A Change is Coming

The last few days there has been a definite change in the temperature of the air. While it is still generally warm, there is now a distinct chill and I need to have a shawl or a light jacket when I go out. It seems to me that the chill has arrived somewhat early this year and rather abruptly. We don't usually notice the shift until the day after Labour Day (the first Monday of September).  This year Labour Day is on September 4, 2018.

The sky was looking quite cloudy when I came home from an appointment around 4 p.m. on Thursday.  There is no rain in the 14 day forecast but the temperatures are anywhere from 6-10 degrees cooler each day than they have been for months.  I don't mind because the Fall or Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I do not do well in intense heat.  I far prefer the chill of autumn when it isn't yet cold and one can wear cosy sweaters and scarves. In some years the Fall season can go on for some time. Those are special times.

After I finished my errands I stopped for this breakfast/lunch. It isn't my favourite place to dine but it was handy and I enjoyed the omelette and sourdough toast.

The next few photos were taken on Wednesday. You might notice that the light of the day is not a intense as the past few months.

The photo below was taken at 7 p.m. It was still quite bright out but now the daylight hours are shortened by 1-2 hours each day.

I'm reading my 45th book of the year.

 

It is very interesting.
 I haven't gotten to the sad part yet but it will come.

Here is a synopsis of the book taken from the internet.

On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s famous chimpanzee research camp in the Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania, East Africa, walked out of camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating in a pool at the base of a high waterfall. With careful detail, The Ghosts of Gombe reveals for the first time the full story of day-to-day life in Goodall’s wilderness camp—the people and the animals, the stresses and excitements, the social conflicts and cultural alignments, and the astonishing friendships that developed between three of the researchers and some of the chimpanzees—during the months preceding that tragic event. Was Ruth’s death an accident? Did she jump? Was she pushed? In an extended act of literary forensics, Goodall biographer Dale Peterson examines how Ruth’s death might have happened and explores some of the painful sequelae that haunted two of the survivors for the rest of their lives.

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I watched the much hyped first episode of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video. If you have a chance to watch it I would recommend it. It is very well done and quite riveting. 

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I managed to get my documents photocopied yesterday to add to my earthquake kit.

If you missed my post on earthquake preparedness you can find it here.

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I've always loved zebras. They are so beautiful and these ones are from Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. I'll never forget my safari there.
I'm sharing them for Saturday's Critters with Eileen.

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Last but not least, I am remembering my mom today.
She would have been 82 on Friday.

 These photos are from the last celebration of her birthday and were taken a few days after her stroke.
We were surprised to arrive and see her driving her wheelchair. She couldn't swallow yet so she she couldn't eat the cake that's why we only bought a small one. We usually bought her a chicken, seafood or Chinese dinner but this day we didn't want to eat in front of her so we only bought a cake to mark her day.


I always liked to treat her on her birthday.
 She loved her roses, her cake and balloon.

I remember wanting to wait until she was able to eat with us to celebrate. My youngest brother insisted we celebrate on her day. I'm so glad he did because it was the last time we were able to do so and see her smile.

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 That's all for now.
Wishing you all a wonderful and safe weekend.

Joining with

Skywatch Friday

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters

Air Quality and Other Things

My niece has been gone for about a week and I've been trying to catch up with things. It seems I'm doing loads of laundry, lots of dishes, a bit of grocery shopping, a bit of reading, a few personal care appointments (foot reflexology and body massage) and connecting with friends near and far. It's been steadily busy but not so hectic.

The air quality all week was very bad as the state of emergency and the wild fires continue around the province. Today I read that it is the 2nd worst year for fires and poor air on record. Last year was the worst. Our provincial premier said a few days ago that these kind of summers might be the  "new normal". That's not a good thought.  The following photos show the recent skies.

Sky on Sunday, August 26/18

Rain on Saturday, August 25/18

At the same time as the poor air quality has been occurring, I've been tracking earthquake activity around the globe. It's scary stuff but one has to try and be prepared when they live in the earthquake areas.

In the past week alone there have been over 70 earthquakes around the globe. Two of them have been closer to home (off the coast of Oregon and off the coast of northern Vancouver Island). Every Sunday a fellow who calls himself "Dutchsinse" on You Tube predicts earthquakes.  He posts 3 videos a day and on Sundays he posts a vlog forecasting where he thinks earthquakes will hit over the next 7-10 days. The "experts" say that they cannot predict earthquakes and that there is no credibility to what "Dutchsinse" is doing. However I would say that if you watch him yourself and track things each week you will understand that he is on to something.

