Marking the Year in Reading & Looking Back

This year my reading goal was 25 books. Once I reached that level any extra reading I did was to be enjoyed whenever I had time. I am now up to 44 books (those in the picture below) and I have no end goal. Right now I am trying to read and learn from some fashion and cooking books. The only problem is usually when I want to do that there is a queue of people who want the books too and sometimes one cannot renew them. Our library system allows 2 renewals if you are not caught up with too many people needing the book so altogether you can borrow a book for 9 weeks.

In addition to reading the library books I am reading chronologically through the New Testament. I try to read about 5 chapters a day.  Right now I am in the last chapters of the Book of John.  I am also reading the Book of Revelation. I haven't much read the Book of Revelation since I was a child and it isn't a book that many churches teach about. Once I've read this Book a few times on my own I will go over a third time with a Bible Study series on the book. I think it's important to be prepared in better understanding as I look around me and I hear the events happening the world over.

It was Thanksgiving the other day and I shared some Fall colours in my post. You can look here for Fall colours in 2019.  I thought it would also be fun to see what October looked like last year by way of comparison.  The following photos were taken in early October 2018. I remember the day well. It was a gorgeous, sunny and warm day. The Fall colours were not yet that in full array.

The Go Fund Me campaign button is now ready in the side bar.  This is to help
Eunice with hospital and medical needs. For those who are new to this campaign you can read all the details at the link (in the side bar at top right).

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I hope to see you again soon.

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Fall Colour & Sunshine

I went to City Hall to try and vote in the advance poll for a new Mayor and city Councillors. The line up was so long and I had many other errands to run so I decided to wait until Saturday which is when the regular poll will be open.

City Hall (front)

Back (northern view) from City Hall. Downtown is in the distance.

We've been having fabulous Fall weather this past week or so and the fall foliage is still on the trees but just barely in some cases. These photos were taken on my walk to City Hall.

The next several photos were taken on the weekend. Look at the tree on the left side of the photo below. It's completely  missing half it's leaves.

The large building complex in the photo below is nearing completion. You might recognize the tower from many of my earlier posts. I've been watching it go up for what seems like years though I think the construction started in earnest  last October.

I've heard that the tower is ready for move in though I'm not sure when the move in date is. The condominiums were sold out several years ago.

There will be a grocery market on the ground level. (The tower peeking out in the back is the one I've featured numerous times in my blog posts).  This is a higher end market called Nester's. There is already a branch of this grocery market a short 10 minute bus ride away to the south but this store will make grocery shopping extremely convenient for the resident owners. In fact there there is another food store just behind the building across the street.

I spotted this cute puppy at the park. He really didn't want to walk and laid down on the grass to protest. Eventually he followed his master and they went ahead in the general direction that I travelled.

Time has been flying buy as always. I'm still not quite 100% healthy though I'm learning I always feel sub par during the Fall months. It is my favourite season but I always seem to be sick for much of it with low grade fever, headache and fatigue. At least I can still enjoy the seasonal colour and I still try to keep up with a schedule as bet I can.
 The weather is supposed to remain good for a few days.  If I have time I will take a walk around a lagoon in the park downtown soon.  We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'm making good progress on an afghan I've decided to make for a friend's Christmas gift.  She doesn't read this blog so she won't find out what I'm making.

I have plans Thursday for surprising my brother for his birthday. Not a party as such because he has his own plans but a little something to mark the occasion. On Friday I will go to dinner with a friend and a lady missionary to Taiwan. Saturday is voting day and somewhere in between I have errands and the walk I'd like to take.  I hope to share photos in this space later.

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Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Another Week Goes By

 Welcome everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the month of October so far.

Another week has flown by. I didn't get out to take new photos because I'm still under the weather but these photos are relatively recent. 

The weather is still beautiful here after a few days rain.

The forecast is for sunshine for another week or so.

I'm hoping to get out and enjoy it

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Another Friday has Arrived

Hi everyone,

After weeks of rain we've been having a few spectacular sunny days. I wanted to get down to my favourite beach to take some photos but I had a late start today.  I decided on the spur of the moment to go downtown and I'm glad I did.

There were a lot of people out today enjoying the warm fall day. In fact there were even a few people in their swimming trunks.

I wanted a photo of the dog and his master but the sun was shining directly in my path. I took a few photos anyway.  Here is the photo in black and white and colour. He was a lovely dog but he wasn't so thrilled about fetching the stick until his master threw it some distance into the water.

In the beautiful scene below I was competing with several other people for photos, lol. I decided to leave one in the photo for fun.

Here are several people testing the water.

We had summer weather temperatures today.

I always love the scene as I come upon the huge metal sculpture and the mountains in the distance.

These trees are not yet in full fall colour but I don't know if  will get back to the beach in time to catch the foliage as the leaves develop deeper golden and orange shades.

I hope you are enjoying the weather wherever you are.

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Thank you for stopping by!

Just Popping In

Hi friends,

I'm just popping in to say 'hello' and 'how are you'?  It's been awhile since I posted here and today's post will be brief.

