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).

Thank you for visiting.

I hope to see you again soon.

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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

Sharing with 

Skywatch Friday 

and 

Friday Foto Friends

Tuesday News

Hi friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I've been a bit under the weather so I have slowed down since the weekend.

I managed to get together with a friend I seldom see. She invited me last minute for coffee and snacks and we were able to work it out. I always enjoy visiting with her. Other than that I've been catching up with various people in Kenya regarding matters that crop up during the missions outreach I do there. That always takes a fair bit of my time and is difficult because of the time and distance differences. I may have a more full some update later on the missions. I know some of you have been waiting.

Since I posted my lovely sunny photos last Friday, the weather has returned to rain. Not endless rain so it is okay but gloomy looking overhead. I am not complaining because my neighbours in the province of Alberta have had lots of snow. I prefer the rain to snow.

 No complaining when I see views like these.

 

Other than enjoying the beautiful scenes at the beach I've been on a personal mission to save a few pennies here and there.  My next post will be about saving money.

I send a lot of funds overseas to help people in desperate situations because I know we are blessed here in North America where even the poorest people have access to food banks, food kitchens, shelters and so on.  I send to people mostly in Kenya not through any organization but directly to people I've met along the way.  I also sponsor some children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. I also like to try and send a bit extra at this time of year for the families of the sponsored boys so they can have something extra for Christmas.

In Kenya they like to have a meal of chicken (sometimes goat if the budget allows) and also a new change of clothing at Christmas.  This is in the villages where historically the people would not have so much access to new clothing due to the cost or to things we take for granted here at Christmas or any other time. There the focus is on eking out a day to day existence and trying to ensure the children get an education. Just these two things are beyond the ability of many families. If you are a subsistence farmer there is very little to meet all the needs and some are not so fortunate as to have a farm of their own.

If you would like to sponsor some very needy children I recommend signing up with Compassion International. I sponsor through the Canadian office and have found the staff to be excellent and responsive to all my questions including following up on an issue here and there about local conditions in Kenya.  I get letters from my sponsored children several times a year and I know they are all growing and developing well. Compassion tries to deal with the whole child and not just give them food or a bible. You can learn more about their approach here.

I also sponsor through a new to me  group called Food for the Hungry. I learned about them last year when the wonderful gospel singer, Don Moen was here and he encouraged his audience to sponsor a child that night. The response was very overwhelming and I know this organization also does great work. Both Compassion and Food for the Hungry take great care with the funds they receive and manage to keep the administration costs down to a very reasonable level. This means your donated dollars are actually getting to the child and to the communities.

This week and last week I took a bit of time to write my sponsored children some letters and also some cards for Christmas as well as figure out what to send to their families. In case you are interested, Food for the Hungry doesn't allow gifts to the children other than what you can send via the mail. Compassion allows a gift annually to the child for general needs and birthday and a gift annually to the family.The photos below show my boys from Kenya and Ethiopia. I don't have a digital photo of my boy in Uganda and my scanner doesn't seem to work anymore.

Ian

John

Wondimu

Thanks for stopping by!

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.

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.

I'm linking up with

Friday Foto Friends

Skywatch Friday

and

Saturday's Critters.

Thank you for stopping by!

Friday

Hi friends,

I've had a busy few days. Not a lot of exciting things as such but I'm very happy.  It's because after a long period of time I'm finally making progress on a number of outstanding "to dos".  I'm also making progress on a few new things.

First up are my new projects.  Some of you will know that I started off the new year making crocheted afghans.  I had a long standing cold (which is still not fully gone!) so I had a lot of indoor time. I made two afghans in a new to me pattern in the month of January. The first one is a combination of colours (ivory, gray, gold) that is much more subdued than I usually gravitate towards. I enjoyed making the afghan and wanted to make another one so I could hopefully remember the pattern better.  for the second one I decided on a very bright combination of colours (burgundy, teal blue, mustard yellow, gray and orange).  These yarns are made by Caron in a variety of variegated colourways and I'm not too familiar with them. I was trying to figure out which one I might like!

 Can you see the 4 colours? The one on top is the first afghan I made. The green at the bottom is the last.

Once I made a second afghan I decided to gift one to a cousin who celebrates a her 60 th birthday this month. She plans to visit at the end of the month so I will gift it to her then.  In the meantime I've described the afghan colours to her and given her a choice between the two. She chose the brightly coloured one though she hasn't actually seen it yet. She wants to be surprised.  Then she said she might want to buy one or she might know someone who wants to  buy one so I made two more.

