A Month of Skies

I thought it would be fun to do a series of sky photos taken over approximately one month in February and March 2019.

Vancouver, BC, March 12, 2019

Edmonton, Alberta, March 19, 2019

Edmonton, Alberta, March 18, 2019

Jasper area, BC - AB border, March 15, 2019

Nairobi, Kenya, February 17, 2019

Storks getting ready for night, Nairobi, Kenya, February 16, 2019

Joining with

 Skywatch Friday

 and

Friday Foto Friends 


Have a wonderful weekend!

Making Slow Progress

The week has flown by! My time has been spent dealing with the missions in Kenya and following up on Jonah's care and stay in hospital. If all goes well he should be released on Friday, Kenyan time.  Thank you to all who prayed for his recovery.

I made a bit of progress reading my latest book by Dr. Don Colbert.

Book #52

I was interrupted at the coffee shop when I went there to read the book of short stories, Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie. A fellow patron who happens to own a used book store nearby started chatting and wanted to know more about the author.  I told him what I know, which isn't a lot and we briefly discussed another of my recent reads, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Then he went on his way and I had to dash to other errands.

Book #53

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I've made only a bit of progress on making granny squares. I like how they look so far though after I'm finished making squares and joining them there will be a lot of loose ends to weave in. This part can be quite time consuming.

The rest of the week I've been busy with errands and shopping for a few Christmas presents.  I 'm almost set now. I just have to finalize something for a niece and nephew. I also had to buy some tissue paper which I like to use to wrap around gifts before I stuff them in Christmas bags or wrap them in paper.  Wrapping presents seems to take longer than actually looking for and getting or making the gifts, lol. Tuesday and Wednesday I wrote out most of my Christmas cards and posted the international ones. My Christmas card list is limited to 20 cards this year whereas in some years it has been more like 60.

I was invited to an all day Christmas event on Saturday but have decided to stay home and rest.  I'm also hoping to get organized for the week ahead, do some crochet and hopefully some reading.  Right now I really don't have the desire to make nice with a room full of strangers so it suits me to stay home. I love to meet people but I have to be in the right frame of mind and well rested, otherwise being in a room full of strangers (minus my friend) is a lot of effort if you don't want to stand around looking like an awkward bump on a log.

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 It's been raining here and sometimes cold. Last night I found it quite warm which was a pleasant surprise.
 At this time of year it is usually raining and warmer or not raining and cold. It is not usually clear and warm.
Given the overcast conditions here right now I'm sharing sky and critter photos from my archives.

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The first set of photos with pink flamingos were taken at Lake Nakuru Provincial Park in Kenya.

Here is a view of the sky from my balcony taken on a clear day about 5 days ago.
You can see a bird flying in the sky. I think it was a crow. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo.

These small, colourful bird photos were taken at the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver. The conservatory has a lot of exotic birds which are always a treat for me to see though perhaps more common depending where you live.

Gouldian Finch at Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory

 

Strawberry Finch at Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory

I'm looking forward to the weekend. 

I wish all of you a wonderful weekend.
Thank you for stopping by!

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Linking with

Skywatch Friday

Friday Foto Friends

Saturday's Critters

Last Friday in July

This past Saturday I attended the 4th Annual African Descent Festival. 

The big name entertainer for the first evening was Ezra Kwizera.  Currently he lives in Vancouver but grew up as a refugee in Uganda before returning to his home country Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. 

His music is raw and powerful.  

I enjoy his soulful sounds which are born out of tragedy.

I've attended this festival for 3 years now and each year I can see it get more organized and grow in attendance.

I wasn't there on day 2 but the crowed was about 4x what it was on Saturday as people came out in large numbers to see the Ugandan sensation, Eddie Kenzo. I am not familiar with his music but I know he is very popular.

At the festival there is a combination of vendors selling their goods, stalls with information to raise awareness and food. This year I was happy to see the Nigerians have joined in selling their foods and that they had a very popular booth.

The lady with the white t-shirt holding a girl's hand is the awesome Jabulile Dladla who leads the group Bouna Vedere.  Jabulile is a wonderful artist and I was fortunate to catch her act last year. Sadly I missed it this year.  Jabulile used to be a  member of the world renowned Soweto Gospel Choir of South Africa and came to beautiful BC  some years ago. She is an indie musician now.

  Usually I go to the festival alone and often chat with new people. This year some friends joined me and they had a lot of fun.  We ran into others at the festival that we know.

Other news

I finished the booked entitled The Tuscan Child since my last post. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. In case you are interested you can learn more about the book by clicking here.  Currently I am reading Too Close to the Sun:  The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton.  The book is about the life and times of Denys Finch Hatton, someone whom I first came to know of as the lover of Karen Blixen when they both lived in Kenya. If you have seen the movie, Out of Africa you will know who I am talking about.  While I am keenly interested in learning more about Finch Hatton I am not quite enjoying the author's style of writing. As a result I have to work a little (a lot) harder at getting into it. It might just be that I'm very busy right now.

