The Temperature Has Dropped

It's been a very busy week and it isn't over yet. At least it's been a productive week so far. I've been doing a lot of catch up to paperwork, appointments, old tasks and a little cooking, cleaning, knitting and reading in between. 

I completed a few books this past week or so and started on a number of new ones. All of the books are very interesting.I'm still reading An Arctic Man.  It isn't such a long book but it is chock full of information and new place names so I only read a bit at a time.

The late Andre Leon Talley is someone I used to see interviewed on television quite a lot so when I heard he had passed, I wanted to read some of the books he wrote in the latter years of his life. The Chiffon Trenches is quite an information packed book and shows me how widely this man was travelled and how many people he knew in not just the fashion world but the world of high society. He tells it like it is about certain people and some have called him catty for doing so. Honestly I don't know how you can write a truthful book and not come across as somewhat catty if the people you are mentioning were not so nice.  Apart from all of that I enjoyed the book a  lot and I personally didn't find anything in it that was so badly maligning anyone. In fact, I think he tried very hard to speak to the positive things about everyone he knew. 

(As always you can click on photos for an enlarged view).

Very interesting & informative and all about those in the fashion/society world.

 

I've started the middle book and the end book, Burke's Law, all very good.

I am constantly uncovering new to me stories about Jewish experiences during WW 2. The book The Dressmakers of Auschwitz was very eye opening. I had no idea that there were Jewish women whose skills as seamstresses were in much demand during the war and at internment camps no less.  This particular book is not a novel but is based on real life experiences of several women whose skills were in demand and their heart breaking stories.

Opened my eyes to a new to me story about the Jewish women who sewed for the Nazis.

A few dishes made recently.

Beef stir fry and a lot of vegetables over steamed noodles

Roast chicken,Caesar salad, mixed mushrooms/onions/asparagus

Taco Soup

Baked salmon, quinoa, mixed veggies (mushroom,/bell pepper/broccoli/onion)

 

Late at night while it's cold I make a hot cup of tea and do a little knitting. I am always in need of new dishcloths and I also gift them to friends near and far.

 

Earlier this week I heard the weather report of possible snow in Vancouver. It didn't happen as anticipated but the temperature did drop two nights ago. The first few photos show the fresh snow on the mountains and a fairly clear sky with beautiful patches of blue.

Fresh snow on the mountains on Tuesday night

It was a clear day to see the mountains in the distance.

I love the snow covered mountain tops.

Then tonight, the snow really started to fly. I snapped this photo as I was returning from a quick grocery shopping expedition. I tried to capture the snow in video but my short films are poorly done.

Wednesday night the snow was flying as I ran an errand to the grocers.

I'll end here and wish you a fantastic rest of your week.

Welcome to February

Hi friends,

Time is flying by. I'm glad to see the backside of January and say 'welcome' February. January ushered in the New Year quite rudely in my life with sickness (a lingering cold and a weird skin infection for which I've gone to the doctor and a specialist), my nephew's near death accident, a compromised credit card (usual process of investigation is ongoing and I have received my new card), very stormy weather in Canada and in my province with road closures due to heavy snowstorms (highways were closed more than once), record rainfall with accompanying landslides and other destruction (one parking lot crumbled behind a restaurant not too far from me and now the powers that be have decided to shut the restaurant down due to the uncertainty of land stability), the onset of the worldwide global health crisis (my province has tested 114 people and confirmed one case of the coronavirus; Canada has 4 cases overall with 3 in Ontario).  I thank God that through it all he has preserved me and my family and I look forward with gratitude to what lies ahead.

I want to thank all of you who have prayed for my nephew's recovery. It is remarkable how God not only preserved him from death but is helping him recover. What was first thought to be a broken shoulder was found to be dislocated and reconnected. He has been released from hospital and is recovering at home.  I ask for continued prayers that he doesn't suffer any long standing damage to bones and tissue from the heavy blow his body and that God would provide for all the needs of his family.  I give thanks to God and those who prayed for him. I do not know how long it will be before he can return to work but he is well on his way to recovery and all of his family is grateful.