A cushion project is one that's been around for awhile. I've had several large cushions which do not have cushion covers. They are only covered in muslin and the kapok stuffing cannot be washed.

I could never decide on the style or colour of cushions covers I wanted and dithered about it for some time.  Since the stuffing needs refreshing I opened them up again and washed the outer part. It is a messy job because the stuffing gets all over the place.

Kapok is a natural material which comes from the Kapok tree. Kapok is also called Java cotton.  The Kapok tree is native to west Africa and was transported to Asia where it is cultivated for its fibre or floss.  The tree can grow up to 4 metres (13 feet) per year and reaches about 50 metres maximum. The kapok fibre comes from the trees pods which open and are then dispersed by the wind before harvesting. 

The stuffing is used in pillows, mattresses, upholstery and insulation but with the availability of foam, plastics and synthetic fibres, kapok's use has declined. Personally I have used kapok for a  few decades and I prefer it to foam and other unnatural fillers.

The kapok tree

Kapok from 3 large cushions.

I went to Ikea and purchased 5 different but complementary cushion covers. It's feels so good to get that niggling job out of the way. I very seldom get to Ikea. I don't really like going there because of it's enormous size and maze of rooms you must make your way through to find what you want. But if one has time and energy it is fun looking at all the things one can possibly need for one's home. It is also very inexpensive to shop there unlike some other places and I find the quality is good or comparable to other places.

Another item I needed from Ikea is a large majestic palm. I have gone without large plants in my living room for quite some time simply because it is very drafty and cold along the window wall.  Now I've decided to try again.

Majestic palms are not that easy to grow at the best of times since most of us tend to over water them or improperly water them .  They need to be almost dried out before they are watered well and drained so that the bottom of the planter is not sitting in a pool of water.  I'm hoping I can keep this one alive for awhile.  I  plan on putting up some drapes over my window blinds too. Normally I do not like drapery but I have grown tired of looking at beige blinds.  I also want to see if some simple drapes will help minimize the draft.

I haven't been out to take any nice photos so I'm sharing some I took at the waterfront at English Bay Beach in October 2017. 

Linking with Friday Foto Friends 

and 

Skywatch Friday

Have a lovely weekend.

My Favourite Place In the City

My favourite place in the city is the waterfront along Beach Avenue downtown.
I take the shuttle bus number 23 at my transfer point and get off at the Aquatic Centre.
There I progress northwest along the green way and along Sunset Beach.  I people gaze and take photos as I go along.  I am in no hurry.

I usually go as far as the Inukshuk (shown in the last photo below) and then return by bus on Davie at Denman or get back on the 23 proceeding east on Beach Avenue to downtown.

In bygone days this was a favourite shared walk with my late mom.She loved this walk and we would stop afterward along Denman Street near Davie to have cake and coffee or get some Greek calamari before returning home.
We always had a wonderful time and a few laughs too. 

These days I usually like to go alone on this walk.
That way I am free to focus on the beauty of what I am seeing and just truly relax and recharge or take photos.  Sometimes though I go down with a friend or a relative.

My last accompanied visit down to the beach was with a cousin when we went for a very long walk on Canada Day (a year ago last July 1st).
We ended with fireworks at Canada Place, an ice cream and long walk back to our bus afterwards.

I don't have a lot to say about these photos other than I never, ever get tired of the scenery.

These photos were taken after the sun was going down as I got there a little late.

I also love to see the dogs frolicking in the water. They have so much fun fetching sticks, over and over and over again.

Or playing ball with their masters.

I loved seeing the many sailboats sitting calmly on the ocean.
It also gave me pleasure to see the birds perched on the rocks  & silhouetted against the ocean.

There is the Inukshuk (the tall rock formation) standing in the distance.
There were many people on the seawall the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend.  Rain was predicted for the following day but it didn't arrive until Thursday.
People were out in full force to soak up the sun and the atmosphere before returning to work or school the next day.

In case you are coming to Vancouver for a visit, the map below shows the bus routes for downtown and the major train stations (red dots though some of the red dots are ferry boat pick up and drop off locations).

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm joining up with Skywatch Friday, 

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters.

This n That

From my archives

Hi friends,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the transition to new season where ever you are in the world. I know my friends in South Africa are enjoying the warmer temperatures and green grasses after experiencing a time of drought.

In my corner of the world we've been having an amazingly wet week. I don't carry an umbrella any more because I usually have a shopping cart when I go out and do my errands. If I don't have a shopping cart with me, my hands are otherwise occupied with walking poles to help mobility. It means I don't have an extra hand for an umbrella. I compensate by wearing a rain hat.  Sometimes I just go out and get wet and take breaks when the rain is coming down too hard. Or, I wear a jacket with a hood. The temperature outside dictates what I wear.

