The Graduate

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

A few days ago I mentioned that I was invited to dinner to celebrate the high school graduation of a friend's son. I've known the mother and 2 sons since they arrived in Canada from Tanzania in 2012. I met the husband a few years earlier when he was teaching a Swahili course at the University of British Columbia.  He introduced me to his family once they arrived in Canada hoping his wife and I would become fast friends and we did.
 

It's hard to believe that their son has now graduated from high school. He's the one on the right (in the photo), the young man in the maroon suit. By the end of summer he will be relocating to Toronto, Ontario to study architecture.  He is a wonderful young man in every way.  He is kind, thoughtful, generous, compassionate, intelligent, hardworking, academically gifted, disciplined and musical.  He believes in God and he is practical in his approach to life's decisions.  He won a scholarship to help him with his studies too. His parents have raised him right and they can be proud of what he has achieved so far in his young life.

I was honoured to join the dinner in recognition of his graduation milestone. I also got to meet several new people and they are all awesome, loving and kind. We are hoping to get together as a group again for fun and fellowship.

Thank you for visiting my blog today I hope you will visit again soon.

A Friend in Need

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

How are you all doing?

It's been a hectic time in my life of late but things are getting done. Nothing too exciting just a lot of hard slogging with shopping expeditions for small items (shopping is not a favourite activity of mine), a lot of small household jobs requiring a lot of elbow grease (rust removal, grout cleaning, small diys, etc. and planting.  Spring is always a busy time as I dust off the cobwebs of winter, quite literally and figuratively, and prepare the household and gardens for the warmer days ahead.

 I went out to the university hospital to meet up with a friend of mine on Mother's Day.  Both he and I lost our mothers several years ago and he tends to get very depressed on Mother's Day without his mom to call. He has been in hospital for 5 long months which is another reason for him to be depressed.  Currently he is in rehabilitation at the university hospital to try to re-learn to walk.  He lost several toes and part of his heel on one foot about 5 months ago. A few years ago he lost several toes from his other foot and he'd been in a wheelchair ever since.  I'm not sure what happened but I think during one of his many surgeries they must have damaged a nerve because all of a sudden he couldn't walk anymore.

He insists he is not going home until he can get out of his wheelchair and walk again.  Otherwise he's thinking of seeking medical assistance in dying (MAID).  It wouldn't be his first time to think seriously about MAID and I know he was thinking of applying after the experience a few years ago of needing to get around in a wheelchair. I hate hearing him talk about it but I can certainly understand his feelings. 

He has been to hell and back for many years already with various medical and housing issues.  He's experienced a lot of discrimination and ill treatment by both housing and health officials.   Right now he is battling with the management at his current place of residence and he's fighting to remain in his apartment even though he is in hospital. It's basically the housing management views that he is unable to live independently and they want him to go into an assisted living facility.

Wednesday update:  The eviction  threats against my friend seem to have stopped. At least for now he can breathe and his building administration is s now being very nice  I guess they don't want a legal fight.

There is much more to the story but I also don't pretend to understand it all. My role is just to try and be supportive and a listening ear so I'll leave the story there.

So on Sunday I went out to meet him and treat him to Starbucks coffee and a lemon loaf.  We enjoyed a long natter. It was also good for both of us to have a visit with one another.  We both lost our mother's years ago to their various health challenges and it gives us time to reminisce and share our memories. Both of us met the other's mother once or twice though they both lived far from Vancouver.

Christmas and the End of Year

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope this post finds you well and in good health and that you didn't suffer at all or too much during the wind, snow storms and flooding that I've heard about on the news over the past week or so. Mother Nature really packed a punch!

Thankfully my household escaped relatively unscathed. We did get several snowstorms within a few days just before Christmas, and again just after Christmas.  The heating system was not able to keep the house warm for a few days so it was very cold but we survived.

The lead up to Christmas was nice. This year I was prepared early and had the tree and decorations up at the end of November. Christmas cards were mailed and gifts wrapped in early December. These days I don't have quite so many gifts to wrap because we lost a few loved ones over the years and have fewer small children to consider.  However not all my time was spent on preparations. I was able to get together with several friends and one family member to visit, catch up and make sure that Christmas did not rush past us without sharing our Christmas wishes.  I also went to the annual Van Dusen Festival of Lights for the first time ever.  It was simply spectacular. If you missed my blog post about it, you can find it here. 