Little by little too his theories are being confirmed by research.  Most recently by the University of Oregon. Click here if you are interested in that study.  If you are interested in following him or at least listening once click here. His motto is "Don't be scared, be prepared" and his aim is to educate people to be aware and be prepared if there is an earthquake alert for their part of the world.  As for me I've been on a mission to let my loved ones, friends and professionals I deal with know about the potential earthquakes. A lot of people don't like to think about it and would rather pretend it won't happen though one young Brazilian lady I know told me that a number of Brazilians she knew who resided in Vancouver, have opted to return to Brazil.  At least Brazil is not located along the Ring of Fire so the likelihood of a huge quake is much lower. In  my household I've dragged out my emergency kit and bag of things I would need in case of emergency. It was a few years ago since I prepared it and I need to change out the water and the food.  Since I last updated my kit I've noticed that the earthquake preparedness store has moved to an area where I never go.  That means I have to plan specially to go and get what I need.

A few weeks ago I wrote that I now am a fan of meal planning and batch cooking. I've pretty much used up the fod I prepared in batch cooking last time so I need to get started again.  Having my niece visit put me a little behind schedule but it's okay. I now need to get into some much healthier eating once again. While she was here I just let her enjoy her holiday and we had all kinds of food that are not really the the healthiest. It's okay because she is only here one week out of 52 and I do try to incorporate some healthy salads and fruits and vegetables during the week as well.  Meal planning and batch cooking are not yet habits for me and to make them into habits is going to take some consistent planning and time.

Today is a busy but good day.  I'm folding laundry done earlier in the week, vacuuming, washing dishes and floors and making dinner.  Later, if I am up to it I have some paperwork business to catch up on. Alternatively I will wash all the fruit and vegetables and store them for use in batch food preparations this week.

My reading has slowed down a lot though I've read

The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins

A strange story but really well written. I gave it 4* out of 5.

Right now I'm slowly working my way through The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald.  I'm reading because it came in a book of 3 novels in one.  The first book I read in the consolidation is The Bookshop.  I didn't like that one so much but it was better than the one I'm reading now. Truthfully I'm finding her books rather boring and unappealing on many levels (did I really say that?).  But I like to finish what I've started and I hope to finish all three books though I'll do it slowly.

I attended a festival yesterday called Harambecouver. They had an excellent line up of performers but it rained heavily early in the day (the first real rainfall in months) and the turnout was dismal. Perhaps the festival lacked promotion too and as this is only it's 2nd year they are still learning what to do.  I spoke briefly with the festival organizer and he mentioned moving the festival up by a few weeks so as to avoid the rains we usually experience in Vancouver from mid-August onward.

I went with friends and we stayed only an hour or so and had a bite to eat. When we were leaving my friend's son ran up to the stage to listen to a performer sing "One Love".  he wanted to dance. When he came back he asked "did I dance good?" I thought that was so cute.

 

Here is his mom, his brother and a church friend watching him dance from afar.

Here is his dad.

And, here is the young boy having a well deserved drink of juice.
I couldn't get a good shot with my old compact camera.

Sunday dinner is traditional roast chicken with red potatoes. It's a lazy dinner so I can work while the dinner was cooking. I also picked a few strawberries from my garden. I'm not up to making salad today so this will be it. I did roast a few onions and carrots under the chicken. Normally I roast until the all the skin of the chicken is browned but I felt I had the oven on long enough so I aborted roasting once the fowl was cooked through and the potatoes soft.

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One final thing before I go.

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You may have noticed I changed the theme of my blog. I like it but am not sure how long I will use it  because there seems to be a glitch in the template.  

The preview function doesn't work and so that makes it hard to check on photo placement, spelling errors and so on. I'll wait awhile and see if that gets fixed before deciding whether things have to be changed again.
I'd be interested in what you think of this format.

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In closing, air quality here is not expected to improve this coming week and the temperatures are expect to climb again.

I hope you are keeping well wherever you live.

Thank you for stopping by!

Update: I think my blog has been hacked or hijacked.  Either that or there are numerous issues with this template making it a pain to use.
If I cannot resolve this I will have to start another blog from scratch.
I'm not sure how much time this is going to take me.
Another update:  I discovered that the Contempo theme which I'd tried to use has some glitches when it comes to use of widgets. I found out I wasn't the only one with this issue and once I'd deleted some widgets I could access the templates. So far I've had two comments about the new new blog format and I appreciate them. I reverted to the original them with a different background and header as I too wasn't quite happy with the Contempo theme and don't have time to learn how to tweak the html code.
My apologies and thanks for bearing with me as I try to correct and improve things.

So Hot, Trying to Keep Cool and Carry On

Hi friends,

It's been incredibly hot here. Yesterday on the news they said it was the hottest day of the summer so far. But I went out yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday) and I think today may have been even hotter.

