Skywatch Friday ~ September 30, 2022

Friday September 30, 2022 is first  National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day.  It is a new Canadian statutory holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system. You can read more about it here to understand how the statutory holiday came to be.

Yesterday I had lunch with an old and very dear friend of mine. She is now 87 years old and I haven't seen her for a few years. I cannot believe that much time has passed since we had lunch on my street. In the meantime her long time husband has passed on and she has moved from the house they shared to a beautiful apartment not too far from where they lived. She invited me to come and see her new home.

Her apartment has two small balconies with the most stunning views of the city. She lives on the 11th floor so I snapped photos to the north and to the east.  It clouded over while I visited her and was raining by the time I took these photos and eventually made my way home.

View to the northeast. The buildings in background are in the city's west end neighbourhood.

Same scene as above but  bit earlier in the afternoon before the rain came.

The green in the center of the photo is Stanley Park and the mountains shrouded in mist is West Vancouver.

Many ships and barges were in the water. The number kept changing.

A view to the east includes parts of Kitsilano neighbourhood and the high rises in back are downtown.

My friend made a great choice in a new place to live. The building has an outdoor pool, a fitness center, lovely garden and everything you could need is a short distance away. The best part of all is the comfortable surroundings and the fabulous views.

Perhaps you can see in the last photo how dry the lawns are. Normally they would be green but we had hardly any rainfall for many months after getting so much rain last fall, winter and even into the spring. We had a late arriving heat wave it we are expecting warm, summer-like conditions again though it rained on Wednesday and was overcast on Thursday.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday. Thanks for stopping by and visiting today.