Not all was sparkly and well.  DH and I had some very sad news a couple days before Christmas. Japheth, one of our dear pastor friends, died unexpectedly and suddenly in a motor vehicle accident. He was a very dear friend to my husband in particular.  Pastor Japheth had written such a lovely letter of reference for us as Jonah prepared to immigrate to Canada. Jonah said that Japheth was a very rare man with a pure heart, a wonderfully magnanimous nature and exemplary faith.  We are deeply saddened that we will not have a chance to visit him next time we visit Kenya but we are thankful we have the hope of reuniting with him again one day.  Japheth and his congregants had just completed a new church building and Japheth was working on constructing a family house before he passed.  The people of his church decided to complete building the family home in Japheth's honour and so that his grieving widow and children have a home to live in.  The congregants were honouring Japether because of the leadership, vision, selfless love and caring demonstrated so often over the years. They loved him a lot.

Although it's always a busy time of year we did not forget about the Kenyan missions.  We're grateful to have temporarily lightened the load of a few dear people:

Loice and 3 children, widow and wife of the late Pastor Japheth. They live in a suburb of Nakuru City.

Sarah, a young married woman with 3 school aged children. Sarah lives with her family in one of Nairobi's slums.

Emily, a young unmarried mother with a very smart little 3 year old girl. They live in one of Nairobi's suburbs.

Alvin, a young seminarian in his first year of religious studies in Nairobi. He visited his family in one of Nairobi's suburbs over the holiday.

Jane, a mature single woman who has been battling cancer and is in India receiving treatment. Jane lives in one of the suburbs called Westlands in Nairobi.

Eunice, Ernest, Livingston - Eunice is a mature Kenyan woman who has been in hospital for long and is currently in rehabilitation. She is slowly improving. Ernest and Livingston are two single men who both suffered broken legs in the last few years. These 3 individuals all live in villages near Kericho Town.

Jecinter a young, single woman I met in Nairobi while on my last visit to Kenya.  On Christmas Day she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and they now live in a village near Kisumu Town. I am hoping to send a small monetary gift to mark the occasion of the baby's birth.

As always we pray for and are grateful for any donors to these grassroots missions. We know it is very difficult these days for many people so as always, let the Lord lead and guide your decisions.  Donate buttons are found to the left of the blog. You can find them by clicking the 3 lines (bars) in the top left of the header photo.

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Christmas Day was a quiet affair which was spent with loved ones (DH and DB). We had nice and unexpected phone calls from a few loved ones.  Once again I prepared a Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing and gravy, potato casserole, broccoli slaw and all the trimmings for Christmas Dinner. It was tasty and there were a lot of leftovers even though I bought the smallest turkey I could find. Since Christmas we've been having warmed up turkey dinner, turkey sandwiches, flaked turkey sandwiches and turkey-corn chowder.  The remaining leftovers will be frozen because there is only so much turkey one can eat in any given week. 

Now that Christmas is over I've been catching up to washing dishes one uses in preparing a large meal. It also seems like there's more laundry to wash, dry and fold than usual though I don't know why. I indulged in watching a lot of television series and Christmas movies watching.  I also slept more than usual. I wasn't completely lazy though.  I knitted about 7 dishcloths with little scraps of cotton yarn that I wanted to use up.  I don't really care what they look like since they are only being used to wash my dishes, not to give as gifts.  I also touched bases with a few Kenyan friends by phone and last but not least, I've been doing a few small repair jobs here and there.

The year will soon be over and I'm trying to wrap up a few things here at home. I went into high gear today after having a few quiet days. Lab work was completed, appointments were made with the hair dresser and dentist and I had a manicure.  All of these things take considerable time and it will be nice to get these tasks out of the way before the month is over. 

Soon the New Year will be upon us. Dinner plans for New Year's Day include a ham roast, mashed potatoes, salad and all the trimmings. We usually ring in the New Year with a toast at midnight.

I thank God for helping my loved ones and I through 2022. It doesn't seem like I accomplished that much in 2022 but what I did do has lightened my mental and emotional load. 

I hope you are enjoying your holiday and are looking forward to the New Year 2023.

I want to thank each of you for following my blog and leaving me comments.

It means more than you know.  

God bless.

💗💗💗

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

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday was sung a few times yesterday. I celebrated a birthday on Monday and though I don't generally go for big parties I do enjoy more intimate gatherings with family and friends.

~~~~~~~~

A friend made a scrumptious and diverse dinner.  There were 3 kinds of rice (plain white, brown and chicken pilau), millet ugali, chicken stew, sauteed kale/onions, roasted plantain, roasted chicken legs with a lemon sauce and chapati. Not to be outdone her son made 2 flavours of muffins in two different sizes.  We had a feast and I was stuffed.

I thought it was rather creative how this young boy made cupcakes and bought candles to spell out Happy Birthday. 

It was very sweet.

Here is the young chef lighting up the cupcakes before they sang and I blew out candles.

Not to be outdone my "baby" brother bought me a beautiful fruit cocktail cake with whipped cream frosting topped with fresh fruits. This is my favourite cake and it has now become a staple for family birthday celebrations. I will have a few more birthday luncheons as friends have invited me out later and as time allows in my schedule.