Since I wrote last we have been having quite a lot of inclement weather.  Very dark skies and lots of rain. I would say we also have cooler temperatures than usual. We sure could have used the rain during the summer when all the wild fires were raging. Some parts of western Canada (northern British Columbia and Alberta) have even had snow yesterday and today and quite cold temperatures. We expect less rain and snow and warmer temperatures again soon and normal autumn temperatures to follow.  The intense heat of the summer and sadly, my garden is pretty much done for the year. I plan to dig all the debris from the annuals up before the end of the month.

You can just make out the Light Rapid Transit in the middle right.

I'm reading.

I started a Creative Writing Class yesterday. I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to the next  few weeks of classes. I'm just hoping I can keep up with my homework. The instructor says we really should be writing every day! For a procrastinator & non-writer like me it will be a challenge but one I hope to meet.  The course is actually free and I cannot believe the caliber of the instructor. She is a writer, editor, publicist and comedian.  Maybe this is her way of giving back or looking for new authors.

Farmer's Market

On my way back from class I managed to stop at a local Farmer's Market. Sad to say I've been wanting to stop at this market for a few years and just never seem to remember what day it happens.

I happened to be walking by and saw that the market was underway, albeit much smaller than during the fullness of summer. I decided to have a quick look. I was on the hunt for bread or baked goods and there were some nice baked goods but no bread. In the end I bought 2 small tubs of hummus (one with beans and one with red pepper). I also bought one round package of vegan cheese. It is all very tasty but the vegan cheese as you can imagine is very pricey.  By early October, the Farmer's Market will be finished for another year so I'm glad I made it to at least one market day.



The photo below is taken from a 7th floor window looking south. The high rise you see on the horizon is the one you sometimes see in photos from my balcony.  You can see how threatening the sky looks but amazingly the sun came out late in the afternoon and it only rained a bit in early evening.

Last, but not least, is my small patio garden.  My flowers are pretty much finished for the year what with all the rain we've had over the past week.  I'm trying to hang on to them a wee bit longer because the brightly coloured flowers give me so much enjoyment.  But I'm planning to try and clean all the garden of debris by the end of the month if all goes well.

That's it for now friends. I'm feeling like an apple cake due to the coolish weather.  I've made this cake a few times but the recipe is from a blog that is no longer public. I'll have to google a new recipe.

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A Change is Coming

The last few days there has been a definite change in the temperature of the air. While it is still generally warm, there is now a distinct chill and I need to have a shawl or a light jacket when I go out. It seems to me that the chill has arrived somewhat early this year and rather abruptly. We don't usually notice the shift until the day after Labour Day (the first Monday of September).  This year Labour Day is on September 4, 2018.

The sky was looking quite cloudy when I came home from an appointment around 4 p.m. on Thursday.  There is no rain in the 14 day forecast but the temperatures are anywhere from 6-10 degrees cooler each day than they have been for months.  I don't mind because the Fall or Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I do not do well in intense heat.  I far prefer the chill of autumn when it isn't yet cold and one can wear cosy sweaters and scarves. In some years the Fall season can go on for some time. Those are special times.

After I finished my errands I stopped for this breakfast/lunch. It isn't my favourite place to dine but it was handy and I enjoyed the omelette and sourdough toast.

The next few photos were taken on Wednesday. You might notice that the light of the day is not a intense as the past few months.

The photo below was taken at 7 p.m. It was still quite bright out but now the daylight hours are shortened by 1-2 hours each day.

I'm reading my 45th book of the year.

 

It is very interesting.
 I haven't gotten to the sad part yet but it will come.

Here is a synopsis of the book taken from the internet.

On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s famous chimpanzee research camp in the Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania, East Africa, walked out of camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating in a pool at the base of a high waterfall. With careful detail, The Ghosts of Gombe reveals for the first time the full story of day-to-day life in Goodall’s wilderness camp—the people and the animals, the stresses and excitements, the social conflicts and cultural alignments, and the astonishing friendships that developed between three of the researchers and some of the chimpanzees—during the months preceding that tragic event. Was Ruth’s death an accident? Did she jump? Was she pushed? In an extended act of literary forensics, Goodall biographer Dale Peterson examines how Ruth’s death might have happened and explores some of the painful sequelae that haunted two of the survivors for the rest of their lives.

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I watched the much hyped first episode of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video. If you have a chance to watch it I would recommend it. It is very well done and quite riveting. 

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I managed to get my documents photocopied yesterday to add to my earthquake kit.

If you missed my post on earthquake preparedness you can find it here.

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I've always loved zebras. They are so beautiful and these ones are from Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. I'll never forget my safari there.
I'm sharing them for Saturday's Critters with Eileen.

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Last but not least, I am remembering my mom today.
She would have been 82 on Friday.

 These photos are from the last celebration of her birthday and were taken a few days after her stroke.
We were surprised to arrive and see her driving her wheelchair. She couldn't swallow yet so she she couldn't eat the cake that's why we only bought a small one. We usually bought her a chicken, seafood or Chinese dinner but this day we didn't want to eat in front of her so we only bought a cake to mark her day.


I always liked to treat her on her birthday.
 She loved her roses, her cake and balloon.

I remember wanting to wait until she was able to eat with us to celebrate. My youngest brother insisted we celebrate on her day. I'm so glad he did because it was the last time we were able to do so and see her smile.

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 That's all for now.
Wishing you all a wonderful and safe weekend.

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