gold or brass finish to black.
Another bathroom project was restoring the master bathtub. It was looking so dirty where the anti-slip adhesives were affixed to the tub. It looks newer now and the drain ring and overflow cap which showed a lot of wear have been replaced.
Before
After
I'll continue to work on the bathtub after the caulking and regrouting have been redone in both bathrooms. I'd looked into replacing the tub with a shower but the price was absolutely ridiculous. The company that gave me a quote was asking for an amount which was more than sufficient for an entire bathroom redo but it was only to replace the tub. I know there are better prices out there but for now I'm going for a temporary fix just because there are a lot of bigger projects yet to do in the kitchen, dining room, living room and both bathrooms.
New kitchen cabinet knobs
Old kitchen cabinet knobs
New combo oven/microwave.
The cabinets got a good scrub but they are always in need of a good scrub. The grimy grease collects so easily even though I wipe everything down on a daily basis.
There are a number of projects which I want to complete before the end of the year. Let's hope it all goes well. I've discovered I am not a big fan of home renovations and decorating. It takes too much time, energy and money but sometimes you just have to do it. My long time readers will know that I've already made a lot of small changes over the past 2 years or more. But this year's changes are more wide-ranging and hopefully will last longer than the former changes.