~~~~~~~

I haven't had time to post a lot of photos of my various outing over the past few weeks so I'm sharing a few from a few weeks ago when a friend invited me on a harbour cruise.

I have a lot of photos to share.  This post will only cover the walk along the northern sea wall toward the departure point for the cruise.

I alighted near the sea wall close to the entrance of the Westin Bayshore Hotel.  This hotel is popular with tourists and is located almost at the entrance to Vancouver's Crown Jewel, Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a 405-hectare public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada and is almost entirely surrounded by waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay.  Read more about this beautiful park at this link.

I'm headed north west of the hotel so I need to go around it.  I found the hotel rather large and spread out.  It is also undergoing some redevelopment though it is still open for business.

A view west towards downtown Vancouver.

A small marshy pond located adjacent to the hotel. Too bad there were no birds splashing about

I love the riotous colour in all the blossoms.

Just as I am about to head due west, I look to the east and snap a few photos. 

The  white building with the 'sails' in the background right is the east wing of  the Vancouver Convention Center and where I was last week for Flyover Canada.  I just learned that it is still part of the Convention Center. I thought it had been replaced altogether by the new one (see photo below) but now I understand there is a west wing and an east wing which are actually two separate buildings.

See the paddle boat with tourist on the top deck.

You can see the port of Vancouver with the multi-coloured shipping containers in the background.  The float plane on the far right is part of the fleet for Harbour Air which flies to our provincial capital, Victoria and to many other points on Vancouver Island.  In late April the airline added flights to Seattle, Washington.

In the photo above you can see the structure in the middle with a green roof. That is the new 'west wing" of Vancouver Convention Centre.   It is built on stilts over the water.

 The living roof, seawater heating and cooling, on-site water treatment and fish habitat built into the foundation of the West Building make it one of the greenest convention centres in the world. The Centre recycles an average of 180,000 kilograms of materials annually, nearly half of the total volume of waste generated. It avoids canned goods, disposable utensils and dishes, and donates leftover food to local charities (source: Wikipedia)

The grey, concrete building peeking out just to the right of the lamppost in the foreground is the Vancouver Lookout Tower. At the top there is an observation deck and the only remaining revolving restaurant in the city.

I enjoyed my walk along the waterfront looking at all the activity on the water and the various boats and ships which were docked. Though the weather was overcast it was perfect for a day out.  Signage was present here and there announcing various tours and yacht rentals.

A float plane comes in for landing.

Signage announcing some water adventure tours.

 

I've now arrived at the departure point for the Harbour Cruise. Here I sit and wait on a bench for my friend to arrive. 

It isn't too long before I heard my name.

My former boss was out for a luncheon walk and recognized me in profile as I gazed out over the boats and yacts.

What a small world we live in.

In a short while afterward my friend arrives and we set off for our adventure.

Stay tuned.

Joining in with 

Our World Tuesday

Thank you for visiting. Please come again soon.

Red - Red, African Yam & Friends

Though I took my camera to dinner I completely forgot to take a photo of what my friend served for dinner: Red-Red (Black Eyed Pea Stew) and African Yams. 

These are dishes from Ghana but other African countries also make and consume these tasty dishes.

I searched several recipes on line and the stew I found in the posted video seems to more closely resemble the black eyed pea stew cooked with tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, ginger, garlic and onions.

But I know my friend also used cabbage and bay leaf and perhaps some fish.  Fish (salted or dried, sometimes canned) seems to be the ingredient most often added.  But variations exist. My friend made it with chicken cooked until falling off the bone and shredded/  He served the dish with African yams which I've never had before.

(Photo Credit:  Africana L.L.C) ~This is what uncooked African yam looks like.

(Photo source: Adamara's Blog) ~ This is a cooked African yam with stew.

I love potatos and the African yam reminded me of Russet potatos except that it is more dense.
I've never seen these in

the local grocery store. My friend had to go to the next municipality (about an hour out of town) to buy them.

He said he will make fufu (foofoo, foufou) next time.  I have had it before and I love it. Fufu can be made with many things: cassava, African yams, potato, corn and perhaps more. You pound the ingredient for so long until it becomes soft and sticky like dough.  Once fufu is finished you work a bit of it between fingers and use it to scoop up some soup.  I like mine with ground nut soup.

