The "Ber" Months ~ Tuesday 4

There are just 3 weeks left until the "ber" months begin.  September, October, November and December.  Fall/Autumn begins in September and ends in December.  

Autumn begins in September and it is called that until leaves begin to fall and then it's called "fall". 

Sept means 7, Octo means 8, Novo is 9 and Deca is 10 but the numbers are off since the calendar was changed long ago from 10 months to 12.

Ber is an adjectival suffix from latin meaning month.  Let's discuss it.

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we ask just 4 questions each week to encourage blogging and enjoying the ideas and work of fellow bloggers.

1.   What foods make you think of the autumn months ahead?

Squash soups, pumpkin lattes, apple cider, pumpkin and apple pies, pumpkin and cranberry scones; all these foods and drinks make me think of the cosy autumn months.

2.   Are there any songs you associate with the fall month?

The beautiful Nat King Cole song,  Autumn Leaves.

3.   Are you looking forward to the ber months at all?  Why?

Yes, and No. "Yes" because I love the autumn leaves. I also love the cool, crisp air & taking walks to enjoy and admire the beauty of the season. I also like wearing heavier clothing in fall colours and not having to worry about becoming too hot. 

"No" because the older I get, the less I like winter.  It's too long and too cold for me and the ber months means winter is close behind. Over the winter, I also miss the growing season, the colours of spring and autumn.

It's difficult to take a selfie of one's outfit (I don't like mirror photos)

4.   School in New Jersey always begins after Labor Day and before that I would have dreams of going to school in my pajamas!  Did anything similar happen to you?  Did you dread going back to school or were you happy and excited?

I never had such dreams. Going back to school was always an exciting time. For some reason, kids like to go with their mother to buy school supplies and I was no exception.  It was also the time when we got new clothes for school wear.  In those days we didn't wear school clothes or 'good clothes' at home. We changed our outfits every day after getting home and wore our home clothes. Clothing lasted longer that way.

Thank you for stopping by my Tuesday 4 meme.  I hope to read your answers too!

November Musings ~ Tuesday 4

It's time again for Tuesday 4 held in memory of Toni Taddeo it's founder and previous host.   Thank you so much for joining in and helping to keep this alive. It is much appreciated.

It's Autumn and temperatures in many places will be going down, days will be shorter and leaves are tumbling down. 

1. What kind of weather and temperatures make you feel most comfortable, most healthy?

I feel most comfortable and healthy when the sun is shining and the air is slightly bracing. It's good walking weather and I can wear a lighter jacket without getting overly hot or cold.

2.  Do you like the colors associated with Autumn. Clothing wise do they look good on you?

Yes! I love autumn colours like golds, browns and oranges.  I don't usually wear these colours but this year I'm trying to expand the wardrobe colour pallet with more gold, brown and green.  Orange is not my colour. I've also got my eye open for items in a deep red but no success so far. 

3. Would you rather:… 

•   …get lost in a corn maze or go on a hayride? Hayride
• … visit an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch ? Pumpkin Patch
•  … eat a caramel apple or  a candy apple?  Caramel Apple
•  … have some cinnamon buns or Pumpkin muffins? Cinnamon Buns

4. There are 7,500 varieties  of apple.  What is your favorite and do you regularly eat apples?   What fruits do you keep on hand?

I'm not a huge fan of eating apples unless they are crispy. I used to love green apples but these days I find the skins too tough and hard on my gums. Instead I buy Honey Crisp, Pink Lady or Fuji for snacking on. 

We always have apples on hand but we also have bananas, oranges, avocados & lemons/limes on a regular basis.  Less frequently, we have pears.  In summer we have fresh peaches or nectarines and gooseberries.  Except for the apples, I find it very hard to keep most of the fruits in adequate stock however if I buy too many they will go bad.   I also buy a variety of fruits to keep in the fridge. Normally we have one or two of the following fresh berries & frozen berries (for the freezer to be used in smoothies):  strawberries, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries. Less frequently and usually in late summer, we have green or red grapes and melons such as watermelon or cantaloupe. 

Thank you for stopping by!

A Wild Sky ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Skywatch Friday post.   We've been getting an awful lot of rain so I really haven't gone out much to take photos.

I took the photos in this post earlier this week.  The sky to the north was heavy with dark and ominous looking clouds.  However the sky was bright and sunny on the other side with a smattering of light clouds.

Look how dark and foreboding the sky looked.

However on the other side the sky was so lovely.

A few moments later, I noticed the sky to the north started changing and attempting to clear.  I thought it looked very interesting.

