A Day for Planting

The weather continues to be a bit unsettled here. After a couple of glorious days I really thought the heavy rains were a thing of the past but i was wrong.

Sunday was very gray and the rains came down quite heavily. I couldn't do any of the gardening I planned. 

What a difference a day makes. The sky cleared up considerably on Monday and I started planting my container garden.

I made some progress but I still have a lot to do.

This Solomon's Seal below is one of my favourite plants in the garden and one of the few perennials that I planted and kept for years. 

These hostas are a new addition to the garden. I planted 12 bulbs last year. Some in container boxes and some in the garden plot. Only 7 of the hostas sprouted this year.

Petunias are something I usually buy in a hanging basket but this year I bought a bunch of starter plants and put them in one of my colourful pots. It was a lot less expensive than purchasing a hanging basket which I never hang anyway as I've got no where to hang it.

This green leafy thing is sprouting. I can't tell if it is a plant or a weed. Does anyone know.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.

Happy May!

It's Raining, It's Pouring ~ Again

After my post here, we had one more nice, sunny day. 

Perfect weather.

Now we are back to rain. 

The weather is about 8 degrees cooler today than it was last Wednesday. The forecast ahead sounds pretty good. It is rain mixed with sunny days and temperatures a few degrees warmer than today.

I planned to work on the garden this weekend but it was just too wet.

I have managed to plant kale and brussels sprouts. My few perennials are also doing well.  There is a lot of work to do even with a small garden and so many containers.  Every year I dread the planting. It isn't easy to get the big bags of soil up into the patio and out into the garden and I have to jump up onto the retaining wall to plant.  I think I would enjoy gardening a lot more if I have a house with street access.

I'm not really complaining because I absolutely love having a real garden even though I live in a condo in the middle of the city.  It is nice to see things growing and to have a few birds drop by to visit.

In other news, I had a pleasant surprise in the mail when a long time friend sent me early birthday wishes. Her daughter, a mutual friend and I, were all born within a few weeks of each other and she likes to remember all of us.

My friend sent me two butterfly plates made locally. The card is cute too.

I don't make a big deal out of my birthday and I don't like others to either.  I'm not sure if this is because birthdays after the age of 16 were not celebrated in my family.  In fact, only certain birthdays were celebrated in a major way; ages 1, 7, 10, 12, 16 were the ones I remember. (Well I don't actually remember my first birthday party, lol. I just heard mom talking about it a lot as it was the first birthday of her firstborn and was special to her).

I am totally opposite to some of my friends who remind me weeks in advance of their upcoming birthday. But when someone does something quietly for me in remembrance of my birthday, it touches me a lot.

While I was out shopping for starter plants on Friday night, I was blessed by this awesome sunset.