When I went out to appointments and errands, I was so concerned about a homeless man in a wheelchair and a little pup on the patio of a restaurant I had to stop and make sure they both had water.

I know the man had been drinking beer as I passed him in the morning. I asked him to please try to refrain from drinking beer otherwise  they won't let him stay at the shelter where I learned he will have a bed for the night for the next two weeks. I gave him a bottle of water and a small bit of money (not enough to buy booze) and kept encouraging him to drink water. I sat and chatted with him a bit and grew even more concerned when I realized that he is a schizophrenic and also suffers from depression but hasn't been on his medications for a few weeks. I know he just got out of hospital and I'm surprised they let him go like that since he is also old. Thankfully he told me that the shelter where he will sleep for two weeks is going to help him get into an apartment.  He also had several bags on his wheelchair which I noticed had some food in it so at least he isn't hungry.  What I was most concerned about was sitting outside all day long in the heat and not having any H20.

Completed book #41 of 42

As for the cute little puppy, her owner's friend told me the little doggie had a big bowl of water just before I dropped by. The little dog was absolutely sweet and so friendly which I find is often not the case with the small lapdogs. I wanted to pick her up and bring her home. I didn't get a photo though as my camera battery was already kaput for the day and I had to get home to charge it up.

Book #42 of 42 in progress

Waiting for book #43

When I got home I put a wet washcloth in the freezer, got on some more comfortable clothing and took a little rest with the fans going before I got up to put together a salad, sweet potato and some of the BBQ chicken I had prepared last weekend. I'm so glad I did the batch cooking because it means I don't have to put on the oven or use my pressure cooker during this heat. The heat makes me lethargic and cooking is the last thing I want to do in the intense heat.  We are supposed to get some rain on the weekend right in time for my niece's visit. I hope it does rain because we really need it.  My niece and I can use those times to get cosy and watch movies. She loves nothing better than a funny or scary movie (think the Hobbit movies) and a big bag of popcorn.


I finished the book about Denys Finch Hatton. I have to say I quite enjoyed it and am amazed at what the author was able to research and put together since there are no remaining relatives of Finch Hatton and very little exists of him in history books.  I picked up another book  I'd placed on hold about Prince by his ex-wife Mayte Garcia.  I am waiting for a book called The Bookshop.  This one came on recommendation from one of the many blogs I read though now I cannot remember which one. If you happen to be reading this post, let me know it was you (please).

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If you read my last post here

you will know I've been doing some batch cooking and want to continue.

Since then I've ordered some proper containers from Amazon and

they arrived today.

 

There were 20 containers in the package. I think that will be enough.

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The heat of the last few days has taken it's toll on my little garden.

I'm hoping I can keep it going another few weeks. The forecasted rain this weekend would help a lot but last weekend rain was in the forecast and it never arrived.

I was happy to see the Black-eyed Susan flowers bloom. For awhile I wasn't sure they were going to bloom this year but they did come about just over a week or two ago.  They are not quite as healthy looking or as plentiful as in previous years.

The strawberries are nice and juicy but I only have one pot so not much of a harvest but I'm enjoying them.  Seeing strawberries growing "in the yard" brings back happy childhood memories of finding the odd strawberry when playing with siblings.  Those were in the days when we were not able to buy strawberries so readily in the supermarket.

The other morning I went out to take a photo of the sunrise. 

I was a bit late as the sun was already up.

Imagine my surprise when I captured this

 drone hovering a few feet from me. 

I hope I don't appear in the "movie" as I wasn't dressed for my cameo role, lol.

A shot of the garden after watering. I hose down the patio floor to cool it off.

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 Keep well everyone.

Enjoy the weekend ahead where ever you may be.

I'm joining in with

Skywatch Friday

and

Friday Foto Friends

Checking In

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my last post. I'm still not quite myself but am keeping busy and feeling better each day.

Mostly I'm focussed on trying to get a lot done in the next little while.  My niece will be here this weekend and will visit for a week. It is the one time over the year when I cancel all appointments so I focus on taking things slowly and enjoying my time with her.  She is autistic and needs my full attention and care.  When she leaves I need a time of rest and recovery and to slowly get organized again.

To make this week go smoothly I've done some batch cooking.  I didn't have a plan to do batch cooking but the thought came to me that this would be a good idea so I spent an afternoon preparing the following:

•  4 servings of rotini and meat sauce filled with vegetables which will be eaten with side salads
•  2 servings of vegetable fried rice and fried pork chop
•  4 servings of hamburger hash made with plenty of freshly chopped vegetables, frozen vegetables and rice
•  4 servings of BBQ chicken drumsticks which will be eaten with steamed rice and side salads
•  a large pot of rice pudding for desserts. I wasn't planning on making this but I made some IP rice intended for the stir fry and it was quite mushy so I turned it into rice pudding.