Things have been rather hectic in my world at the moment.  I continue to read when I can. I do enjoy it so much but find I really don't sit and read for hours and hours or it happens very rarely so I must grab the moments where I can.   Right now I've got so many books on the go, including:

Novels:

•  The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan - In progress and enjoying.

•  Americanah by Chimanandah Ngozi Adichie - In progress and enjoying

• Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi - This book started the way I like my books to start. Very dramatically.  I'm enjoying it so far. 

Non-Fiction:

• Apartment Gardening by Amy Pennington. Enjoyed this easy to read gardening book. It is inspirational for those who have never gardened. It doesn't quite meet my needs for my urban patio but I enjoyed it anyway.

• Living with Less: How to downsize to 100 personal possessions by Mary Lambert. I enjoyed this easy to read book as well. The reality is I will never whittle down my personal possessions to the small number of 100 because it includes clothes, accessories, shoes and all personal items. But it is still motivating to read about and consider what your things mean to you and how to approach downsizing each room or area of "stuff". I've been on a quest to down size now for awhile now.  I've found that downsizing is a journey unto itself  and can take forever if you are not moving toward a  firm deadline of moving.  But I press on as some of what I'm organizing is stuff I really want to get rid of (books, papers, documents, photos, etc.). The other stuff like clothing, personal products, etc. are all much easier for me to pare down. The real problem is not buying more stuff. I know I am not the only one who has that problem. Some of us really get tempted by a deal but I'm trying to learn not to buy something just to have it but to really need it. That is the only way to downsize. Also, one must be ruthless about getting rid of 1-2 things for every new thing you bring inside. That rule doesn't quite suit me because I'm usually too buy to do that on the spot. I end up doing this way after the fact. Perhaps some of you can relate.

• How to Get Dressed by Alison Freer. Started and enjoying. 

• Inside the Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg I haven't started this book yet. The description on the cover says "How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson and Jesus are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World" (Why so many capital letters???) I am not familiar with this author but have heard good things about his books so thought I would try one out. There is a documentary based on this book if you are interested.  Click here to view the trailer.

• Indigo, Dye It, Make It by Nicola Gouldsmith. I skimmed through this book but intend to have a good read of it. I have a love affair with indigo and I know where to buy the supplies in my city to make some. I have no firm plans to make any soon though.  I just have too many other projects that I need to tackle first whenever I have a few spare moments.


• Countless books (okay 6 but it seems like countless) on basic math and algebra. I've scoured the library catalogue for appropriate books and exercises to tutor an adult who has never been through formalized education. He has to begin apprenticeship training in the Fall and wants a head start in Mathematics to ensure his success.

In addition to scouring library catalogs, making trips to the library and reading, I've been busy with doctor appointments and pharmacy visits. I'm looking for a new glucometer as I've been having problems with the one I currently own. It is too sensitive I guess and keeps giving me error messages that relate to the test strips. I'm sure the real problem is me but I don't feel like fiddling with it and will find something that suits my needs a bit better.

I have an appointment on Saturday with the pharmacist to go over several options.  I'm eyeing one that will not only track blood sugar but download results to my computer (rather than a phone app) and chart my progress. I like visual tools.  I also see there is one that keeps track of patterns (highs and lows of blood sugars throughout the day) and that one is appealing also and I think it would really help me a lot.  I've been keeping exceptionally busy on the diabetes management front and have been having some concerns but nothing I want to write about here. Suffice to say I have a lot of work to do and changes to the medication regime. Just when I think I'm on the right track and might possibly get off medications altogether, I seem to regress. It's always a challenge but one must keep on trucking and stay positive.

This is one option

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I've been looking at books to help someone with Math skills. This has been a rather time consuming exercise and taken far more time than I really wanted to devote to it.  But once I get started, I carry on and get the job done.  My friend isn't in school at the moment and hasn't had much formal education.  But he is smart and motivated and has learned a lot through practical experience in numbers.  He relies on a calculating things in his head a lot which is a great skill.  We don't have a curriculum to follow and I don't know exactly what his knowledge base is but I have some broad idea what his future course will require of him.  It has taken me awhile to try and figure out how to proceed since I don't have a firm starting point.  There are many options on where to start and some of what I need to teach I will have to relearn so it will be a good project for me too.