Tuesday 4 ~ Light

We are experiencing a heat wave this week and Tuesday will be very hot. After that it will cool a bit each day. I'm not sure what the rest of the summer holds since our warm weather came very late this year unlike last year where we battled constant heat and wildfires or smoke from wildfires. It seems that kind of weather has moved on to central an eastern Canada, parts of USA and Europe. Please stay safe and cool wherever you are.

~~~~

 Welcome to another Tuesday 4 by Toni Taddeo.

 

Let's talk about light, okay? You light up my life.. shine a light in the darkness, Miller Light. All kinds of light but how about at home?

1. Are you afraid of the dark? Is night or day your favorite time?

I'm not afraid of the dark in general; only if I am alone walking in the dark anywhere. Late at night or very early in the morning are my favourite times because it tends to be cooler and quiet. 

 2. Do you have night lights in your home?

I have a night light that plugs into the socket in my bathroom. When I use it I don't have to turn the hallway lights on if I get up in the middle of the night. I don't always use it though because light keeps me awake.

3. How low do you set your air conditioning?  Do you adjust it through the day?

I don't have any air conditioning though I wish I did. I do have a few fans and I turn them on and off all day long during hot summer days or when the air is stagnant.

4. Do you keep any outdoor or indoor lights on all night?

I don't keep lights on outside all night. In fact, it is forbidden by the strata by-laws to have light bulbs outside. I pretend I don't know that and I have a few solar lights in the garden to enjoy at night when I look out. Inside I only have the bathroom light which only throws light once it's dark. I don't use it all the time as light tends to keep me awake when it filters through the cracks around the door.  

Late at night I read or knit and sometimes watch TV. It seems I concentrate better when virtually everyone else is sleeping. (The photo shows 3 books I'm currently reading).  Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day

Hey friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope the week is going well for you.  It's been a bit busy for me but not with anything major. I just have a lot of little things to do and small things to catch up on. Don't you find that little things seem to take more time somehow?

I completed the murder-mystery by Canadian author Shari Lapena. I enjoyed it but the ending left me a bit disappointed though I think someone else may find it suits them fine. I don't want to say more because I know many of you are fans of murder-mystery novels so I don't want to give anything away.  Currently I'm reading, The Lemon Tree Hotel and Arctic Man both of which are good for different reasons. However I  wouldn't say they are totally engrossing.  Just satisfying and satisfying is good enough.

I'm still working to try and keep the meals tasty and interesting.

These are a few of the meals we had in the past few days.

Stir fried beef and onions and stir fried noodles with chili and vegetables.

BBQ Ribs and Kraft dinner with side of coleslaw (coleslaw not in photo)

Curried cauliflower & split peas served with rice and homemade chapati

Penne-pasta-lox-n-spinach with caesar salad.

BBQ-salmon-pilaf-salad

 

I think I mentioned that I try to follow the Fly Lady household routines. One of the big principles is to clean and shine your sink at least once a day. I try but often it seems like I don't get to it until very late at night.  It takes me so long just to wash the dinner dishes after I've finished eating dinner. Now and then I get ahead of the game and it always feels good to have a nice, clean sink.

Yesterday I paid the fee for the community garden and asked my nephew and his girlfriend to take over the plot once again this year.  After that I'll decide whether I want to continue renting the plot going forward. My nephew and his girlfriend gained some valuable gardening experience and I was able to focus on my patio garden and also catch up with a lot of projects and tasks at home.

One of my favourite days is Wednesday which is called anti-procrastination day in the land of Fly Lady. I usually am able to get one niggling item out of the way on that day, sometimes two.  I think it helps me to stop thinking about my long list of items during the week if I have a dedicated day to work on them. Of course, if I'm up to it I can also work on such tasks on any other day.

Errand day is on Thursday and I usually run to the post office, grocery stores and the library. Actually grocery shopping usually takes me about 3 separate errands on different days but Thursday is the main shopping day and some weeks I don't have so much to buy. Tomorrow I am expecting a package and I'm looking forward to it.  If it turns out to be helpful I will write about it in a future post.

Friday I'm also expecting a long awaited delivery of grass fed beef from an area where the ranchers were flooded out in November. You might remember me writing about the floods and the destruction of a major highway from Vancouver to the Interior of BC and beyond. I'm surprised the rancher has anything to deliver but I'm anticipating they won't be able to fulfill all their orders, possibly even mine so we shall see what happens.

We had some sunny days last week and fog earlier in the week. The weather forecast was for possible snow today. In fact it is did snow but barely and it quickly melted before the rain started.

As you can see, the sky is very gray and not very interesting unless there are some distant lights to look at.

Other things keeping me busy are liaising with long distance friends and relatives, watching a lot of Netflix, daily devotions and prayer and the daily things that keep the household going.

What about you dear reader? What things kept you busy this week?

Whatever it is you are doing, I hope you are keeping healthy and happy.

Gratitude December - Day 20

The weekend saw another storm and thousands were left without power.  Today I am grateful for the sun and clear skies. 

I am also grateful that I live in a place with such beautiful scenery. It adds to my daily enjoyment of life.  What is one thing you are grateful for today?

 

In the last several posts, I've mentioned an opportunity to bless villagers in Kenya with a Christmas meal. If you would like to participate and help feed a village family please click the red flower to the right of blog to be connected to Pay Pal.  If you wish to read more about the initiative please click here and scroll to the bottom of the post.  We appreciate your kindness at this challenging time of year.

Thank you for visiting. Enjoy your holiday preparations as we near Christmas Day!

Skywatch Friday - End of October

The week's weather in photos. As you can see there was an awful lot of rain but I didn't take photos of the rainiest days. Too wet! 

 

The beautiful sky in the first photo was on Monday when I had an appointment at one of the local hospitals.

The next two harbour front photos were taken on another day that ended up being quite nice.

 

The  next two photos show the weather and the sky on Thursday.  It rained very heavily overnight and all day Thursday.  I stayed indoors and was able to accomplish a lot on my list of things 'to do'.

