October is Already Gone!

 Hi friends, 

I hope you are all doing fine and enjoying the change of seasons. Since I last posted a few days ago the weather has warmed up considerably and I can now turn down my thermostat. Usually when it warms up at this time of year it means rain so I expect that over the coming days.

When it's raining it's a good time to cosy up with a good book and hot drink.  Here are the next few books in my reading pile.

Book number 59, reading goals 2020.

Book number 59, reading goals 2020.

Book #60, reading goals 2020

 

The red blob in the bowl is home made ice cream which I made Tuesday night in my Vitamix blender. This is a photo taken as an afterthought after the ice cream had been sitting for about 20 minutes. It is made of a frozen wild berry mix, chia seeds and cream. Yum! It's one of my favourite snacks. A variation on this is making a smoothie with a vegan protein powder, berries and water (no milk, cream or yogurt).

I went late night shopping on Wednesday night for a carpet/rug cleaner I have been eyeing. It was on sale at a local store. It is also available on Amazon for the same price but I prefer to get it in the brick and mortar store when I can.  I also bought stain remover and soap cleanser for the machine.  Now I am all set to clean the carpets. My goal is to do a thorough cleaning of all the traffic areas before I start decorating for Christmas.  I don't plan on moving the furniture unless it's chairs or plants or something small.

On the way home from shopping there was a beautiful sunset over the Fraser River. Unfortunately I could not stop to take a photograph for you.  By the time I got home and started dinner it was quite late.  By the time dinner was ready I was feeling a bit light headed and I ate too much as my blood sugar was probably a little too low.

The stuffed pork chops were just right.  Normally the pork chops on offer at the store are very lean.  But these ones were quite fat and had a lot of marbling.  This turned out well because I like roasting my meat for a long time but sometimes they get too dry if they don't have adequate fat.  We had sides of caramelized onions, mashed potatoes and a simple salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and avocado in a dressing of Balsamic vinegar and grapeseed oil.  Everything was delicious. It sounds funny for me to say that but I can appreciate my own cooking and I'm happy when whatever I've made hits the spot otherwise it would be a waste of food and cooking effort.

 

Since I haven't had time to take some good photos I am sharing some that I took in early October of 2019.

Here is another photo from my archives.

This one was taken at the Stanley Park downtown along the beginning of the seawall (south side)

This dog had so much fun running into the ocean to fetch the stick. It always amazes me how dogs never seem to tire of playing fetch with their owners. As you can see I shot this photo into the sun. I always read you shouldn't do that but personally I like to do it from time to time.

 

These little bird photos are also from my archives. I'm afraid I don't capture birds very well because they move too fast for me.  I am not one hundred percent certain but I think the first bird (first 3 photos) are of a sparrow. It looks somewhat bedraggled because I believe it was a super hot summer. I think the last two photos are of little chickadees. These are the two main types of birds that come to my patio besides the hummingbird. Update:  Thank you to Eileen over at Saturday's Critters for identifying the first bird which is a finch not a sparrow.

Given Saturday is Halloween I am posting a few photos of spider webs.  I do not celebrate on October 31st but I know many people do. I'm finding people are getting quite creative about the way to celebrate since the health officials are strongly urging people not to go out door to door.

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone. I know I say that quite often, lol but it is so true that time passes far too quickly. I don't want to waste a minute of the time I have. I don't count relaxation like reading or watching television as wasted time for the most part because we all do need to build relaxation in our daily lives so we can stay happy and enjoy life more.

Speaking of happiness, I found a graphic some months back and meant to share (I don't believe I ever did). The suggestions for being happy apply at any time but maybe this year they are more important than ever.

 Tell me dear reader, do you agree with these suggestions for happiness and do you have any additional suggestions?

 

Thank you for stopping by. Please stay safe until we meet again in this space or yours.

I will be linking up with 

Skywatch Friday

and

Saturday's Critters.

Fall is in the Air

This is the current book at the top of my reading pile. I'm enjoying it immensely and it makes me feel as if I too am in the mountains with the gorillas.

I wanted to share some Fall season photos but haven't been out to take any good ones.  We have had rainy, wet weather since late last week so that hasn't helped to do any photo taking.

 The following photos are from my archives and were taken a few years ago.  I hope you enjoy them.

The next photo was taken with the camera phone on Wednesday, September 24th.  It was just after a heavy duty wind and rain storm and the night was falling fast.

 The next few photos were also taken with my phone camera while I was doing some errands in between the rainfall.

Thank you for stopping by. I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday today and Saturday's Critters. I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend.

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.

Joining in with

Friday Foto Friends

Skywatch Friday

Saturday's Critters

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

The End of My Week

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Today's post is filled with photos. I am joining up with Skywatch Friday, Friday Foto Friends and Saturday's Critters. Thank you to hosts of all these memes. I know it takes commitment and reliability to keep these memes going.

My niece has been here having a short holiday and she will return home tomorrow. We managed to go and see a movie, Christopher Robin (a cute movie), do some light shopping, watch TV, colour, listen to a lot of music on YouTube, go for walks and ice cream and go for a car ride up to Squamish. On other days she went with her brother to spend time at the waterfront.

You can see Squamish on the map below (to the north of Vancouver).

We had dinner in the small town though there wasn't much selection.

We tried to get some photos but I didn't get any good ones of my niece and I. 

For some reason I am not very photogenic at all.
Top it off my niece is not very patient when it comes to posing for photos and she always has her head too high or too  low or never looking at the camera and so on.

The main thing then is to enjoy the ride and get some scenic photos.
(Click on photos for a larger and better view)

On the way to Squamish

This ferry is leaving Horseshoe Bay. Not sure where it's going but probably to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

We continue north on the Sea to Sky Highway.

I'm afraid I didn't get photos of the small town of Squamish.

 I wanted photos of the famous rock cliff where many do mountain hiking. 

It is a challenging trail on the rock called Stawamus Chief.

You can read more about it by clicking here.

The view of Stawamus Chief from the main street of Squamish.

After dinner we were in a rush to try and get some coastline photos while the sun was still up.
Access to the ocean was not possible in town so

we headed south back to Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

Not too far from Squamish you get to the Britannia Mine Museum & the Britannia Mine.

I've never been inside. In fact I've only ever been in this direction for 4 complete round trips over the many years I've lived in Vancouver.  Usually it was to Whistler Village.  Many of you may have heard about it because it is a very famous skiing village where celebs from all over the world visit for winter vacations.

The coastal scenery is spectacular.

I captured the following photos at a view point area near the Britannia Mine.

As we continue south we find a new to me park called Porteau Cove Provincial Marine Park.

It is a lovely little spot with beautiful scenery, a secluded swimming beach, clean toilets and plenty of picnic tables. 

It is definitely on my list of places to return for a lovely picnic on a hot summer day.

The sun was setting at the same time the moon was showing it's face.

Beautiful clouds

Sky gazing

I snapped this photo of  the ferry en route to Horseshoe Bay from Nanaimo. I almost missed it.

Another drive by shot. This one over the Lion's Gate Bridge from North Vancouver into Vancouver. Spectacular colour.

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From my garden

 Friday Foto Friends

Skywatch Friday

Saturday's Critters