I started the latest book in the midst of going to the festival, attending a bridal shower (I didn't take photos to share) and dealing with my dryer repair (the steam function seems to be working now) as well at going to see the movie RBG.  The movie documents the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Bench since August 1993. It was a very nice documentary about this exceptional woman who helped chart the legal strategy for the achievement of women's equality in North America.

I finally managed to capture some different birds on the patio but it wasn't easy. The birds fly off very quickly as soon as there is movement or they hear a sound. I enticed them with fresh water in the bird bath.  I then  had to  position the bird bath closer to my open patio door then sit quietly and wait for them to appear while taking care not to make any sudden movements while they appeared.  My strategy was only partially successfully as they were gone in seconds and it takes longer for my camera to be ready since the zoom function appears to be sticking.  I was still delighted to get some photos. Now I need some help with bird identification. If anyone knows what kind of birds these are kindly let me know. By the way, this week is the first time I've ever seen these birds on my patio.

 

I end this post with a view of today's sky.

It is very hot here right now and has been for some time. It is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

To cope I'm drastically limiting my errands and appointments so I don't have to go out in the blazing sun.

Indoors I have my fans going and I'm drinking plenty of fluids.  At night after the sun goes down I might go out and buy a bowl of gelato or ice cream or I make sure I have some fruit popsicles in the freezer.

I've been hearing that there are heat waves in parts of Europe, in parts of the USA and in Japan where many people have died.  Meanwhile my friends in Nairobi have been cold with temperatures lower than usual I think for this time of year.

I hope you are keeping cool enough and hydrated if you are suffering from heat.
Of course, the life in Kenya is very hard so I pray for the people for many different needs.

 That's it for today.
I hope you will come back and visit me again some time.

Joining in this week with

Skywatch Friday

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters

Fresh Snow

Happy February everyone!

 I hope this new month finds you well.

I think I am finally over the bug I've had but am still trying to take it easy.

Last weekend we had another dusting of snow on the mountains.

 I thought it looked very pretty despite the heavy cloud cover.  

We've had a  lot of rain over this winter and it seems few sunny days but if we can have at least a break in the rain and one or two days of sunshine every few weeks I can handle it.

That is part of the price of living on the beautiful west coast and in these days of unpredictable weather you never know what you are going to get.

I love the mountains when they are outlined in snow. I also don't mind the high rise to the right I think it helps me that there are green trees planted at the top. Can you see the bird flying high in the air (you might need to click the photo to enlarge) ?

If you will notice my header doesn't feature the high rise. That's because the header was made 2 years ago and the high rise has gone up over the last year or so. The building development isn't quite finished but it is in the last stages and work is progressing rapidly.
When I first discovered a high rise was going to be on my horizon I wasn't very happy but I'm glad to see my view is still very good. I thank God and I hope it remains this way for awhile now.

I spent some time watching the flock of birds flying and swooping back and forth across the great expanse of sky.

They fly so fast that it is hard to get clear photos.

Very soon the weather will be much warmer and the sun will shine far more often.
In fact on Tuesday this week I felt the change in the air.

Avid gardeners will start preparing their gardens.  I tend not to do much until the month of May no matter my fantasy.  I just can't seem to get things all organized before then.

I'm keeping busy in other ways. I'm ahead in my reading and crochet goals for the year as a result of not being well enough to go out as often. 

Right now I'm taking a break from crochet work.  My eyes have been too dry and strained.
 If interested in what I've made so far you can check out my January posts

here  and here.

Currently I am reading these books but I've slowed down as to how much I read each day due to the eye issues once again.

I read "The Girl on Train". I thought this one was equally good.

Beautiful pictorials. I drool over each one.

About a woman I never heard about until this book. Very interesting.

A very impactful book. It touched my spirit so much.

A classic. It is estimated to take 34 hours to read.

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I went to the eye doctor for my last visit today. The eyes have healed well and completely.
Now I need to work on the dryness. I notice my eyes only respond to drops with lipid based eye drops.
I wore contacts for so many years and in some ways they protected my eyes but in other ways they helped to dry out my eyes.
Before I returned home, I went to buy some Systane Balance and will be using them 4x daily until my eyes are back to health.

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I had a head start on grocery shopping this month.

It helps me start the month off well and manage the budget.

I will be doing some meal (2 weeks at a time) planning this month.
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Has anyone out there seen the movie, The Shape of Water? What did you think of it?
Is anyone out there waiting to see The Black Panther?

I hope you are coping well with winter or summer wherever you live in the world.

Linking up with

Skywatch Friday

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters

Ducks and More Ducks

These duck photos are from my archives.  They were all photographed at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC.

I love watching birds but I seldom get to see any variety. 

I have to travel a distance before I have any photo opportunities to capture birds other than pigeons, crows, seagulls and sparrows.

I guess that is true of anyone who is a city dweller and would like to photograph birds. 

I think the detail on the feathers of these ducks is so beautiful.

Joining in with Eileen and others at 

Saturday's Critters

and

Weekend Reflections.

Thank you for stopping by.