I tend to miss out on beautiful sunsets here as they aren't visible from my patio and I'm often home at the sunset hour.

~~~~~

I noticed that many people are still having terrible weather and my wish for you are some perfect days ahead.

Though we are back to rain here I am not too down about it. It only takes a few beautiful days here and there and the promise of more ahead, to keep me happy.

Have a wonderful week ahead wherever you are.

Spring

Hello friends,

Spring has sprung. It feels more and more like Spring weather though we are still getting cooler temperatures and more rain than usual.

The weather turned out to be better than the forecast on the weather news last night.

I had a good run of Spring cleaning accomplished last week in the garden and front room. Today I'm tackling my closets and chest of drawers. I can't believe how many clothes I've got.  This is even though I try hard to be mindful of not purchasing "willy nilly".  I also cull my things on a regular basis.

All the clothing from my dresser drawers is piled on my bed. My tops have already been culled and put away in the drawers.  Another bag of clothing items has been put in a giveaway bag.  Now I have to try and make some sense of the remaining pile because this is really too much to keep and to wear.  I will need to try everything on first and see what I still like or what fits and what doesn't. Some of these items I've had for years and years. Perhaps it is time to let them go.

After I get through with the clothes, I plan to cull my fabrics and yarns and give a lot of them away too especially the stuff I purchased second hand.  I bought most of it when I was just starting out as a knitter.  Now that I've been a knitter for a few years, I can see what is doable and how much yarn I need to do certain things. I've decided I can no longer keep all the yarn just in case I might use it one day.  A lot of it what I have in each colour isn't enough to make projects I'd really like to knit or crochet.  Someone else can benefit from them to make school projects or other things.

I am just so tired of clutter. We probably all feel like that come Spring. Believe it or not I've been getting rid of bags and bags of things on a regular basis but still I manage to find more!  I also try to follow the rule of getting rid of 1 or 2 items for every new item brought in to the home but it doesn't always work out that way. After I've finished with clothing and craft items, I will be doing more book culling and also going through cds and dvds. I've already culled these a few times but I think I can get rid of more.  Books are hardest for me to get rid of besides papers (old records and statements I may need some day).

I'm carrying on with the dietary changes started earlier this week.  Truth be told I've tried changes before and I can do okay for awhile but then I slip and fall. I guess as long as I keep trying I may eventually have success!  I'm dutifully eating my oatmeal for breakfast and lentil soup for lunch today.  I'm also boiling up some kidney beans to make some chili. I'll probably make it Sunday for Monday's dinner.  Tomorrow I will be having leftover curry sauce (homemade) and boiled yams with salad greens. I've noticed my blood sugars seem much better later in the day than earlier in the day even though I take more medication earlier.  I will have to let my doctor know in 2 weeks time. Perhaps she will have some explanation for me and some suggestions on what to do.  I can also try to find some answers on line.  Perhaps it is my coffee because I do not drink it black. I drink it with cream and I think the only way to change this is to stop drinking coffee altogether.  This will be hard to do but easier when it is summer to at least drink less coffee.  Maybe I can look for some dandelion coffee and see how I like it. I do like herbal teas but it can't replace my morning coffee.

I stayed up late (again) trying to get to a certain point on the little baby sweater you see in the photo below. I've never made a sweater like this before and I'm having to figure out a lot of new things like M1, place holders, etc. It is learning experience and I'm grateful for youtube videos where I can look things up at the drop of a hat.

My eldest nephew and his wife are having their second child in early June so I want to surprise them with this unisex sweater. The parents have opted not to identify the sex of their child. They just want a healthy baby. This sweater isn't for a newborn since the baby will be born in June and it gets very hot where they all live.  I hope it will still fit him/her come Fall.

I hope you are enjoying your week!

Our World Tuesday 

A Profusion of Pink

Hi friends,

Rain was in the forecast today. 

Though it did indeed rain it was for a pleasantly short spurt.

I had to go to the doctor today for check up.

And so, I stopped and photographed more beautiful tree blossoms. 

There were other photographers out doing the same thing. 

You might make one out in the first mosaic. I didn't get a photo of the 2nd person, a young mom

pushing her baby stroller.

I'm in love with tree blossoms. *sigh

Happy Skywatch Friday!

A Few Weeks in Pictures

I haven't been up to my usual schedule for the past few months so I've just been trying to take things slowly.

 There is always time for reading. I like many different types of books.

Always too many books to try and read. I do love to read but can't keep up to what I'd like to read!

...and for a good cup of java or two.

I started practicing knitting on smaller needles. I was making good progress on this baby sweater for my great nephew/niece who will be born in June.  Then I noticed a dropped stitch and had to do some "frogging" (rip it, rip it). Some day I will learn to pick up dropped stitches rather than rip everything out but for now I find the frogging too finicky.  I'll need to learn this helpful skill before I ever start on a  much larger project!

The national taxes are due at the end of the month and I've prepared 4 sets of taxes as a favour to a friend and family members.  I do them on line each year so it is much faster.  But tax preparation is really not my favourite thing. At least none of us owed any more taxes. That is something.

I've still gots lots of paperwork to sort and sift through and action before the month of April is over. This time of year is always a busy time.

We've had to suffer through a lot of inclement weather. But now and then we get some sun and it (almost) makes us forget.

