April Showers Bring May Flowers ~ Skywatch Friday

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

These are a just a few photos taken earlier in the week on a cloudy but bright day. By the time this post is published we'll be back to rain.

Do you remember the childhood verse that went "April showers bring May flowers". I had to look it up to remind myself of the verses.

April Showers Bring May Flowers song lyrics for kids : Pitter-patter raindrops Falling from the sky. Here is my umbrella, To keep me dry. April showers Bring May flowers April showers Bring May flowers When the rain is over and The sun begins to glow, Little flowers start to bloom And grow and grow and grow. April showers Bring May flowers April showers Bring May flowers

~~~~~

When I reviewed the lyrics I realized that I never actually sang this song but used to hear the line 'April showers bring May flowers" a lot. It was just something people always said to remind themselves as to why there was a lot of rain in the spring.

Where I live now we don't just get showers in April. The rain starts in October and follows us into April. Yet every year we seem to also have water restrictions which come earlier and earlier in the summer. I think it's because these days there tends to be a lot less snow on the mountains. We rely on the snow for replenishing the water supply. Let's hope this summer won't be so dry.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Easter.

Thanks for stopping by my Skywatch Friday post.

Beautiful and Rainy ~ March 5, 2026

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

Happy March to all of you.

At this time of year in my world, the weather continues to be unstable with bright, sunny days, alternating with very heavy rain. The weather is a few degrees warmer on a regular basis and as you can see in the photos, at least some of the trees are in bloom.

The sky looks so dramatic at times.

For me that's a time to have soup either at a restaurant or at home.

Vietnamese Pho soup.

Homemade chicken, rice soup.

Yesterday was sunny but today it is clouding over again in preparation for rain. I hope you are keeping warm and dry wherever you are in the world.

Thank you for visiting my submission for Skywatch Friday this week.

Scenes from Friday ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to rainy Vancouver on a Friday afternoon. The weather has well and truly changed and we had a huge deluge of rain today (Friday).

The sky was rather interesting.  There were even a few flowers hanging in there, not ready to say 'goodbye'.  Flowers always give me joy.

Enjoy your weekend and thank you for stopping by

my Skywatch Friday post.

It's Anti-Procrastination Day

Hello dear friends, 

It's Wednesday here as I write this post.  It started raining today which is a nice change.  It will water the garden well and freshen everything up a bit.  I was going to make a trip to the community garden today but delayed it due to the rain. I need to do a bit of weeding and some harvesting, mainly swiss chard and kale.

I've just come back from a quick shopping trip to buy more toilet paper. During the promotional sale DH and I bought 8 packages (12 rolls each) of toilet paper and 2 packages (4 rolls each) of paper towels. It isn't a lot but it will help carry us for several months by which time there will likely be another promotional sale.

I was very tired today because I didn't sleep well at all last night. This is the first time in a long while that I haven't slept well. It means my sleep has improved considerably over these past several months.  Despite sleeping very little, I awoke early because the light was very bright coming through the blinds and the workers were here working on the patio.  I busies myself with this and that, including a load of laundry, washing dishes and making a few meals ahead.  

We had a sheet pan dinner tonight of pork shops and vegetables. I also made meat sauce for spaghetti and froze it. Lastly, I made Shepherd's Pie to have on Thursday along with a nice salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados.

Before the filling is topped with mashed potatoes. 

I put shredded kale in the Sheperd's Pie and the meat sauce to boost the nutritional content and to make sure the kale didn't go bad.

In Fly Lady Land (a home cleaning system), Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day.  One of the things I've been putting off is sorting through what used to be kept in a small cabinet in the master bedroom. The movers packed the cabinet's contents into boxes.  Now I'm going through it all to get rid of as much as possible while the bedroom furniture is still in storage. I made a good start and will continue over the next few days.

I'll also try to give away the small bags in the photos but the rest of the items are headed to trash because they are expired or used.

Earlier this week I was also able to declutter several more magazines and a set of oven gloves which I'm hoping to give away. 

All in all, it's been a good week so far. I'm meeting a friend on Thursday for a long overdue lunch date.  Friday marks the beginning of a long weekend in my province.  I'm hoping to make more progress in decluttering this week while the weather is inclement because I have a busy week or two ahead after that and I'm anticipating the renovations in the master bedroom to begin after the long weekend. I haven't been given a start date but will be calling the strata manager to find out where things are at. I was kind of hoping the patio renovation might be done before the bedroom renovations begin.

Is it a long weekend where you are? Do you have fun plans? 

Thank you for stopping by!

Skywatch Friday ~ June 14, 2024

It's a beautiful time of year and the skies are spectacular.

These photos were taken during a neighbourhood walk. It rained in the morning but when I went out in the late afternoon it was sunny and warm. By the time I returned home a cool wind was blowing. Thankfully I carried a shawl with me and I was warm enough until I got inside. It's supposed to get hot again so it should be good for the garden.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday. Thank you for visiting. Please come again soon.

How Is Your Week Going?

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope the week is going well for you.

It's been busy here at the homestead.

It rained heavily on the weekend an a bit on Monday and Tuesday but otherwise it's expected to get quite warm for the rest of the week.  Possibly longer.

Monday started with a bang.  The workmen delivered a few pallets of cement blocks to the patio using a small crane. It was interesting to watch. These cement blocks will be used to build the garden wall which will then be filled with soil and ready for planting.

I had to make several phone calls. It's the season of birthdays and graduations in my world so I was on the phone making plans or confirming plans for both occasions. Everyone is busy these days so it's hard to find the mutually free time to get together but it works when everyone makes an effort.

I don't have too many indoor plants these days since I now have 2 large artificial trees. However I like to have live plants around me whenever  possible. Though the conditions in my home are not the best for plants (I have too little direct sunlight light and it's too cold for much of the year),  I still like to try to grow them. I purchased a fern that was on clearance and have just recently hung it up after looking for a wire chain and pot to use. I'll need to find another pot as I'm using the blue one as a liner. I'll look for a slightly smaller pot to repot the fern which is root bound. Hopefully I can put it outside in the sunshine even while the work outside is ongoing outdoors. Of course I'll have to do it when the workers  aren't working 

I continue to try and make healthier meals for the dinner hour. Stir frys are a favourite because they are quick and you can add so many different veggies to the noodles, rice or meat.

I'd love to know what is your favourite healthy meal to make?

That's all for today. Thank you for stopping by!

Neighbourhood Street Scenes

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are well today.

These are photos I took on a recent walk in the neighbourhood. You can see the sky is very grey and dull but what you can't see is how cold it was. Seriously cold.

I had to wear a long sleeved top, a sweat jacket and my winter rain jacket. I was just fine dressed this way but I was so surprised to see how cold it had become. I don't remember it ever  being so cold at this time of year although the rain is no surprise, lol.
 

Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Former Evangelistic Tabernacle, now turned into condos

 

Very near the corner of Main St. & Broadway

A newish restaurant I haven't had a chance to try yet

I like the joyful exterior of this place

The new Broadway/Main St. subway station will be located here (behind the photos)

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the neighbourhood.  Thank you for your visit.