Update and a Big Announcement

 Hi everyone, 

I trust you have all been doing fine. 

I have been on a long blogging break for a number of reasons but the blogging break has gone on longer than I intended.

When I first went off line it was because I was working very hard on what I had hoped was the last stages of major decluttering. This involved dealing with all the papers I've been collecting and storing for years.  Several years ago I had gone through my large filing cabinet and gotten rid of a lot of paperwork so I thought I was well on my way to completion.  However I discovered that that was only the tip of the iceberg.  The more I looked, the more I had papers here and there that I had stored away. It seemed like as I was going through and shredding old papers that they were in fact expanding in number! Of course that wasn't actually happening, it's just that there was so much of it. I set myself a deadline of the end of March, then April and I worked hard toward the goal.  I got rid of much of it but I still have more to do. 

Once I stopped shredding papers, I got very sick with a bad cold. I had worked myself very hard and so I guess my immunity was not that great.  I no sooner got through that then I started having an arthritic flare up and it has gone on for many weeks. I'm not one hundred percent sure why the flare up happened but I think it is largely due to the horrible weather we've had for the last quarter of 2021 and for half of 2022.  Constant rain.  

It's actually been quite cool too but I think I'll take the cool to the heat wave we had last summer at this time.  Sadly, the hot weather resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and wild fires totally wiped out one small community named Lytton and another First Nations community or two. The damage to the forests was also extensive. Lots of rain to dampen the earth this year has significantly reduced threat of wild fires for the present time. Instead communitys are now dealing with possibility of flooding due to melting snow packs on the mountains combined with heavy rainfall. Water levels are dangerously high right now throughout much of the province but I'm hopeful that rivers won't overflow. This past week we had a mini-heat wave but yesterday and today, it is back to a bit of rain and overcast weather. I prefer it when the weather is broken up with warmer days and cooler days as keeps everything in better balance all around.

In between decluttering and getting sick, I did manage to plant the garden albeit not quite how I normally do. The heavy rainfall and cold seemed to affect how things are growing. Too much water I think but at least things are now blooming.

My nephew and his girlfriend are looking after the community garden at the park again this year. They enjoyed it so much last year but next year they may get their own plot if any are available.

If you are still reading, I have some big personal news to share. I've been waiting for the right time to share it and now seems to be a good time.  My long term readers and blog friends know that I do grassroots missions to villagers in Kenya and have been doing so for a very long time. Early on in the missions outreach, Jonah and I met through a mutual pastor friend. Jonah is a trained pastor but also has an academic background in humanitarian work and a significant volunteer background in relief work in Kenya.  We had been planning to get married for quite some time and on my last visit to Kenya it finally happened.  The global pandemic and Canada's backlogged immigration process delayed our reunification but as of May, Jonah landed in Vancouver and we were reunited at last.

Here he is on arrival day in Vancouver. He's not used to getting flowers :-)

 

As you can imagine, we have been super busy.  There is an awful lot for Jonah to learn and discover but he is adjusting well and enjoying the process. He loves it because it is peaceful and the city is not too small.  The city is quite large by Canadian standards but is relatively small and calm compared to Nairobi where he often travelled for business.  We hope to continue the work of the missions in Kenya and to share what we feel led to share now that he is here but first things first.

Immigration and travel during these last few years has been very challenging. As we went through the process we could see the hand of God in the process.  We really know that God undertook everything on our behalf and was with us through it all.  This was especially evident to us through the last year and even now.  We are grateful when we realize the great hardships and difficulties that so many other couples have faced and are still going through as they journey through the same process. I'm still marvelling at how quickly our application was processed though it took some time for the officials to actually begin processing the paperwork. Some people have been waiting years and ours took only about 4.5 months to be processed though the other elements of the process added time. Truly a miracle during the Immigration backlog affecting millions of people.  We don't take the blessing lightly and are thrilled to begin life together.

Here he is at one of our outings to Stanley Park and the waterfront.

The long weekend is coming up so I just want to wish all my Canadian and American readers a very Happy Canada  Day (July 1st) and Independence Day (July 4).

Stay safe until next time💓💖🎇🎆

Break Time

Hi friends,

I'm popping in to let you know that things are getting increasingly busy for me as I deal with a couple of major life happenings and on top of that spring work and maintenance.  My plan is to stop posting and surfing blogs for a month or two while I deal with things.

Posting doesn't take that long but I get very distracted because once I'm into blogger I begin reading and often commenting on posts. It's fun, but time consuming. Hopefully by staying off line for awhile I will be able to do everything that needs to be done.  Everything is good. I just need to focus right now. 