In late January my friend Eunice in Kenya also suffered a setback. I somehow feel this may have been deliberate negligence of the hospital which is responsible feeding her the special diet we provide and also giving her medication and water. She became severely dehydrated and we then had to provide several bags of  IV fluid. Private hospitals and hospital in general are notorious for bilking the patients and finding all kinds of reasons for charging more money for this and for that, much of it unnecessary. Now today I learned that over the weekend she has been suffering from cold and I'm not certain whether she has not had enough blankets or whether she has malaria. Jonah has had to camp at the hospital to ensure that she is getting proper care.

This poor woman has been through a lot but through it all God has preserved her. Her blood condition is in fact improving and it is unfortunate that this latest setback had to occur and cause fear and financial loss. Please continue to pray for her. At this point the hospital bill has grown enormously as we can only afford to pay for urgent interventions (IV, special diet, blood, hormone medication) and a privately hired nurse to ensure that we understand everything that we need to understand. Jonah is there to attend to much of Eunice's needs however as a man in his culture he is not permitted to do certain things and that is why we have hired a nurse who is also from Eunice's tribal group. (The Go Fund Me Campaign is still open if you can help with any of Eunice's costs. See side bar to the right of the blog).

I do not have a recent update on Ernest since his last surgery.  However he continues to be monitored at the hospital both for his leg and for the diabetes and to receive his medication each week at the hospital. Thank you to one of my blog readers for assisting us financially so that Ernest can get the food and other care he needs. It has been a huge blessing and a help.  Ernest has monthly food needs and medication which costs about $ 150 US funds monthly ($200 Canadian) at minimum. Once he is nutritionally stronger and he can stand on both legs, we hope he could work again as a barber.  If you feel you can help him on a regular basis, kindly let me know.

Jonah himself was sick and in hospital for about 5-6 days. He contracted some kind of bug from suspected contamination of water. He got very sick and tried OTC medicine before checking into hospital. Then he checked out of hospital to try and save funds. I insisted he return to hospital until the laboratory tests were available which he did and spent a further 2 days in hospital before feeling strong enough to discharge.

Finally, I have reported before about Alvin who is hoping to come to Canada to do a Master's program.  It has been a long and very involved and expensive process to assist Alvin, a young man in Kenya, to submit his applications to a university in BC. He has now submitted to 2 programs one located in Vancouver and another located in the Okanagan.  We are praying he will be accepted and one of the programs.  He is also looking for sources of funding both in Kenya and in Canada to help him pay for his studies and living costs. If anyone would like to help this international student kindly let me know.

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I didn't get a chance to review 2019 and post my reflections. Too much time has passed for that so I only wish to state I was looking forward to 2020 and an opportunity to work on new goals. I am making slow but steady progress on them.

I also wanted to share this little graphic about my reading goal for 2019. Some of you might remember my reading goals for 2019 was a modest 25 books. I deliberately set it low so that I could focus on real enjoyment of reading and if I read more that was a bonus.In 2020 amongst other goals I hope to read 45 books and am off to a good start.

I spent a lot of time in January cooking and trying new dishes. I also made a lot of bread as a way to reduce spending on groceries. I like to make yeast bread but as any of you who make bread knows, the process can take a long time out of one's day. I found this new to me recipe that allows you to make artisanal bread in just about one hour. I then experimented with it to make regular loaves of read for toast and sandwiches.  I'm quite pleased with how the bread has turned out in my experiments. These bread baking experiments are allowing me to use a large bag of flour, a lot of expired yeast (which is still proofing properly), save money on bread buying and enjoy some home baking.

These are the artisanal style loaves.

I shaped the dough into regular loaves but had to add more flour. I let it rise one extra time.

This recipe is No Knead, No Time Bread and only takes an hour or an hour and some minutes from start to finish. 

The bread turned out quite well after figuring out how to work with the sticky dough.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it.

In closing I leave you with a view of the mountains today. The sky had a pretty pink glow.
Click photos to enlarge.