I've scoured the internet for free materials too and purchased a lot of aids (dry erase board, cards, etc.). We had our first session last night and it went well. Part way through he said he was having fun and admitted that he hadn't really been looking forward to it because not only was he tired but he had to rush from work to shower and eat and he was racing to beat the clock.  I could relate to that because I'd spent countless hours in preparations myself not to mention time looking for appropriate materials and time shopping near and far for helpful aids at a cost effective price.  So it was nice to hear my friend say he was having fun and had gotten over his fatigue.  I seem to have hit on the right things to cover because afterward I had a good sense of what he can already do and where he needs help. It is a good starting point.  We hope to meet twice a week though this may change along the way.

My week is already busy as I've got errands today (Tuesday), tutoring (Wednesday), Ballet (Thursday), a Farewell Dinner (Friday) and a medical appointment (Saturday).

In between I have fabric shopping (more slips for mom), household shopping, library visits and all the usual things one does to try and keep a household clean.  My local supermarket will be closing for good in one and a half weeks.  When it reopens after a month it will be an entirely new store (new name, new design, new owners, new company, new products).  I can buy fruit and vegetables at one or two other local shops but I purchase most meat from the supermarket. In a real pinch I can also get meat at the meat market about 15 blocks from my home or go to another supermarket located a bit farther.

This week I took the plunge and purchased a new kitchen cookware set of stainless steel.  For years I've had nothing but a hodge podge of kitchen cookware. In fact I still have things I purchased when I was a university student though I purged a lot of it over the years and added other pieces along the way.  I purchased 2 frying pans (by Chef Curtis Stone) about 6-8 months ago for a hefty (to me) sum.  The plan was they were to last me a lifetime. Prior to that I was contemplating getting a traditional stainless steel set of cookware or an enamel set.  These new fry pans are dream to cook in but they are not going to last anywhere near a lifetime.

I've noticed that the coating in the pans darkens if the heat if any higher than a low medium. Also the coating on one frying pan looks like it has been shredded with a knife.  It's a huge disappointment because when I purchased the pans I was excited because one didn't need to use oil in the pans and they were not Teflon coated. I listened to the sales pitch which said you don't have to worry about what kind of utensils you use because the coating will not wear (unlike Teflon). That did not prove to be true and already one pan is quite marked up on the bottom surface. I looked up the problem on line and discovered that many other customers are experiencing the same issues or worse and that they have been unable to get the company to honour the warranty.

I'm sure the new set will work out better just because it is traditional stainless steel 18/20 cookware and there is a long history with how it responds to longer term use.  It was also a great price reduced from $600 (before taxes) to $200 (before taxes). It seems to be a good quality set from Chef Wolfgang Puck.  However, I would never purchase another expensive appliance (or anything needing replacement parts) from Chef Wolfgang Puck. The reason is that  I've discovered there is no customer service when problems arise and the customer is just ignored even after repeated attempts at trying to get assistance.  But as far as traditional stainless steel cookware sets go,  I can't imagine there will be any major problems.Not one piece of the set has any kind of coating inside and I like that.  It is all stainless steel and the covers are either partially glass or all glass  so you can see inside the pans when they are covered. I'd even be happy with a smaller cookware set (this one is 13 pieces) but they usually come with far more pieces.  I've been looking at stainless steel cookware for a long time so I know the prices and configurations.  I'm pretty happy with my selection and am just waiting for it to arrive in the post.

Finally, I also purchased this cute little rice cooker. It is a small, portable ricer cooker.  Again it is from Chef Wolfgang Puck and though it is an appliance it isn't a very expensive one.  Rice cookers usually last for some time too.  I already have a small rice cooker at home.  It was used when I bought it is on it's last legs so time for a replacement. I thought this new little cooker can go with me when I travel to see mom.

You might wonder why I would take a rice cooker with me? On my last visit to see mom there was a small fridge and microwave in the standard hotel room.  If I had this little cooker with me I could have made an egg dish for breakfast and soup for dinner without getting overly complicated or needing a whole lot of groceries and tools with me.  I get so tired of eating out and eating fast food when I travel. It isn't good for my health.  This little unit is a perfect size for small portions of food.  If I made soup, mom could have some too. She misses that kind of cooking and so we would both get a benefit. At the same time it is the right size to make a small side dish at home of quinoa, brown rice or other. One can even make meat balls, pasta, rice pudding or cake and so on in the little cooker.

Well that is it for now folks. I have to get out and do an errand since I will be busy tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your week and thank you for stopping by. I leave you with a few waterfront scenes taken in early February 2016.

 

It was a perfect day on the waterfront. Sunny and quite warm. It's been colder since then but the weather will soon change.

Checking in with Our World Tuesday this week.