What I'm Doing During the Cold

 Hi friends,

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been very cold where I live. Actually it seems to be very cold everywhere but we aren't used to these low temperatures in my city and I can't get it warm enough inside. 

So during the cold days of winter, I usually don't do a lot besides sit under warm blankets with a hot drink and read.

I hope to reduce my reading this year soI can work on projects.  But having a good book handy when you need one is a wonderful thing.

I just completed Barbra Streisand's very long autobiography, My Name is Barbra. It's a very detailed account of her life in theatres, movies and in song. She tells us everything we might want to know. She intersperses these details with snippets about her family and personal life, her activism and her love relationships and marriages.

Having finished the autobiography, I am now reading this debut novel A Grandmother Begins the Story by Métis author, Michelle Porter. I haven't gotten too far but don't you just love the cover design? It's beautiful Métis beadwork.

The next book I'll read is called The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.  I read his novel, Cutting for Stone a few years ago and absolutely fell in love with his story telling. I'm very much looking forward to starting it in a few days once the hold arrives at the local library.

In an earlier post I mentioned that my theme word for 2024 is "Create". I hope to make or bring new things into existence more frequently this year. It can mean new dishes in cooking but more likely in my case, it will mean new things I've sewed or crafted. I've been giving some thought to a few projects I'd like to make and have collected a few supplies. Some of what I hope to create is new to me so I'm just learning what I'll need. It seems I'm not quite ready to get started on one of my projects because I need more materials. It's okay because it's too cold for me to sit and make things right at this moment.  I have time to collect what I need.  Here are some of the materials I've been collecting.

I've already sewn these strips of fabric together.

I bought the fabric strips (bubble bees, daisies and solid yellow fabric) at the dollar store just before Christmas and sewed them together before the new year.  There isn't a lot of fabric but I have an idea for what I'll make with it.  The Star Wars fabric will likely be for a cushion or two for my niece.  I'm always looking for items for here with a theme I know she will enjoy. The items in the top photo are for surprise projects which I'll unveil along the way. I've got lots more I want to make but these are some of the projects I have in the top of my mind.

Speaking of cooking, I did in fact make one new to me dish during these cold days. It's my version of a a rice noodle and prawn soup with broccoli. It was quite good and warming but the noodles took forever to cook and soften. Next time I'll probably use a different brand of rice noodles.

These are just some of the activities I'm trying to keep myself busy during the cold days. I've been reading on line about how cold it is elsewhere and I  hope you are keeping warm enough wherever you live. 

My "baby" brother has been away in Thailand and Japan. I'm looking forward to him returning tomorrow. When my loved ones travel, it's hard for me to relax until they are safely home even though I do pray for them. On this journey there was the large earthquake off the west coast of northern Japan just before my brother was expected to arrive there. Of course I was praying a lot and all has gone well with his journey this far. He seems to really be enjoying his time in Tokyo despite the fact it is winter there too.

Another Month is Almost Over

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope all is well with you. I have been super busy and not able to blog much or visit your blogs very often. I continue to have issues leaving comments on many blogs but when I can leave one without difficulty, I do. I'm not sure if you too are having problems leaving a comment for me because I have noticed that there are very few comments left on the majority of my blogs in this new year. It's quite possible that it is simply because I haven't been able to leave comments for you. If you have been experiencing any difficulties leaving a comment for me, please do send me an email and let me know.  Follow the link at the Blogger Profile page (you may need to click on the 3 lines/dots at top left of the blog).

The weather here has been frightful. I've been anticipating an early Spring but instead we seem to be having winter over and over. The forecast was for snow on Saturday and quite a lot of it (up to 1 foot or 30 centimetres depending on where one lives in the city). I was very surprised to go for late afternoon walk on Wednesday and find myself under snowfall. It was also quite chilly. Fortunately I recently purchased a puffer coat to keep my legs warm in cold weather and I was able to use it. It's already paid for itself in the 2 weeks I had it after buying it on sale. I do have a faux fur coat which is very warm too but I cannot wear it when it's raining so I bought the puffer coat for those occasions.  I took these photos after it stopped snowing and on my way back from the library.