In the meantime, I'm sending you all best wishes for a wonderful season wherever you are in the world. Where I live it is springtime but still a bit chilly.

I've been hoping for warmer weather and sunshine to better show the cherry blossoms.  However it has been raining a lot and is still a bit chilly.

Keep well and stay safe.

Tuesday 4 - Which One?

 Welcome to Tuesday 4 in memory of Toni Taddeo.

Which one do you prefer?

1. Picnic by the water or backyard BBQ?

I absolutely love the waterfront and would choose the venue for a picnic if there weren't a lot of people around. I love to have peace and quiet and just enjoy the picnic with family or loved ones. A backyard BBQ is attractive because you won't have a lot of noisy people around plus you don't have to schlep your food and other accoutrements very far.

2. Spring or Autumn? Got reasons?

This is a hard one because these are both my favourite seasons. If I have to choose one I guess it would be spring. The reasons are that it brings so much joy and colour after a cold, long, gray season of late autumn and winter. I do love fall too because of all the beautiful colour and the cool, crisp air after a hot summer. I find crisp air so invigorating.  But I would have to choose spring just because it gives my spirits a lift and I look forward to growing season. When fall rolls around I get a bit melancholy because I know it won't last long and winter is around the corner. If I could only have fall and spring, I would gladly do away with winter and summer.

3. Cup of Tea or Cup oCoffee?   'splain it to us Lucy... if you don't mind!

I love coffee best. Probably because when I was a child almost every one drank coffee when they visited one another and there was a lot of visiting going on. Tea was usually only brought out for a one on one afternoon visit. I really love the smell of coffee too and I have fond memories of the coffee aroma wafting it's way to my nose whenever mom or dad would make morning coffee.  Nowadays I drink coffee in the morning and early afternoon. I switch to decaf or herbal tea late at night to keep me warm and I also drink a lot of water.

4. A weekend at home or one spent out and about?

It depends what one is doing out and about. If it is going to see some naturally beautiful spots or spending time with a friend  then I will go for being out and about. I also like to go out and about once or twice a week just to spend quiet time on a walk or running a few errands, maybe reading a book over coffee. Otherwise I would much rather stay home relaxing or doing things around the house. 

Dockside, a local restaurant to which a friend introduced me.

A friend took me to the above restaurant which was quite special because it is marina side and it wasn't very busy at noon. I enjoyed it because I don't really like crowds especially when trying to visit with a friend. Of course if you go to some events you expect it to be busy and then you don't really visit but simply enjoy companionship while taking in the sporting event, concert, movie and so on.

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.

Cherry Blossoms are Here!

Hello everyone, 

I'm a bit late to the Skywatch Friday party. My excuse is it's been a very busy week and I didn't have much of an opportunity to get sky photos.  It's been raining heavily all week!

However it's cherry blossom time again and I was able to capture a few of the beautiful blossoms. The following photos are not retouched so you can see how dull the sky was when I took the photos. It is hard to see the colour of the cherry blossoms but they are still so pretty and soon the sun will shine here.

 

 

Have a wonderful Friday and thank you for stopping by!

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.

Just Wondering

Welcome to Tuesday 4 in memory of Toni Taddeo...

This is one of Toni's last Tuesday 4 posts published December 9, 2019.

 1.   When was the last time you tried something new?

The last time I tried something new was a few days ago. I made a Curried Chicken dish with raisins and peaches. The latter was substituted for dried apricots which I did not have. 

Thanks to Jeanie at Marmalade Gypsy for sharing the link to the recipe.
The only other new thing I've done lately is try a new facial serum. I'll know it works if it minimizes my wrinkles.

2.   Who in your family do you compare yourself to?

I don't compare myself to anyone. However many extended family members and old family friends compare me to my late mom.  They can't get over how much I look like her in height (short), build and facial features.  My late father was also short.  Mom used to like to laugh at me because she was "taller" by one quarter inch and we'd tease one another about being short.  Though we looked alike and shared many same values, we were also very different people in many ways. 

Mom's last earthly birthday (post stroke)

 3.   What lesson in life did you learn the hard way?

I learned one very important lesson the hard way and that is in life you will often stand alone.  It's best to anticipate this so you are not surprised when it happens.  Good lessons in life are often painful but what they teach helps you so much as your journey through life's byways.

4.   What can you do today that you weren't able to do before?

That's a difficult question. I can't say I've really learned to do things that I couldn't do before though there are definitely still some things I'd like to learn.  For now I keep practising some things and hopefully improve on them. Especially things that don't come naturally like knitting and cooking.  