(Photo credit: Whats4eats) Here are some ladies making yam fufu the traditional way.

~~~~~~

If you would like to try a recipe for Red-Red you can click here for one variation. 

There are many others on line.

I always appreciate friends who take time out of their busy schedules to prepare a meal for me.
The food is generally very tasty when you enjoy sitting down to someone else's labour and shared conversation.

I've asked my friend to join me and my family members for the Christmas meal this year.
He usually goes to his auntie's for holiday meals but his uncle's health is in decline.   His aunt is busy looking after her husband's needs and she doesn't have the energy, strength or time to entertain at the holidays.

We are fortunate to live in a city where people are generally quite hospitable especially at holidays meals.
One can often get an invite or several invites to dinner but it is nice to spend time with friends who are like family.

Come back again soon.
 I hope to share a special event with you next time.

♥♥♥

Enjoy the rest of your week.

~~~~~

The Beautiful Days of January

The first few days of the year were quite hectic what with the earthquake and activities and missions in Kenya. But since then I've been taking things slowly. This year I feel the need to take care of my energy levels and rest more so I've been looking at ways I can do that yet still keep in touch with people and continue blogging.

I've been spending a lot of time on organizing myself for better health and wellness. That includes all aspects of health:  physical, emotional, spiritual & mental.  I won't go into the details of each area like I've done in years passed.  That would be time consuming and I'm not into doing that this year.  I'm also not into choosing a guiding word for the year. But I do have everything clear in my mind as to what I want to work on and how that will guide my daily and monthly activities.

The last week or two have been quite enjoyable. I've just been taking my time to do this and that and moving at a comfortable pace as opposed to the frantic pace I seem to always set for myself.  I've managed to reconnect with several friends who had been going through some difficult and/or very busy periods. It's always nice to reconnect with people who you've lost touch with.  I actually have several more people to reconnect with but there are only so many people one can keep in good touch with. Of course I cannot forget my friends in Kenya who are often on my mind as well as my sponsored boys in Kenya and Ethiopia who need to hear from me on a regular basis. Since last Fall I've been trying to make sure they hear from me more often.

Reading is always a big part of my life and this year I started off reading two books: A Girl in the Woods and the Orphan Train.  The first book I happened upon when I went to a movie in November. A woman was lined up for the show and intently reading the book. I asked her what it was about and made a note to read it and borrow it from the library.

A Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis's exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to Canada.  She went on the hike after being raped in his first year of college.  The story is not only about the hike but about her survival and growth from teenager to young adult.

I picked up the Orphan Train at a second hand shop.  The book is about trains that ran between 1854 and 1929 from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children to be adopted or fostered.       

Both of these stories are based on true events. I would recommend both of them if you are at all interested in the subjects.  Though I cannot say either of the books were my all time favourite reads, they both taught me something.

Last week I attended an educational seminar on health matters and I learned so much. I took many notes and all of it will come in very handy this year. In fact, I have already started to put the knowledge to work to try and improve my health and wellness. That is always a goal of mine and every few months I tweak what I am doing to try and keep moving forward in a positive way. While I was at the seminar, I met a retired teacher who invited me to join the University Women's Club. I haven't given an answer yet but I know the club is on it's annual membership drive and will be until late next month.  I've actually considered joining this group before.  The membership dues are rather high and I already participate in a number of similar activities through free groups (or groups that charge a very nominal fee).  Whenever there is such a  large expenditure of funds involved (I'm talking hundreds of dollars annually in  membership dues alone), I always think the money could be better spent on  missions needs in Kenya. Especially now that the Canadian dollar is so lacking in strength on the world market.

A big part of  my focus this year will be on health and wellness.  This is true every year because I have a number of chronic health issues.  Mostly on this blog, I address the diabetes issue just because it is all consuming condition and eats up a lot of my time (no pun intended). As I begin the new year, I'm studying a lot of health and nutrition information; both from the seminar I went to last week and from a fitness consultant I 'met' on line last year.  I've also made a good start on using and applying the information I've learned.

Food shopping is a big part of health and wellness management and anyone who runs a household (whether it's a household of one or a household of several)  knows that it is very time consuming to manage all the household needs. Shopping is a big part of managing the household and with the ever increasing prices of food and the falling loonie (Canadian dollar coin), it becomes more time consuming and challenging to shop healthy and eat well.