I didn't have enough containers to portion and freeze the foods so I used baggies.

Today I have also prepared a large batch of chicken soup for lunches.  I'm also soaking some pinto beans which I'll cook up tomorrow.  These days I cook my beans in a pressure cooker and there is no need to pre-soak them.  But today  I  watched a YouTube video where a lady said that pre-soaking beans helps with flatulence. I didn't find this to be true when I used to soak my beans overnight before cooking but I'm willing to give it another try.

I haven't ever done batch cooking before but I have done some sporadic meal planning.  Now that I've tried my hand at batch cooking I think it will be something I do more regularly for a number of reasons:

• It will save time in the kitchen during the week, both time for food preparation and time washing dishes each day. I still hand wash my dishes though I do have a dishwasher.
• I found some reusable silicone storage bags on Amazon. If I purchase them or something like them, I can greatly reduce the usage of plastic bags going to the landfill.  I will need something more than the few glass containers I already have and silicone bags stand up or lie down taking up less space. You can also use them to store soups without spillage. I also found some lightweight stackable containers that would work better since they help you with portion control and you don't have to thaw out excess food that you may not want at one meal.
• I've mentioned that I've done meal planning from time to time. Mostly it was done as a way to make sure I use a variety of foods, especially vegetables.  Now I am hoping to meal plan to save money, help prepare the weekly or bi-monthly shopping list, stop myself from buying way too much food (fresh or otherwise) and make sure I use the food I already have on hand.
• It will help free up my refrigerator storage space (and cupboard space) so I can put what is most important in there: fresh fruits, sprouted breads, yogurt and fresh snacks.
• It saves me from having to come up with (interesting)  meal ideas every day.
• It will help reduce buying food on the go. If I haven't got anything prepared or haven't planned ahead I often buy something when I'm out and it isn't always the best choices health-wise.
• It will help improve the consistency of meal times.
• It will help me streamline my daily task so I can focus on other tasks beyond the kitchen. 

Meal planning and batch cooking at not new concepts but they are activities that one has to feel ready to use.  Like any new habit it takes some thought and practice to implement.  To date, I haven't felt the need to consistently practice meal planning or employ batch cooking.  As time goes by I see the usefulness of both of these activities.

Meat and poultry is heavily used in the first batch cooking experiment because it's what was in the freezer.  My goal is to incorporate more plant based meals so as the meat and poultry is used up I will be buying more plant foods. I did eat strictly vegetarian and/or vegan for many months at one time in the not so distant past so the change won't be huge.  However I do need a system to make sure I implement the plan.

It will be nice to be more organized about meals and shopping for food. Earlier this week I bought a new daily and monthly planner and also a menu planning booklet with space for shopping lists.  I know many people make their own charts and list but I like ready made if they are not too expensive. I got mine on sale at Michael's at 40%  off.

Menu planning and batch cooking help to keep a modern household running smoothly and more efficiently.  Especially if you have children, hold a job, or are trying to get healthy or maintain health.

If you already do meal planning and batch cooking I'd love to hear about your experiences.Fee free to leave a comment short or long, in the comment box below.

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I haven't had much time for photo taking this week but I did capture these beautiful skies.
The first two photos were taken at 5:20 a..m. a few days ago just as the sun was coming up.

The garden at dawn.

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The next sky photo was taken on Sunday night.

As for reading, I'm still working on the book about Denys Finch Hatton entitled Too Close to the Sun. I find I'm having to read this book quite slowly. It isn't a long book so I should have finished last week.  On the other hand I haven't picked it up much due to being busy with other things.

I forgot to mention what has been keeping me busy.  I did get to the dentist. The next step will be to get some fillings next month after my gums have healed and settled a bit.  Initially a crown had been proposed.  However it seems I don't have enough teeth in the back where surgery was done or enough strong roots to support a crown.  This was in the opinion of a new to me, older experienced dentist.  I tend to agree with his assessment after the explanation. It is a pity because I've worked so hard over many years to preserve my teeth but it is what it is.

Also, I bumped into someone I knew some years back with whom I'd lost touch.  He moved many provinces away and was only in the city temporarily when I happened to find him on a bus ride home. We got together a few times for dinner and chit chat to catch up on a few years news. Other than that I was treated to a nice dinner late last week by another friend who I only see once or twice a year. It is always nice catching up with her.  We never seem to have a dearth of things to discuss.

I have no updates from Kenya at this time though I'm touch with various dear ones over there on a daily basis.

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Joining Our World Tuesday 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a wonderful week ahead.

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