What I'm Reading

It's been awhile since I shared my reading stack. Here are a few books I'm reading at the moment.

The book, After is my most recent read.  It's all about Near Death Experiences (NDEs) as studied by psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce Greyson during his over 40 years of psychiatric practice and study of NDEs. It's quite fascinating because the book is based on actual patients studied by Dr. Greyson and the findings are based on scientific studies rather than simple anecdotes of patients. 

The people who have had NDEs overwhelming reported a happy, pleasant transition to the other side with no pain at the point of death. Many of the ones who returned to life on earth come back with a strong sense of destiny and purpose to fulfill and the feeling that they haven't yet completed their 'work' here on earth.  There are a few who have a horrible and terrifying experience but they seem to be in the minority. One's background of faith or lack thereof, doesn't seem to make a significant difference in how they experience a NDE. There are many other findings but these ones jump out at me.

I've always been fascinated by this subject so it was interesting to read about what has been studied and some of the findings to date. The end of the book contains a detailed listing of all references and sources for those who would like further study on their own.

The other two books I'm reading are Digging Stars and The Botanist's Daughter.  

Digging Stars is by a new to me author, NovuyoRosa Tshuma.  

Athandwa Rosa Siziba grows up in Zimbabwe without her father who is well known astronomer and professor living and working in the USA. When Athandwa is 11 she joins her father for a single visit but then sadly he dies soon after.  Years later, she returns to the USA when she is old enough to start graduate university studies in the same graduate program her father had attended. What unfolds are the hard and uncomfortable experiences Athandwa faces in regards to race, political consciousness and scientific ethics. I'm at the part when Athandwa is just beginning to confront the challenges of being black in America.

The Botanist's Daughter tells the tale of two women botanists in a race against time to find a rare and miraculous plant.  It's a tale of dual narratives and I'm in early stages of the story. 

One story deals with Elizabeth, a young woman of the Victorian era whose father is a botanist. He dies but on his death bed he entrusts her to the mission of finding the rare and miraculous plant he was unable to locate. Elizabeth travels by boat from Cornwall, England to Chile with her helper to try to realize her mission. 

The other botanist, Anna, lives in present day Sydney, Australia. After Anna's grandmother passes, Anna discovers a mysterious metal box among her grandmother's possessions. The box contains a number of items including watercolour sketches, an old photograph and a bag of seeds.  These items set her on a mission to unravel the mystery of what they mean.

These are the books I'm reading at the moment and they're in various stages of completion. I hope to finish the latter two soon because I have 2 more on hold and they'll be coming available soon. If you have a stellar book you can recommend, tell me a little bit about it in the comments section. Thanks so much and thank you for stopping by!

How Is Your Week Going?

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope the week is going well for you.

It's been busy here at the homestead.

It rained heavily on the weekend an a bit on Monday and Tuesday but otherwise it's expected to get quite warm for the rest of the week.  Possibly longer.

Monday started with a bang.  The workmen delivered a few pallets of cement blocks to the patio using a small crane. It was interesting to watch. These cement blocks will be used to build the garden wall which will then be filled with soil and ready for planting.

I had to make several phone calls. It's the season of birthdays and graduations in my world so I was on the phone making plans or confirming plans for both occasions. Everyone is busy these days so it's hard to find the mutually free time to get together but it works when everyone makes an effort.

I don't have too many indoor plants these days since I now have 2 large artificial trees. However I like to have live plants around me whenever  possible. Though the conditions in my home are not the best for plants (I have too little direct sunlight light and it's too cold for much of the year),  I still like to try to grow them. I purchased a fern that was on clearance and have just recently hung it up after looking for a wire chain and pot to use. I'll need to find another pot as I'm using the blue one as a liner. I'll look for a slightly smaller pot to repot the fern which is root bound. Hopefully I can put it outside in the sunshine even while the work outside is ongoing outdoors. Of course I'll have to do it when the workers  aren't working 

I continue to try and make healthier meals for the dinner hour. Stir frys are a favourite because they are quick and you can add so many different veggies to the noodles, rice or meat.