 It's supposed to clear up this week for a few days so that will be a nice change.

 

I've been super busy for a while now and not posting nearly as often or visiting as many blogs. I've decided I need to try and pace myself so this might continue for awhile but I miss participating in different memes and reading the blogs I follow.

Joining up with Skywatch Friday.

Thank you for visiting.

The Last Friday in February 2021

This week I thought for sure we were going to get spring weather but it snowed again.  When I awoke on Thursday this is what the scene looked like (left side). As the day progressed the sky clouded over and the snow melted

There was a pinkish glow over the ski mountain (to the right of the church steeple in the photo). The phone camera didn't capture the colour so well.

I bought most of these small cans of herbal teas on sale and I've only just started drinking them. The two I've tried (Antiox and Immune) are quite good. The Early Grey is not herbal tea but it is decaffeinated. 

These came in handy this week while I was fighting off a sore throat during the snow spells we've been having. Normally I enjoy a cup of Rooibos tea (Red Bush tea from South Africa) at night.

I baked these beef pot pies a few days ago as lunch items or snacks.  They are store bought and I don't like them much but they fill a need if nothing else is handy.

 

Reading

I finished reading Woman in the Wilderness which I found interesting. This woman who lives in the wilds of New Zealand has written two books but my library only has this one.

 

I'm finishing up with these two books. The fashion book is super interesting and is basically about the psychology of fashion or clothing and also provides tips on how to construct a minimalist wardrobe. I've been trying hard to fill the gaps in my wardrobe for years but with steady weight loss it has been challenging. I keep having to get rid of things and buy new things though I only ever buy on sale. Thus I don't always have the best selection or the colour selection I want but I do my best. There is no way I will pay full price for things though I do try to buy good quality regardless.  This week some on line purchases arrived. I didn't have much luck with them though. Most of the clothing was either a tad too small or a tad too big. I was very happy to have get a pair of slip on shoes for a fraction of the regular price. They are just a tad too long but I know the next size down would be too small and the store doesn't have any stock left whatsoever. I guess the clearance price made it appealing to a lot of other women. Anyway, whenever items don't fit it is a lot of work to package it all up and return it. I will try to do that this weekend. I may even go to the store in person to speed up the refund.

 

The next book on my list, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, looks and sounds interesting. If you click on the title of the book I've linked it to an article in the Irish Time, summarizing how the author came to the idea for the story and how it took shape.
 

Shopping and Air Travel Points

I went shopping today a bit farther afield than I usually go because there is a point promotion going on for collection of Air Miles. I made a list of items I need that gave bonus Air Miles.

 

Of course all this food needs to be sorted and put away. My fridge needs a good cleaning too.

It takes forever to collect these points or rewards unless you shop at all participating stores. Which I don't. I save these and eventually hope to use them toward a few nights hotel somewhere.  I'm not sure where I will go yet or how easy it will be to use the points. I only used Air Miles once before on a trip to New York. We stayed in Seacaucus, NJ and another place near the Jersey Shore. It was many years ago now but I do remember that both places were Holiday Inn hotels with the latter being an Express (limited services).  I especially enjoyed the service and the location of the Holiday Inn at Seacaucus. They are located in a mall area with access to restaurants, cinemas and a few shops.  There is a shuttle bus that takes you to the train station which you can hop on and it drops you right downtown Manhattan at Penn Station.  We actually chose this location to avoid paying for car parking in Manhattan.  It can get rather pricey. In those days I was barely walking so all these things were very important to my stay. If I should ever return to NYC I would gladly stay in Seacaucus again. 

Covid 19 Vaccination Plan

We are a little behind in my province for getting vaccines though they did start implementing them in late January to residents in care homes and staff. On Monday the government and top medical doctor will release details of where and how to register for the vaccination. They have already identified in which order different groups of people will be vaccinated and it is for the most part based on age. It means I will be at the end of the queue though I suppose that could change. Either way I'm okay with it. I'm more concerned about those that are older and in care or dealing with people every day. At least I can keep myself at home and much safer than many others can.

Kenya 

Pastor Jonah has been working on the court documents for the land grant and a court hearing will be held in early March. Hopefully this will conclude the court process for the land grant to be effective. After that land will need to be registered at the Land Title Offices and so there will be some cost and time involved in that process as well. 

I realized the other day that I hadn't sent any funds for planting. In earlier years I would help the people do the planting in January which is the normal start to the planting season but the last few years I've had to delay the planting as I've found myself over extended as costs have risen both in Kenya and in Canada. We really cannot delay anymore otherwise several families are without food to eat through the year. So funds have now been sent. In a few days additional funds will be send for the day to day needs (medical, soaps, additional food stuffs like flour and oil, etc.). If you are able to assist in any way kindly get in touch.

At Home 

I'm marking my 3rd year with the community garden plot located a few blocks from my home.  Last year I found it difficult to manage two gardens during the time of Covid.  This year I've asked a young relative to take over the garden for me and she readily agreed.  The garden overseers have already been in touch about compost, garden repairs and so on that will occupy the summer months. My relative is eagerly studying and learning about what to plant and how to start seeds. If she enjoys the gardening experience maybe she will want to continue with me the following summer or get her own plot.  With the help at the community plot I will only have to care for the patio garden and I have a lot of work to do there. Despite my best intentions of cleaning it last autumn I never got around to it. I need to start buying what I need soon and I hope if all goes well that I can start this weekend. If not, it will be next weekend.

Take care everyone and stay safe.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday.

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.