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate you!

A Busy Week and Some Beautiful Skies

It's been a very busy week and I'm looking forward to a bit of rest over the weekend. It was also a very beautiful week weather wise with some fabulous skies.

 

I completed reading the next books a little quicker than I wanted because two of them were due at the library. They could not be renewed due to their tremendous popularity. I love using my library but sometimes it's difficult to read popular books when there are long wait lists for them.  If there is no wait list for a book, the library has increased renewal options to three times (9 weeks) rather than two (6 weeks).  I'm very happy about that.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz introduced me to a new angle on the Holocaust.  Apparently there were many Jewish women who toiled and sewed for the wives and women who were part of the Nazi regime.  The author of the book painstakingly pieced together the story of these women and paid homage to their contributions to war resistance efforts. It was not an easy task since the Nazis burned a lot of the incriminating evidence when they realized they had lost the war.  This is definitely a very eye opening and interesting book which goes into considerable detail about the textile operations at Auschwitz.

 

 

The Man Who Died Twice is a very engaging book. It is a complicated murder mystery and I guess it is book #2 of a two part (to date) series. I didn't read book #1 and I think this book stands on it's own. It is described in part as a humorous book but it isn't "split a gut" or "laugh out loud" funny. Subtle humour is sprinkled throughout to balance the numerous murders. I understand that Steven Spielberg is turning this book into a major motion picture.

 

Wish You Were Here is another excellent read. I am surprised I enjoyed this book so much after reading several negative reviews. The book was written after the author's experience in contracting Covid-19 and it  deals with what a patient experiences after contracting and surviving Covid and having been put on a ventilator.  Perhaps it is too soon for most people to appreciate such a book but I was very engaged in the story line throughout.

The storytelling is top notch and besides the great story telling, I was very interested in the topic of lucid dreaming that many Covid survivors experience. Another tidbit I picked up from the book is the concept of generational trauma. This is a new to me concept,  having only just heard about it in the past month or two.  It is only mentioned in the novel and not discussed in any detail.

Apparently the Japanese have done research on the idea of generational trauma. The subject piques my interest due to the recent findings of several massive child burial plots at multiple Indian Residential School sites in Canada. The intergenerational trauma suffered by many residential school survivors is of keen interest to me and one I hope to learn more about.  I'm interested in better understanding the lingering affects of trauma, not just on the person directly traumatized but also on their descendants.

Besides reading, I recently enjoyed dinner out at a vintage restaurant (pictured below). Don't you love the individual booth jukeboxes? The play list is full of old hits and I often dance in my seat when I hear the songs start up.  It's fun!

I've also been busy this week with health issues, both mine and my "baby" brother's.   He had his second eye surgery on Wednesday.  He has now completed two eye surgeries and things seem to have gone successfully though it will take a few more days healing.  As for me, I finally have the 'go ahead' to do some treatments on my neck and back which are suffering after the accident I had in late September.  There are numerous reasons why the treatments didn't happen sooner. I won't go into details. It is good timing now for things to move forward since I'm currently experiencing a lot of neck and back issues.  As for my ear, I've been told that the hole or tear in the drum has miraculously healed itself. I don't know how it happened but the specialist said that once the ear canal environment is made more healthy, holes or tears can sometimes heal on their own. Just to be sure that things remain that way, I have a follow up appointment in 3 months. One thing she did tell me after reviewing the CT scan more closely is that it looks like I had a fracture in the back of my jaw. I'm not surprised because the impact I had was very significant. I also had the fracture in my cheek area. I'm not sure that it is fully healed but it looks a lot better. My cheek doesn't exactly look normal but the surgeon and I have agreed that I won't be moving ahead on any facial surgery due to possible complications, primarily infections.

I made another trip to the library to pick up a few more books. I forgot to get a photo of two other books I have in my stack so I actually have 6 books on the go.  That's a little too much for me. I wasn't going to read much this year and I'll reach my very modest target when I finish the current book,"Burke's Law:  A Life in Hockey" by Brian Burke.  Brian Burke is well known in the hockey field but I only heard of him when he married a local journalist, Jennifer Mather.  I think he met her after he was hired as the Director of Hockey Operations for the Vancouver Canucks. I'm not fully sure because I didn't get to that part of the story yet. I only know they married and lived here for awhile before moving to the USA (they are now divorced).  I only follow hockey a bit here and there but I am finding the book, and the man, very interesting.  The book is full of interesting hockey history too.

I will still be limiting my reading this year so I can focus on a few other things.  First I need to complete the current stack of books I'm reading.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Thank you for stopping by!