Moments of Joy - Skywatch Friday

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, 

Happy new weekend to you all.

After a few days of rain, we had a beautiful day of sunshine though the temperatures are several degrees colder than the norm.

I'm still waiting for the sun to shine just a wee bit brighter to warm my bones.  In the meantime I'm grabbing moments of joy where I can by enjoying all the variety of wonderful tree blossoms in the neighbourhood.

Enjoy your weekend.  Thank you for visiting my Skywatch Friday post.

The Trees Are Blooming

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I've been super busy this week so I haven't had time to get out and about. These have photos were taken from my balcony in early evening.

This week nature gifted us with tree blossoms. It hasn't been too warm but still the blossoms came out almost overnight

These macro photos were taken the day after when I went out for errands.

It's still chilly especially during the evening.  During such weather I always love to see the twinkling night lights of the ski slope in the distance. They look so pretty.

Thank you for stopping by to see what I've posted for Skywatch Friday this week.

A Glorious Sunny Day

 It was such a beautiful day on Thursday and I was able to get out a bit earlier and get some photos of the blossoms. These ones were in my neighbourhood. I would still like to go further afield and get more photos on another sunny day.

I have been busy working on a digital project that has taken a tremendous amount of time. I'm finally making progress on it and hope to finalize it in the next few weeks.  Then I can work on organizing all my digital and paper files as well as my closets. Things just seem to take me much longer these days.

I've also had a bit of time to read here and there and have returned the several decorating books I borrowed to the library. I also picked up two new books.  One is called Greenlights, a memoir by actor, Matthew McConaughey.  The other is a novel called The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristen Harmel.  The novel is one of several I've read by the same author.  All the novels I've read deal with the horrors that befell the Jewish people during WW2.  In every book the author presents a lot of  new to me historical information and I've learned a lot (her books are based on historical facts).  I find the characters and story lines very interesting too though they are set against the horrible backdrop of the  Holocaust.

 

I've mentioned in other posts that I've been doing some minor renos and small decorating projects since before Christmas. I seem to have an endless array of things that need to be done, one of which is finding a better way to store items like throw blankets, large shawls, blankets, sheets and blow up mattresses.  A storage sofa might work but my sofa is still in decent condition so I won't be buying a new one soon. Instead,  I stored one of my blow up mattresses underneath the existing sofa.  It was a tight fit so I may put some bed risers under the feet of the sofa to gain a few inches. 

The ladder is made of pine and lightly coated in clear finish. I took this photo on my walk home with the ladder.

I also ordered a blanket ladder to hang all the throw blankets and large shawls I have in my living room.  It gets pretty chilly for half of the year at night even with the heat on. I still need to find a way to store extra sheets and blankets which are larger. Again, I'm thinking of lifting my bed with bed risers and storing extra blankets there.  I do have a cedar chest for storing linens but it isn't large enough for everything. I think I've also stashed some large blankets in suitcases which are in my closet.  I also recently gave away a few sets of sheets I haven't used for several years and a few throw blankets so that I don't need quite as much storage as before.

I didn't work on my patio garden yet.  It's just as well because my plans have to change.  The strata council is bringing in new bylaws to be voted on in another week or so at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).  I have no doubt the new changes will be approved by the majority of owners. The changes that affect me more directly will be the new rule that we can only plant flowers, not vegetables.  The other rule is we cannot put out any bird seed in feeders.  I'm assuming it's because vegetables attract rodents and bird seed attracts birds and bird droppings.  My neighbours on the top floor have been dealing with the messes left by birds for some time and the strata had to approve an expensive solution of installing wires around the perimeter of the roof to dissuade birds from roosting.  Even though I've never been bothered by bird droppings, I know that the rules have to apply to everyone. I hope to grow some herbs however.  I may simply grow them indoors and take them outside to get some sunshine now and then.

In Covid news, the province has ramped up it's efforts to vaccinate people well in advance of it's original schedule.  It's because they are going to give everyone a chance for early vaccination by delaying the time between the first and second doses of the vaccine.  This means most of us will be vaccinated 4-5 months than earlier thought and I will likely get mine before the end of the month. Other loved ones have already got vaccine one and yet others will get one in April.