I'm finding the inclement weather a bit tiresome and I long for more sunny days. Over a two day period last week, the city got almost half of it's normal monthly rain fall for the month of April.

Easter weekend was very pleasant at my home with some work done in the patio garden to clear debris, purchase of a new (rectangular) patio table that has yet to be put together, vacuuming and rearranging in the dining area and a nice Easter dinner with family. I wish all weekends were as productive and relaxing.

Whether it is unpleasant or not, sometimes you just have to do errands. The time for running errands is also a time to get a bit of walking exercise in.  If I have time, I like to stop at a coffee shop and read a good book or read the (provided) newspapers.

We have so many great coffee shops here in the city and I try a different one each time.  The cafe in the photo below is popular with students and meet up groups.  I think because it has a big room at the back with plenty of plenty of large tables and chairs and is open all night long. At least it used to be open 24/7.  I'm not sure if it still is.

My favourite time of year is when the sakuru (cherry) blossoms come out. I totally missed it this year. There was just too much rain for me to go gallivanting around looking for cherry blossoms. They didn't even come out that well in some neighbourhoods like mine. I think it was just a little too cold and the rain would have made it less enjoyable for me. I love to gaze at the sakuru blossoms when the sun is shining, the sky is blue and all feels at peace in the world.

Now we are nearing the end of April and we have these pretty pink blossoms (in the photos below). I'm not sure if they are plum or apple blossoms but they sure are pretty and I snapped these photos today. The deep pink tones are lovely, aren't they?

You can see the big garbage bins for collection and the blue recycle bins for paper.

As you can see, the sky is nice and blue.  I'm not getting overly excited because we are back to 80% chance of rain on Thursday.  When I look at the forecast for the week ahead it looks like there will be mixed sunny and cloudy skies. I'm excited about that!

I hope your Spring is a good one wherever you are.

Not Quite Spring; Soups Make Me Sing!

It's trying hard to be Spring here but it isn't quite coming together yet. Every other day it is raining heavily, alternating with days that are very gray and then windy and sunny.  I see some of the trees are blossoming. That means the weather has warmed up quite a bit though at night it is still quite chilly.

The best thing for me when the weather is so unsettled is to have home baked bread and made from scratch soups.  This week I've had more home made soups than usual.

Sunday I made hamburger (minced meat) soup.  I usually make it like my mom used to make it but from time to time, I like to mix it up.  For the first time I made it with eggplant, butternut squash and chickpeas all added to the usual base of cooked hamburger pieces, celery, onion, carrots and seasonings. It was quite yummy.

Monday I skipped the soup making because I went to my cooking session where we made sushi with celery, avocado and mango. It was quite good but I confess I will need a lot more practise with the rolling aspect. We also had Teriyaki Drumsticks which were quite tasty.

Tuesday I made potato leek soup. I've made this before in case you'd like the recipe.  Yesterday I decided I wanted to eat it with all the vegetables intact, rather than all blended together. Perfect for an overcast day.

Today is Wednesday and we've had all kinds of interesting weather.  When I awoke there was blanket of cloud over the whole sky.  Then the wind came up and blew away the cloud cover. I was able to see that there is fresh snow (again) on the mountain tops.  Right now there is still some blue sky but it is quite windy.

Bubbling away on the stove top right now is some fresh tomato soup. It is my first time making it. It smells delicious and I plan to have it with some home made bread.

Here is a quick recipe for the soup.

Fresh out of the blender and piping hot!

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, choppped
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic to taste
- 6-8 large tomatos
- 6 cups of chicken stock (or use buillion cubes with appropriate amount of water).
- a bit of oil

Method:

Saute the onions, celery, carrot and garlic together in a bit of oil in a large saucepan.
Once these are a bit softened (10 minutes or so) add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatos start to break down. Add the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then simmer together another 10-15 minutes.

If you want to eat the soup without blending it smooth, take care to chop your vegetables up nicely and uniformly. I'm blending my soup today.

As always, when you blend the soup in a blender be very careful to place a tea towel over the blender top and hold it down so it doesn't splash out and burn you once you turn the blender on.

Before serving garnish with some fresh cilantro. Makes 2 gigantic servings or 4 med-large servings.

Eat and enjoy.

Frugal Notes:  Some people make tomato soup with a combination of canned tomatos and fresh tomatoes.  I do use canned tomatos but given they are quite expensive now I save them for things like chili or soups I make with hamburger.  In order to save money on making vegetable soups, I purchase the vegetables at a store where they only sell produce. The prices are usually much cheaper than the supermarket.  I often buy bags of vegetables that are starting to go bad. I get them at a produce store down the street. The nice thing about it is even if there is one vegetable that has gone bad, the rest are usually good. Also the store peels them and cuts out the bad parts before they put them in a bag for $1.00.  These are great for making soups but you have to use them up right away,

Hello Tuesday!

The church steeple has been under construction for a very long time; at least a year or more. They moved the steeple from one corner to the other, raised it by several feet and added light to the cross so that it shines in the night.

The cross has not been lit up all week and I was wondering why.
Perhaps it just needed some bulbs or something.

Whatever the case, it is illuminated once again.

I like looking at the cross light up against the night sky.  I also like seeing the lights on the ski slopes.

After what seems like a very long and cold winter, the sun has returned and warmer temperatures are here.
 Spring is definitely in the air this week.