I don't know if you can tell from the next photo but I was trying to capture the light as it hit the trees. located to the north of me. The light was coming from the clearer and brighter skies behind me.  It was altogether a lovely few moments of sky watching.  These are the kind of moments that make my day.

Thank you for taking time to visit and comment. Have a wonderful weekend.

Autumn Nights ~ Tuesday 4

Annie at Cottage by the sea is our host for Tuesday 4 and she writes 

"Autumn evenings were always special when I was a kid.  The day ended early and the family gathered in the living room where my mother and grandmother watched a little TV and my father sat on the sofa reading and smoking his pipe.  My parents enjoyed a cup of coffee and sometimes a snack."

Here are the questions she poses (and my answers) this week.

1. Does your life go along in the same way all year or do  things change with the seasons?

My life goes along in more or less the same way all year. The thing that changes is that I am indoors a lot more once the summer ends simply because it's cooler and often rainy. It keeps me from wanting to go out unless I have something specific I need or want to do.  

Where I live the weather is inclement for half a year so if we want to do something we have to plunge ahead and do it, not wait for better weather.

2. Do you have a favorite meal on the chilly night?

I don't really have a favourite meal on a chilly night but as the weather gets colder I do need to fuel my body with hot and more substantial food than at other times of the year. Having a salad during our winters just doesn't cut it though I wish it did.

3.  Do you have a snack while you watch TV or read?

Yes indeed. I usually have a hot drink of herbal tea or regular tea with milk (the Kenyan way) or if I don't feel too cold I might have a cold drink. If I have a hot drink I will always have something to go with it like a few cookies, a piece of cake or pastry. On a rarer occasion, I'll have crackers and cheese or yogurt with fruit.  I'll often make a fruit smoothie for my cold drink and add some healthy things like chia seeds and sometimes green protein powder.  This becomes my dessert and also boosts my nutritional intake.

4. Do you have a fireplace in your home?

I have a fireplace but very seldom use it. In fact it doesn't even work. The pilot light keeps going out and I only got it fixed once. I could light it myself but I'm afraid to do it.  My fireplace likes needs replacing because the pilot light keeps going out.  Fixing it is not top priority because of all the other building projects and special assessments. One thing about living in a condo is you don't plan the overall capital expenditures yourself though you do vote on them and you do have a legal obligation to make sure the capital projects are done and paid. You don't control the timeline or negotiate costs of expenditures unless you sit on the Strata Council or are the Strata Manager.  Not every building has a strata manager because they need to be paid just like any other service.

Thanks for stopping by for a blog visit.

Autumn Arrived ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to my blog. I'm sharing a few photos taken near the end of September showing some of the autumn foliage. The weather had been quite hot for some time but autumn arrived suddenly with lots of rain and colder weather.

I feel the chill in the air as I sit and write this post.  The cold air blows through the vents in the hallway and in the apartment.  It happens every year when the heat of the summer turns to the chill of autumn.  I always have to remind the caretaker to adjust the air flow.  I don't think it bothers too many people.  There are really only 2 or 3 units that are most affected because of where the vents are located and I'm often the one bringing the issue up at this time of year. 

Anyway, I took the following photos when I exited my class at the community centre from a different door from where I'd entered earlier in the day.  I was surprised to see how the leaves have turned from green to the golden colours of autumn.  You can see in the photos that a lot of leaves have already fallen because it got quite windy and rainy over the past few weekends. 

The white bags and the umbrella have been set up by a local group that was organizing a community clean up.  Many people had signed up to help out and they were waiting around for things to get underway.

This building with curved windows was built quite some time ago.  It was one of the tallest buildings in the general neighbourhood at the time.  However there are now multiple building projects awaiting development in the neighbourhood and they'll be 25 to 30 stories high.  

Part of the City's plan is to mandate developers to build residences in the immediate vicinity of the new sky train and subway stations in the neighbourhood.  One of the new stations is about a block west from where this condominium building is located.  The details are in a document called The Broadway Plan which I've read.  It gave me good insight into the plan for how high the buildings can be built and where they will likely be located.  There isn't any land left to continue building single family dwellings.  Such an expansion of high rises will definitely change the nature of the area.

By the time this post goes 'live', our weather may well have changed. It will be nice to see the sun again but at this time of year we begin seeing much more rain.

Take care and thanks for stopping by my Skywatch Friday post.

Autumnal Equinox ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4... are you ready for Autumn?

Monday,  September 22 is the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of the Autumn season.  

Autumn is the name of the season and fall is the term for the time of Autumn when leaves begin to fall from the trees.   Let's discuss it.....