Last, but not least,  I want to mention one matter related to the Missions of Hope in Kenya.  I'm looking for a donor who would be willing to help Ernest every month with food and medicine needs.  It is very hard to find a job in Kenya evening during pre-Covid times. But due to his diabetes and Covid concerns the doctor doesn't want him to venture from the village to the town to look for work. I'm looking for a regular donor to support him monthly ($100 US dollars 85 Euros, $125 Canadian, 11k  JYen, $130 AUD).  If you cannot contribute monthly but want to help, kindly let me know at  kerichojoy[at] gmail] dot [com] (eliminate square brackets).

This is a photo collage of Ernest when he was in hospital in 2019. He was hit by a truck while he was walking to hospital to get his monthly medications. He has recovered from surgery with the help of one kind blogger friend who helped with medical costs for surgery and food during his recovery period.

 

Galatians 6:9

 

 

Thanks so much for reading. Enjoy your weekend.

 

 

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

First Blossoms in My Neighbourhood

I missed out on blossoms last year due to inclement weather, wind and rain which blew the blossoms off the trees early and before I could get out and take photos.

To be honest, I am not sure if these are cherry blossoms or apple blossoms.  Either way, they are delicate and beautiful.

 

I took these photos around 6 p.m. on Thursday night. I hope to get some photos earlier in the day next time but I'm not exactly sure when since we are now in a longer period of rainy days. Today's rain was quite heavy. I hope they will not damage the blossoms.

Enjoy your Friday. I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Warmer Weather

I'm still under the weather. 
 We've been having such marvellous weather this past week.
 I've missed most of it because of being indoors but I did manage to get this shot on Friday.

 On Friday I passed by the same street where I took (click highlighted words to see) these photos in March.

 This time the trees were in bloom again but with different blossoms.

How can that be? 

It's a mystery.

But I'm pretty certain there are not two varieties of trees all up and down the street which are blooming at different times.  If I get a chance, I'll try to get back there and take photos before the blossoms are gone.

When warmer weather arrives it is nice to enjoy these delicious salads.

~~

I'm not sure how much I will be blogging in the immediate future or how much time I will have to visit your blogs.
 I will surely try but  I'm so far behind in things.
 I need to focus on getting  well.  Then I need to focus on the things I haven't had time for while convalescing.
Don't be surprised though if you see me pop in to this blog or yours now and then.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.
Thank you for your kind visit.
Have a fabulous week! 

Update: 
I returned to the street where I took photos last month of all the blossoms. 
The trees are entirely bare. The whole street!
The 2nd blooms didn't last long at all.
Fortunately there are still some blossoms on other trees but they've lost the vibrant colour they had last week and look like they won't be lasting much long.
Not to worry. The leaves on all the deciduous trees are now coming out.
Soon everything will be green.

Bluetiful Day

One day I was running errands in an area of town I seldom get to. I've had to go that way a few times in the last few months. 

Since it has literally been years and years since I have visited this part of town, the area has changed considerably.  Whenever yuppies move into a neighbourhood, they change the area dramatically by renovating houses, opening new shops and wonderful cafes and coffee shops.

I will have to return in future to check out some of these "new to me" places.

 On my last foray to the eastern part of the city, the sky was an absolutely beautiful blue, or "bluetiful".  It had been threatening to rain all day but the afternoon turned out to be fantastic.

I'm glad I ventured out after all rather than staying indoors where I would be snuggled against the elements. 

I mentioned that this part of town is changing dramatically.  Actually all parts of the city are changing dramatically.  No matter where you look new building and highrises are going up.  I don't usually take photos of the buildings that are going up as there are plenty of those. 

In the photo above, the building was difficult to cut out of the picture.  I also thought that the building added to the "flavour" of what is happening in the neighbourhood.

While I was trying to capture the sky and the contrail I noticed a bird flying by.

Birds in flight are always a nice surprise. 

A few days earlier before these blue and white sky photos were taken I was in a totally different neighbourhood in the centre of the city.  I was there to photograph more tree blossoms.

I wasn't the only one with this idea.

I crossed paths with at least 5 people in a matter of minutes.

We were all taking photos of the lovely tree blossoms.

 It was a very bright, sunny day with no clouds in sight.

I also took photos of beautiful red rhododendrons in full bloom but these photos were overexposed.

 I'm still learning my new camera and perhaps this summer I will get some better photos of flowers.

 

Thank you for visiting (and commenting).

Linking up with Skywatch Friday
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