Tuesday 4 - Questions

Joining in Tuesday 4 Meme today in memory of Toni Taddeo.

1. Are you happy with the way your life is going?

My life is always changing and I do my best to roll with things. Currently I am undergoing major changes due to a new-ish marriage and the fact my husband joined me all the way from Kenya.  We are both adjusting well and Jonah has been very busy with work and studies. We have a lot we hope to do in future and desire that our plans be aligned with God's plans.  We are off to a good start and look forward to more to come. Apart from these major changes, I'm in the midst of trying my hand at home improvements and though I'm slow I'm happy with things so far.  Last but not least, I am taking 2 short courses this fall and so I expect to be even busier from now until Christmas.  Keeping reasonably busy always makes me happy and moving forward.

2. Are you planning any trips in the future?

I had hoped to have a short trip this summer but it didn't happen. I have no specific travel plans in the near future. Instead I've been trying to see things in my city that I've never seen before. A few weeks ago it was going out to different suburbs near and far and spending some time at one of the parks. 

This morning, after a seminar I attended downtown, I strolled to the Waterfront stopping along the way at Christ Church Cathedral. I've never been inside the cathedral before and have wanted to do that for quite some time. Today was the day and in addition to touring the cathedral I was able to participate in a prayer service at noon.  I also signed a book of condolences for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. There were congregants on hand greeting visitors and they were very welcoming and engaging.

After that I continued my walk down to the Waterfront where I had a late lunch of calamari.  I took some photos from the Pan Pacific Hotel and then continued my walk to Simon Fraser University's downtown campus and one of the few fabric stores in the city, The Dressew.  They didn't have what I was looking for but they kindly pointed me in the right direction.

I was struck by how many tourists there were today.  Many of them struggled with their luggage as they made their way to pick up points to catch a bus to the airport, while others studied their maps and tried to figure out where they were heading. It was lovely to see and hear so many accents today and most of them were from England and India.

You can't quite make out the yellow colour of the pile of sulphur on the right.

 

The sky is quite hazy from the wildfires burning all around us including Washington State to the south of us.

Outside park area with waterfalls at the food court near the Convention Centre.

The brick building is the 1930s Art Deco inspired Marine Building.

I was surprised to see the sun come out. There were a lot of tourists at the waterfront but there was no cruise ship in the harbour today unless it sailed much earlier.

View from Pan Pacific Hotel next to where cruise ships dock.

One of the docking points for cruise ships. Left is the new Convention Centre.

3. Are you reading anything at the moment or do you plan on reading something interesting?

I just completed an interesting book on bees called Bee Time:  Lessons from the Hive, have just started reading Homo Deus: A Brief History of  Tomorrow and awaiting a book from the library entitled The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

4. What's for supper tonight at your house?

I'm making a late supper of roasted chicken breasts, tater tots with pico de gallo and green salad.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Things I Enjoy

Joining in with Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 in  memory of Toni Taddeo.

There are some things we just enjoy quite a lot. Let's talk about it okay?

1. Which book could you read over and over again?

I absolutely love certain authors like Rosamunde Pilcher, Rohinton Mistry and Maeve Binchy.  I've read all the books written by Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy and about half of Rohinton Mistry's books so far.  I would seldom, if ever, read a book more than once. There are just too many books I want to read. I love reading! It's so easy to have a book on hand or have one to read on your phone, Kindle or Kobo.

2. What movie or TV program could you watch and never tire of watching?

I can never tire of watching all the (Jason) Bourne movies when they are replayed on television. I first saw them in the theatre on the big screen. I love them all, even the prequel with Jeremy Renner but I preferred all the others with Matt Damon. 

3. What meal do you like enough to eat several times a week or several times a month?  Got a recipe to share for it?

I do not eat any meal several times a week or month though sometimes it may seem like it, lol. I do eat leftovers the next day or 2nd day after if there is more than enough food for one meal.  In general though, I like variety in virtually everything including food.  Recently I've discovered a recipe for Taco Soup and I love it. I've also made Greek Chicken and Potatoes. I only make the Greek dish 1-2 times a year because it takes more planning and preparation than my usual meals.  I'm basically a lazy cook.  Despite the fact I don't eat it often, the Greek dish is my favourite meal of all time. On Friday, I had my first meal in a sit down restaurant for the first time in ages and I had the Chicken Souvlaki pictured on the photo. The restaurant is one of few remaining restaurants with vintage furnishings and individual jukeboxes at the booths. The man who owns it now was relaying how he has been struggling to keep the restaurant going during the pandemic and he has had to lay off all but one staff (the cook) and he is working long days. They make the tastiest food and it's basically home cooking just as I like it. The restaurant is often used as a movie location, the most recent being in the Sandra Bullock movie, The Unforgivable. 

Greek dish of Chicken Souvlaki without the skewers.