~~~~~~~

I've been keeping busy assessing my mother's transition to the new care home and providing feedback to the facility.  This will be an annual process and our one big opportunity to make important changes if needed so I've been stressed about making sure I give the right messages without seeming like we are complaining.  Today was the day for giving informal feedback and the official meeting will be in another few weeks. The official record becomes a government record so I guess they don't want any surprises.  The feedback seemed well received and I am happy with the outcomes.

Mom is much happier where she is now.  Though of course there is never perfection, things are definitely a lot better than where she used to be.  The care is much better and more consistent. What a relief!

I've also been identifying some of mom's new needs. She is in a smaller space and believe it or not the needs she has are greater as we try to figure out ways to ensure she has access to key things. Other than that I've been busy making her appointments for personal grooming and adapting some of her clothing.

~~~~~~~

On the home front, I'm finally feeling just a wee bit better after weeks of feeling oh so tired. I've been doing a bit of cooking, a lot of laundry, a little reading and a lot of errands. I've also had another appointment with the foot care nurse over the ingrown nails. It will likely take another few months before we conclude whether the nails are going to grow properly or not. I sure hope they do.
 
Outside, it is time for the garden debris to be cleared away.  This is my least favourite job of all time but it must be done.

Inside, it is also time to do some Spring decluttering.

I read a few interesting books in case you are interested.

(A thrift store find).

In Kim Izzo's novel, Kate loses her job and her grandmother at the same time. On top of that she loses the family home due to her mother's gambling debts. It sets her on a course to find a rich husband using the methodology of her favourite author, Jane Austen. This book is light reading and while it isn't the best book in the world, it certainly isn't the worst. I found it a nice distraction from the deeper cares of the week. It isn't too heavy to carry around when you are out and about in case you have time to read when you are running errands.

The other book I read is by an African author who now lives and works as a professor at the University of Kent in the UK.

(Another thrift store find).

Paradise is a tale about 12 year old Yusuf, who is sold into slavery in repayment of his father's debt. It is difficult to know the location of the story as it is never made clear.  It might be Tanzania but it could also be Kenya as there are numerous references to Kenyan coastal cities. This poignant story follows the young Yusuf over a period of about 6 years through his various adventures and the twists and turns in his life. It is an interesting look into pre-colonial Africa.

I am now reading a few different books.

I borrowed this book from the library.

and

This one is for my personal library.

Radiance of Tomorrow is the second book by Ishmael Beah.  Ishmael is a young man who overcame the nightmare of being a child soldier in Sierra Leone. He now lives in the USA and is an author.  He also does work with the United Nations to raise the awareness of the plight of child soldiers. 

~~~~~~~

I know the snow is still falling in central Canada and other parts of North America.

I hope there will be relief for you soon.

Our World Tuesday