As I write this post I'm getting very annoyed at yet another blogger problem I've been experiencing lately. Whenever I go to edit and tonight, when I go to add photos, a new page comes up called "Post Edit" and it doesn't have any buttons and from that page I can do absolutely nothing except read what I've already written. Is anyone else having this experience or know what to do about it? In the last 6 months I've had so many problems with Blogger compared to all the previous years of blogging with absolutely no issues whatsoever. I didn't figure out the issue but I found a way to work around it. I have to use Google Chrome rather than Safari and that is helping the site to do what it is supposed to do. Sometimes I can leave comments too when I use Google Chrome. 

I'm beginning to think it may be time to move onto another platform. Alas, it won't be anytime soon because there are a lot of other things competing for attention: garden plans, family needs, household organizations and do it yourself projects, technology needs and health management. There is never a dull moment these days, is there? I know everyone else is dealing with most of the same things.

My cousin was visiting from Alberta and we had been planning for long to get together to celebrate her birthday. I haven't seen her since before Covid. Unfortunately she came down with a bad cold and the next day I did too. So she and her sister dropped by and we had a very quick visit and exchanged gifts. We're hoping to have a proper visit in the summer.

While I have been convalescing I started a new crochet afghan. This one is very large as it's meant to be a proper blanket for someone tall to snuggle up in. I found some of the ones I was making were simply not long enough even for me, a shortie. I like them to cover the feet and all the way up to the neck.

This is about 75% complete. The yarn colour is variegated 
and sold as you see it.

In the month of February I've been working away at getting rid of more things and have decluttered numerous items every day. Mostly these are small items because I have already gotten rid of the larger stuff during all my other decluttering projects. I was surprised to see how much 'trash' I've been storing. The items are small so you don't really notice them until you start collecting in a pile. 

An example of small bits I've been storing - 22 items now in trash.

I've been doing a bit of reading too. Here are my latest finds. I haven't gotten too far into any of these books yet. The book Spare by Prince Harry was being offered for free on Audible books. I'm not sure if the offer is still available. I put it on Hold at the local library but it will be awhile before I get it so I can listen to it on audible and then I won't need it from the library.

I picked up the book, little family by Ishmael Beah, because I'd read his debut book Child Soldier years ago. It was a superbly written and insightful book. The other book is fictional and deals with the current topic of internet dating and some of the scams that go on and have made the news around the world.

Last but not least, I'm sharing my 'free' ficus tree. I bought it off Amazon using reward points from my telephone and internet service provider. I also got the fairy lights off Amazon. The lights are strung together on very fine copper wire. There is a total of 66 feet of wire. what a nightmare. The wires get all tangled no matter how careful you are. I hesitate to remove the wire and redo the stringing because I didn't do a very good job but I'll have to be in the right frame of mind with nothing better to do before I try it again! Even so, I'm loving my tree. It will go in the corner near my sofa and replace all the live plants that have occupied the space but don't thrive given the cold and lack of light. If you are eagle-eyed you'll spot containers behind the tree waiting for paper to be shredded and trashed. Yet another project.

That's it for now. I hope to get on a better track with posting and commenting in March if all goes well.  Until then keep healthy, happy and reasonably busy.