Tonight (Sunday) I made roasted carrots/potatoes tossed in herbs and oil, grass fed beef patties with sauteed mushrooms and onions and a kale salad. Monday night I'll be making Pesto Chicken; another new to me dish that I read about recently on Mari's blog. 

Keto friendly Taco Soup

 

Here is a link to the Taco Soup recipe (Keto friendly) but I didn't use quite as much cream cheese in mine. I also used Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream as that is what I had on hand. The second time I made it I added beans, corn niblets and more seasoning. It was even better so this will be a dish I continue to make.

4. What place do you enjoy so much that you go back again and again? Why do you like it so much?

I love several places and have gone back again and again. In Canada, I love the interior of the province where my late mom recently passed and my niece and a nephew and his family still live. It's beautiful there. 

 

I also love to go to the far north of BC and Alberta as I have relatives living there. 

Out of the country I love Australia and have been to the East Coast (and from north to south). I love it's beauty plus I have distant relatives there. I still do have distant relatives there and have travelled to the land Down Under 3 times. Once with my mother and twice with my brother.  I would love to return however there are so many other places to visit in the world and to explore if we get a chance to travel again internationally.

I also love Kenya and Africa in general. I've been to Kenya 7 times and have friends there. I love the exotic wildlife, the people, the landscape and the work I do in missions to feed the hungry and help the very poor. This is a labour of love and is not backed by any church or organization though I wish it was. I have also been to Ghana in West Africa, a very different place to Kenya. I would dearly love to travel to many other parts of Africa if I get the chance but I also would love to travel through more of Europe and parts of Asia. 

Please click this link to see a bit more of the places I'm writing about. I hope you enjoy the tour.

Thank you for visiting and leave a comment. Enjoy the week ahead.

 

Update

Thank you everyone for your comments, thoughts, prayers and questions. This post will update on the recent information I shared here.

I made the journey from Vancouver to Grande Prairie, Alberta to attend the funeral of my cousin's son who was pallbearer at my late mother's funeral almost 2 years ago. He had been in hospital since around Christmas after finishing chemotherapy and radiation and passed away on March 8th, 2019 at the age of 46 years of age.

There were a great many people at the funeral and his work mates and friends were a big part of the funeral services which was nice.  I was able to visit briefly with so many relatives most of whom had travelled from various places in the northern parts of British Columbia and Alberta.

It took about 17 hours by car to drive to Grande Prairie from Vancouver (see the map for the route north which I'v marked in black ink).  My brother and I left last Thursday evening about 9 p.m. We arrived at our destination at approximately 2 p.m. the next day.  We lost an hour due to the time change. After the funeral, reception and cemetery service we drove about 5 hours southeast to Edmonton where we spent three days resting and visiting with one of our cousins.

While in Edmonton we found out an uncle is now suffering from dementia & has recently been admitted to a long term care facility.  We went to find him and had a lovely visit.  I  was surprised to find him very cheerful and talkative. I'm grateful we had such a nice visit as we do not know if we will have a chance to see him again before the inevitable occurs. His memory was fairly good while we were present.  He even remembered just how long he was in the facility (3 days) and that he'd been transferred from another institution.  The next day we were invited by another cousin to visit for a barbecue dinner. We actually saw him at the funeral but he is now home for the next half a year since work breaks up every year in Spring and recommences in the Fall.  After dinner and a brief visit with his family, we started the long 13 hour return journey home leaving at 7 p.m. and arriving home at 7 a.m. (8 a.m. in Alberta).

The black line on the map below shows our journey to Grande Prairie. The blue line shows our side journey to Edmonton and the portion back home to Vancouver. Most of the photos were taken through the car window so they are not the best.  But they will give you some idea of the geography and weather during the trip.  You can click on any photo to enlarge.

A photo taken as we pass through Jasper National Park.

Signage as we take short cut to Grande Prairie through Grande Cache.

Some stretches of the road you can see miles ahead and it's flat.

Then you come to this view of the mountains.

It was early morning through here between 6-7 a.m.

On the outskirts of Grande Prairie the land flattens and you find a lot of this kind of equipment since it's oil and farming country.

Entering the City of Grande Prairie. In my view it isn't a very pretty city but has had tremendous growth over the last few decades.