Just last week I discovered that the celery I'd purchased a came to almost $5 for the bunch and it wasn't even organic!  I purchased it without even looking at the price because celery is something I use a lot.  The situation has become so alarming that the local news station did a story or two about the skyrocketing prices. I like to purchase multiple varieties of vegetables each and every week as well as fruits so I'm going to be more adventurous and change what I eat slightly since I'll mostly be buying those things that are on sale.  There is only so much I will pay for a particular vegetable or fruit or meat for that matter.  So far I've been managing to do most of the shopping for a reasonable amount of funds each week.  It takes a lot of planning and effort to shop the sales but I enjoy this part of the week as long as I'm not too rushed in the doing of it. It is also a time when I usually check to see what bills need to be paid.I can't complain too loudly because I read in internet news very recently that  3 out of 10 Kenyans (mostly those in rural areas) do not get a daily meal. I'm still eating daily and that is a blessing so nothing to complain about here but there are adjustments that must be made.

I've also been looking into sources of cashew nuts and almond nuts so I can begin making my own cashew and almond milk. The nuts will be raw and organic so it is quite a splurge for me in terms of costs since nuts have to be imported.  Given the long drought in California the nuts have to be imported from Asia.  Some of you may remember that I tried making brown rice milk last year.  It turned out okay but I wasn't a big fan of it and it took too long because the rice must be cooked first.   With cashew and almond milk you simply soak the nuts first though some people don't soak them at all.  I purchased a Vitamix blender last year to make smoothies, flours and nut milk.  So far I've made a lot of blended green smoothies but haven't yet tried making nut milks or flours. I've cut down on the baking (a lot) due to the need to manage my blood glucose levels better.

The other place I practice careful shopping is at the local pharmacy. I've been making sure I only buy those things I really need but also looking for those things that will get me a lot of in store points.  By doing this I managed to get 4 free movies tickets last week. A friend and I went to see the  movie "Brooklyn". I enjoyed it but it turned out rather differently than I was expecting. It's always a good thing when a movie or book isn't overly predictable.  Movies are another luxury so I try to get as many free tickets as possible. I have a points card so that when I go to movies I get a few points for it and if I purchase concession foods I get a few points there too. Eventually I get enough points to go to a "free" movie. I tend not to buy concession foods because they aren't healthy but now and then I treat my niece to a movie and I must buy her popcorn or she will throw a hissy fit, lol. When I went to the movie with my friend, I took some hot tea in a thermos and some home made popcorn with nutritional yeast for flavouring. I also took an apple and protein bar as it would be awhile before dinner.

For all my careful shopping at the pharmacy I accumulated enough points to spend $195 (Canadian) in store. It took a few months to accumulate the points but now that I have them I will use half to purchase health supplements as needed and the other half to purchase daily/weekly items (milk, eggs, bread, toilet paper, etc.).

The weekend saw me doing some minor alterations.  A top I'd purchased with Christmas money gifted by a friends had some loose beading on the bodice which needed tacking down.  The top is actually too large but it was on clearance so I bought it. I sewed the sides in and made the armholes a bit smaller.  It feels much better now though there is still plenty of give in the fabric. I do tend to shop on clearance items mainly these days so I also managed to purchase a summer dress and some earrings with the same Christmas money gift.  Again, the dress doesn't quite fit and will need a few simple alterations. I've already made great use of the earrings as they match the beading on my top (as in the photo below).  The top looks a bit wild but it is a great summer top and matches so many plain coloured items I already have in my wardrobe.

Early in the week I plan to go fabric shopping to make some more dresses for my mother.  It was Fall 2015 when I made her 2 dresses (2 tops and 2 skirts) but I find the dresses are a little too baggy in the front area.  I want to make some that fit better. I always ask her for her colour choices and try and buy them if they are available.  This time she has selected purple and turquoise for 2 separate dresses.

Now I leave you with some sky photos I took on a beautiful day late last week. In fact, I was on my way to the movie. I could not believe that the trees were already beginning to bud.  We've had a lot more sunny days this winter than we usually have and now the weather too is quite warm during the daylight hours.

In case it isn't so obvious why I titled this post "The Beautiful Days of January", it is because I feel great about the slower pace and good process I'm making on a number of fronts. I'm also very happy with the weather we've been having.
I also have great news that the Pokot man that was injured by 3 black mamba snake bites is now doing much better and ready to be released from hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. Jonah of Missions of Hope, Kenya had to return to the hospital for a check up a week after release and was able to get an in person update from the man.

The Pokot man's hospital bill is enormous and he cannot pay it. Neither can I help him.
But he is still so very appreciative that I was able to send the deposit which enabled him to get medical treatment and save his leg. He is believing for some miracle from the hospital concerning the hospital bill.
 I like his positivity and optimism.
 ~~~
How about you dear reader?
How is your January going?
Are things progressing well?

What about on the food front?
Have you too noticed the high cost of food and how are you managing to deal with it?
I'd love to hear from you in the comments.