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.

~~~~~

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.

💗💗💗

First Snow that "Stuck" & Health Care Worker Needs

 Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Here are a few photos of what the scene looked like off my balcony on Tuesday morning. It snowed all night Monday and this time it stuck around a bit longer. I took these photos just after 6 a.m.  Yesterday when I went out to do some grocery shopping, I noticed that most of the snow had melted but some still remains on my patio in areas where the sun doesn't reach. Snowing so early in the season is highly unusual. I guess the last time that happened was in 1991.

Almost all of Canada is suffering a great shortage of staff in many sectors. Canada's Immigration Minister and the Government of Canada has released it's figures for immigrant or newcomer admission targets for 2023, 2024 and 2025. Altogether newcomers will total  almost 1.5 million people.  Skilled labour in the health care and construction fields have been identified as priorities. 

On the news the other day this graphic was shared about the projected needs for health care workers over the next 10 years.  These projections are just for the province where I live.  The needs for the rest of the provinces and territories in the country are just as great. If the government plans to attract more foreign workers something needs to be done quickly to address the very real housing shortage and it's related issue of affordability.

In pleasurable pursuits I said earlier that my reading goals this year would be modest and they were. I decided I'd aim for 1 book a month knowing I might read more some months and nothing in other months. As it turned out I did reduce my reading as planned but I still read far more than I intended. To date I've read 43 books and almost 16,000 pages. I'm sure I won't make 20,000 pages before the end of the year. Even though I've got another 7-8 books in my reading pile I may not be able to complete all of them. 

I had hoped to cut down on reading and spend more time on crafting and sewing this year. That didn't happen because of decluttering and small household projects that took more time than I thought they would. But I did manage to complete several alterations on various trousers for DH.

In the photos I'm showing preparations involved in lengthening the pockets on a pair of DHs trousers.  When I compared pocket length in various of his  trousers these ones were shorter by about 4 inches. That's a lot. 

I didn't have the right fabric in my stash so I 'made do' with some light cotton fabric. After cutting the shape and sewing the seams, I attached the new piece to the bottom of the original pockets. Those of you who are sewists know this isn't as quick as it sounds. The challenge I have is none of my machines are as able as mom's old Singer treadle machine to sew through several layers of fabric as in the side seams of trousers and jeans.  But I did the job and I'm happy it's done.  The other project was tapering the legs on a new pair of jeans and hemming them. DH has worn the jeans a lot since then. Next up, I have several pair of pants of my own to hem and I'd like to shorten a linen tablecloth I bought a few months ago.   I still have a lot of household stuff to deal with and I think I'd be more able to focus on sewing once these other things are out of the way.

I know some people are already putting up their Christmas trees. I don't plan on setting up mine until some time in December, usually about half way through the month. However I've been buying a few gifts here and there whenever I see something I like.  I can spread the Christmas spending over a longer period of time that way. Earlier this week I was able to wrap gifts for 2 people on my list. The task was made easier by buying some Christmas fabric bags from the Dollar Tree. They are quite cute and made the job a lot quicker. I think I need to get a few more of the bags for the other Christmas gifts I want to give. 

What about you dear reader?  Are you experiencing health care worker shortages where you live? What is your government doing about it if anything? Have you read any good books lately? Are you working on anything creative or have plans to sew anything for Christmas gifts?

A Sunny Day

 Last time I posted about the cherry blossoms on a rainy, cloudy day.

Today I'm posting a photo of the beautiful day we had on Friday. It was only one day. Today we are back to rain. On Wednesday it is expected to shine again and hopefully will be warming up after that.

On Thursday night I found it very cold in the house and I was wondering why. It's because it snowed at the higher elevations overnight. I woke up to a beautiful sunny day and fresh snow on the mountains.

Can you tell I'm excited about spring?

Thanks for stopping by.

The Temperature Has Dropped

It's been a very busy week and it isn't over yet. At least it's been a productive week so far. I've been doing a lot of catch up to paperwork, appointments, old tasks and a little cooking, cleaning, knitting and reading in between. 

I completed a few books this past week or so and started on a number of new ones. All of the books are very interesting.I'm still reading An Arctic Man.  It isn't such a long book but it is chock full of information and new place names so I only read a bit at a time.

The late Andre Leon Talley is someone I used to see interviewed on television quite a lot so when I heard he had passed, I wanted to read some of the books he wrote in the latter years of his life. The Chiffon Trenches is quite an information packed book and shows me how widely this man was travelled and how many people he knew in not just the fashion world but the world of high society. He tells it like it is about certain people and some have called him catty for doing so. Honestly I don't know how you can write a truthful book and not come across as somewhat catty if the people you are mentioning were not so nice.  Apart from all of that I enjoyed the book a  lot and I personally didn't find anything in it that was so badly maligning anyone. In fact, I think he tried very hard to speak to the positive things about everyone he knew. 