A rather nice looking college and city library.

 ~~~~

While we were in the north the weather warmed up considerably. 
When we got back to Vancouver the weather was even warmer with near summer temperatures.
However the forecast for the next while is a bit of rain. 
I need to get out in the garden as this year I have an allotment in addition to my balcony garden which means twice the work for me.  Hopefully I'll be able to grow a lot of vegetables to eat over the summer.

 
Now that I'm home again I'm also hoping to resume my travel photos from my recent travels to Paris and Nairobi. 
I may also do one more post from my most recent trip to share a few more photos of the area.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday

and

wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Short Update

Hi friends, I trust you are all doing well.

I've had a busy time with my niece who has now gone home. We had a lovely but very short visit.  At least we had an opportunity to have a birthday dinner with her brother, go to the beach, the movies and a bit of shopping and relaxing.

Since I posted here last (and after my niece's visit), I went out of town to escort my mom to the hospital for a consultation with a specialist. Unfortunately after leaving very early from my home to get to her city on time, the appointment was cancelled.

On the return home, the light is beautiful and these mountains near Hope on the way to Vancouver are in full view.

The medical van did not bring the right stretcher to transport mom and though they were in process to get the right stretcher delivered,  the doctor's office cancelled the appointment altogether and said it would need to be rescheduled.

Passing through farm fields near Chilliwack.

Mom was disappointed and I wasn't so happy either.  But what can you do? Things happen and I always try to think that things happen for "the best" because of things we cannot know or foresee. It is just a real pain in the butt to have to travel 355 kilometers one way (220 miles) to be told that the appointment is cancelled. So we wait to see what happens next.

I did my best to make mom feel less upset about things but understandably she wasn't happy.  She has already been waiting 4-5 months for this appointment. It is important to the healing of her pressure wounds and once healed she can be free to get out of bed every day. Since I got back home I found out that the wound nurse is going to work with the nurse practitioner and open up and treat the wounds and it remains to be seen about the doctor consultation. I would appreciate your prayers on this as the procedure will happen on Monday.

Approaching the new Port Mann Bridge

On this most recent trip to mom's we were able to bring all the remaining things from mom's storage unit. She was a little shocked (perhaps surprised is a better word) that I threw away some pieces of her furniture. But I explained that it wasn't good sense to pay for storage of furniture that has become old and battered after the many moves they have been through. I am storing all of her excess things in my storage unit which also needed cleaning out first.  I have a lot of medical equipment in my storage and I don't want to throw it away because of the high replacement cost.  I may need something for my own use or if have a friend or acquaintance who could benefit from some of the medical equipment at some point. The only thing I do want to get rid of is one of her electric wheelchair as it takes a lot of space in my home.

In other news, I got home from my trip to mom's, logged on to my computer to check messages and discovered that my hard drive failed. I have been without computer for over 24 hours and lost a lot of documents and photos.

It isn't a major problem because most of what I want to keep or really need is older stuff which I saved in a special place.  These are still safe. It is just the inconvenience factor and the additional cost and lost time trying to find things again that are a nuisance.

The old bridge is being dismantled.

Fraser River looking northeast from Port Mann Bridge

I'm afraid I'm not so good at keeping all my photos and documents organized and safe. It requires more work and effort than I'd like to put into it the task.  So for those things I did lose, I have no one to blame but myself.  Is anyone in my shoes on this one?

Driving west toward Vancouver and home, the sun sets as we pass through Burnaby/Port Coquitlam.

The weather in the next few days is expected to be very hot at 30 degrees + Celsius (86+ Farenheit).  I will be trying to stay cool. 

I wish you all an enjoyable week ahead.

Our World Tuesday 

 

My Lodgings in Lanoraie - Images of Le Belle Province Pt. 4

On my recent travels to Quebec and the eastern USA, I mostly stayed in motels and hotels.  But in the small town of Lanoraie I got to stay in a charming old house.

It has a plaque showing the original owner of the house. 

When you are in the house, you know you are in an old house, at least by Canadian standards.  The house is primarily made of wood and has fairly low ceilings and a very narrow stairwell to the attic where there are two large bedrooms.  There is also a bedroom on the main level as well as a living room, kitchen, dining room, office and bathroom. I think there was also a basement but this would likely have been an addition to the house when it was moved from it's original location to it's present one

 in Lanoraie.

I slept in the attic.  There were two beds in my room. The bed in the photo below is made of wood but I  chose to sleep in the antique metal bed which I did not capture in a photo.

I did get several photos of the various nooks and crannies in the room.

 There were beautiful prints all over the room and many things to draw the eye.

 I thought this little bedside table with the "rabbit lamp"was cute.

 There were lots of books too in every little area where there could possibly be a small bookshelf.

 I had a wonderful sleep which I very much needed.  But the night was all too short as we went to sleep very late and had to leave very early in the morning.

However before we started on our journey, we had breakfast in the dining room.

The house has been modernized with the necessary conveniences but the room sizes and ceiling heights have remained more or less the same.

A view into the kitchen from the dining room.

The grandfather clock.

 

The office and television area. 

 I didn't get a good photo of the living room area or any of the other bedrooms and bathroom.

This historic house was featured in some kind of  exhibition along with 3 others historic houses in the towns of Lanoraie and Lavaltrie.

I really enjoyed my night in this historic house. Apparently while I slept, I was oblivious to the pounding rain, thunder claps and lightening. I had the windows open in  the bedroom for a cross breeze and it was such a welcome relief to have a breeze to help me sleep through the humidity of the summer.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

You can find some of my other travel posts on Quebec in the Blog Archive to the right of the screen. I also have some posts on New York from this trip. More to come.