1. Are there pumpkins or chrysanthemums on your porch or are you planning on putting some out?  

No. Most of us in Canada do not decorate for the seasons. We generally only decorate for the major holidays.

2. Are stores around you showing Autumn clothing and decor now?  Here in New Jersey, leaves on some trees are changing slowly and temperatures are way down. What is it like in your neck of the woods?

I haven't been in the stores for a long time other than grocery stores and pharmacies. A few days ago, I noticed that the pharmacy has their Hallowe'en items out on the shelves. It means that clothing stores and other retail shops likely have their autumn items out now. The leaves have only just started to turn colour but not much yet. 

3. Do you have plans for Thanksgiving yet?

I have thought about the Thanksgiving meal. We'll probably have chicken with stuffing and all the sides instead of a big turkey.           

4 . If we can arrange an autumn trip or get away for you, where will you choose to go and why?

I don't much feel like travelling with all the turmoil in the world. DH has been away in Kenya for some business related matters and to see family. I hope he'll get home before long. He didn't want to be away so long but dealing with the government business can sometimes take awhile.  

If I did take a journey I would only want to go up country a bit. It's fantastic weather and scenery at this time of year. We call the area the Thompson Okanagan, around Kamloops, Chase, Kelowna. I would also like to go even much farther north to Prince George and beyond into northern British Columbia around Dawson Creek and Alberta around Grande Prairie and Edmonton. Autumn is the best season to see the beauty of the area. 

Here is a map so you can have a look (Click on the map so you can read the names).

Also, if you click here you can see some posts and photos of the area I've made in previous postings. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

Things to Ponder ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome back to another of Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 memes hosted by Annie at Cottage by the Sea.

Across much of the USA autumn has arrived early.   

Annie writes that while she was enjoying her cuppa she was pondering a few things to do with her home and suggested we ponder a few questions.

Here are the questions she asked us to ponder:

1. If you could live in the world of any movie, which one would you choose and why?

When Harry Met Sally.  I chose the movie because of the wonderful fall scenery and because I love the vibe of New York City.

2. If you could have coffee or tea with a woman from history or from fiction come to life, who would that be and why?

Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I think she was such a courageous and strong woman to deal with being with child before being married and all the social stigma that must have arisen from that.  I'd love to talk with her about how she managed the stresses and responsibilities of becoming a mother in the way she did and also how she handled her married to Joseph.  I also think Joseph, the step-father of Jesus would be a wonderful person to speak with.  I've often thought what a wonderful man he must have been to support Mary in her condition and marvel at his obedience in following the message he received from the angels through his dreams. Surely he must have had many questions and most likely, even doubts about what he had to do. Another woman I'd like to speak with is Josephine Bonaparte. Her marriage to Napoleon only lasted for 6 years because she could not bear him a child. Even after their divorce they corresponded a lot and he continued to declare his love for her.

3. If you could create an autumn-themed festival, what unique events or foods would it feature?

I have no idea. I love festivals but I don't think I'd be good at planning them. Maybe some pumpkin carving, bobbing apples, face painting hay rides and warming drinks like hot chocolate and some good funnel cakes which we don't really get where I live. I think they now sell funnel cakes at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) an annual summer event. I went this summer (see my post here) but I didn't indulge in any sweet treats.

4. If autumn had a personality, how would you describe it, and what kind of friend would it be?

Warm, comforting, happy, peaceful yet invigorating.

Autumn is Near ~ Skywatch Friday

In a few days I'm sure I'll feel the distinct chill in air when nature lets me know that summer is over and autumn is here.  It happens each year, immediately after Labour Day.  Summer goes by very quickly and autumn even more so. I hardly caught my breath all summer as I was so busy catching up with decidedly 'unsummerlike' activities.  But I'm feeling good about it all and happy to see the backside of many small projects which never seemed to get done. Most of it was paperwork related and that kind of stuff is always good to get out of the way as soon as possible.

I'm enjoying the skies above me as always and I'm grateful for the surprises and gifts offered each day if we look up.

This summer I grew sunflowers in the patio garden. 

Normally I only plant them at the community garden but thought I'd do something differently. I noticed the leaves were turning black.  I think it was some kind of fungal disease. I just tried to pluck them off and add diatomaceous earth.

Sunflowers always make me happy with their big, yellow faces.

Thank you for visiting my Skywatch Friday post today. Enjoy your weekend.

Friday Beauty

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope this day finds you happy and well.  After a tremendous amount of rain recently, something called an Atmospheric River, I am happy to say we have enjoyed several fabulous days of clearer skies and sunshine.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Thank you for stopping by!