(As always you can click on photos for an enlarged view).

Very interesting & informative and all about those in the fashion/society world.

 

I've started the middle book and the end book, Burke's Law, all very good.

I am constantly uncovering new to me stories about Jewish experiences during WW 2. The book The Dressmakers of Auschwitz was very eye opening. I had no idea that there were Jewish women whose skills as seamstresses were in much demand during the war and at internment camps no less.  This particular book is not a novel but is based on real life experiences of several women whose skills were in demand and their heart breaking stories.

Opened my eyes to a new to me story about the Jewish women who sewed for the Nazis.

A few dishes made recently.

Beef stir fry and a lot of vegetables over steamed noodles

Roast chicken,Caesar salad, mixed mushrooms/onions/asparagus

Taco Soup

Baked salmon, quinoa, mixed veggies (mushroom,/bell pepper/broccoli/onion)

 

Late at night while it's cold I make a hot cup of tea and do a little knitting. I am always in need of new dishcloths and I also gift them to friends near and far.

 

Earlier this week I heard the weather report of possible snow in Vancouver. It didn't happen as anticipated but the temperature did drop two nights ago. The first few photos show the fresh snow on the mountains and a fairly clear sky with beautiful patches of blue.

Fresh snow on the mountains on Tuesday night

It was a clear day to see the mountains in the distance.

I love the snow covered mountain tops.

Then tonight, the snow really started to fly. I snapped this photo as I was returning from a quick grocery shopping expedition. I tried to capture the snow in video but my short films are poorly done.

Wednesday night the snow was flying as I ran an errand to the grocers.

I'll end here and wish you a fantastic rest of your week.

Gratitude December - Day 6

Happy Monday. 🎊🎉

Today we woke up to snow 🌨️❄️🌨️ It is cold enough to freeze the water in the bird bath. 🐦🛁

On Day 6 of Gratitude December I'm grateful for indoor heating. 🔥

For a warming dinner I made beef brisket in the Instant Pot.

I hope you are warm enough where you are.🧣🥾🧤

 

Thank you for stopping by!

Middle of February and We Got Our First Snow

On Sunday Valentine's Day we had snow fall. It snowed a few times more during the week but it didn't last more than one night before it all melted, at least where I live. 

Sky

 

As the week progressed we also got more colour in the sky and it was so lovely to see the sunshine and the beautiful blue sky and fluffy clouds.

I made time to go for coffee. I just stopped off at McDonald's as it was close to where I needed to run some other errands. Besides I like their coffee since it is always hot and fresh. 

Reading

Going for solo coffee is when I love to bring a good book to read. I read these two different books on two different occasions. The first book is written by a fashion psychologist and talks about the science of fashion. It also gives you some tips on creating a minimalist wardrobe. I found it a very satisfying read and would like it for my  personal library but right now I'm still in downsizing mode so I'll hold off on that. I am not into working on my wardrobe right now but in future I will have to make time to go through all my closets and drawers and get rid of things once again. I've been on a long and slow process of weight loss and so I have to get rid of things I'd like to keep but  no longer fit well.

 I am also getting into the book below about French women and how they survived in Nazi occupied Paris.

I bought this beautiful magazine as a nice easy to read treat. I love decorating magazines but don't buy too many because once they are read you need to store them. I used to buy a lot of magazines and so now it is a real treat since I only buy one or two every few years.

I've just order this book, Woman in the Wilderness from the library and it's ready for pick up. I saw this woman and her husband interviewed on a You Tube video. They both live in the wilderness of New Zealand and the woman is 30 years younger than her husband. They don't even live in a house except when Miriam's husband Peter got sick and they live primarily off the land. Miriam is a beautiful, healthy looking creature who kills the animals they eat. Before she lived on the land she was a vegetarian.  Now that they live in the wilderness they need the protein that comes from the animals in order to survive.

Meals

Here is a sample of meals I've prepared this week.

First up is raviolini stuffed with butternut squash served with a cheese sauce, baked chicken and simple salad.

On another day I made hamburger and macaroni soup in a tomato broth.

Next up is a batch of roasted beets,carrots and nugget potatoes.

The roasted vegetables accompanied roasted brisket which I marinated overnight before cooking.

Another day I made roasted pork chops and onions and sliced roasted potatoes flavoured with onion soup mix. I read about using the onion soup mix but if you suffer from swelling then I would advise against using this and to add fresh herbs and spices instead.

Kenya

In my last post I mentioned that Pastor Jonah had to return to Kericho Town to assist with showing the land to local leadership and court and land officials. The expectation is to also provide tea or lunch. Apparently the meeting went well but it was raining so heavily and cars had to be hired to transport people. They didn't linger for a long meeting due to inclement weather but they were provided tea. The officials in attendance seemed satisfied that everything is in order concerning the land grant application but I am not sure how long it will take before a court hearing is scheduled to learn the outcome of the land grant petition.

Next week it will be time to send funds to various people in need. Please keep the needs in prayer if you pray.

Thank you.

 

Linking this week to Skywatch Friday.