I'd love to know what is your favourite healthy meal to make?

That's all for today. Thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday Plans

The sky is always changing and I thought it looked especially interesting on a recent walk.

In Fly Lady Land it's Plan and Play Day.

I'm planning on moving out one room so the restoration company can better assess water damage. It means, I need to pack up everything I might possible need for awhile for my personal use while work is ongoing. It should be easy but I tend to think of every possible thing I might need and over pack.  I do the same when I go on holiday. 

I'll likely remain at home while work is ongoing at the condo, though that isn't 100% certain. Once they open up the walls we'll have a better idea of the work plan and schedule. I'll have time to work on a number of projects while I'm at home, even if it's only at night after the workers have gone home for the day.  

For the play part of my day I'll likely read a good book, take a walk, go for coffee or watch some television. I may even do all four if I have the energy. We'll see how the day goes.

Have a good one!

It's Monday ~ Have a Good Week

 

A Special Event

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I trust you had a great start to the month of June. Can you believe we're almost halfway through the year already?  Are you making the most of it?

I can't say I'm making the most of it yet because it's been a very busy year so far with lots of unexpected things happening both with regards to health and hearth.  But I am doing well and grateful for being able to handle everything so far.

On Saturday I had a slow start. I couldn't decide whether to relax as I was tired, or whether I should do some work. Thankfully the work part won out because I just know I'll feel mentally better having cleaned and gotten things ready for the week ahead.  At least I won't feel behind as the week gets underway.

I try to follow the general outlines of a cleaning system called Fly Lady. On weekends one is supposed to rest, have family time and so on. Mondays are for what is called the Weekly Home Blessing hour (WHB) in which you vacuum, sweep, wash and generally pick things up so that the week starts off on a good footing. It's just a quick hour of working as fast as you can to get things looking in shape as the week begins.  I often, though not always, do a WHB on the weekend.  That way I can enjoy a tidier space during the weekend and have less to do come Monday. I also do the bulk of the laundry and bedding on Saturday so I might as well get other work done at the same time.  Since I do mine on the weekends, I take my time.  One hour is not enough time to do everything when you move more slowly.  Can anyone relate? What about you dear reader? Do you follow a certain schedule for household tasks? Do you do housework on weekends or do you like to keep those days free for fun and outside tasks like shopping and errands?

On Friday, I went for a walk and did some errands though I really wasn't expecting to buy much.  I did a bit of thrift store browsing, shopping at the dollar store, buying groceries and looking for a graduation gift for a friend's son's high school graduation.  I've been invited to the graduation ceremony.  I didn't know what I should get for a gift.  The young man will be moving across the country so I didn't want to get him anything that takes up a lot of space or is heavy to carry.

My friends live at the university campus and the graduation ceremony will be held in the same place as the university graduation ceremonies. After the ceremony we'll all go out for a tasty Kenyan dinner afterward. My friends are from Tanzania but they speak the same Swahili language as in Kenya and they share many of the same foods. 

After browsing, I had the idea to buy a small container of items that can come in handy for a student.  I bought things like sticky post its, a journal, pens, paper clips and magnets, some small organizing trays, and a book of prompts for daily prayer.  I also added a wooden puzzle that will give him something to distract his mind when he needs a break from studies.  I just have to wrap the gifts now and think about what to wear on the day which is forecasted to be mixed clouds/rain and sun.

I also stopped off at the thrift store for a little 'look see'. I bought a small rolling cart organizer for the main bathroom. I've been thinking about getting one of these for the narrow space between the bathroom cabinet and toilet. It fits and I think it will work well. I didn't take a photo but it looks like the one in this photo from Ikea. I believe they are also sold on Amazon.

  

I've been fighting a cold and it doesn't help that it turned quite cool for several days. I though some Vietnamese Pho Soup would hit the spot before I continued with my errands.  The soup was very good but I couldn't finish it.  I should have ordered the small bowl since I'd also ordered spring rolls.

On Saturday I was in the mood for a bit of cooking.

I made beef brisket in the Instant Pot, mixed lentils and rice in the rice cooker and a sauteed mix of okra, eggplant and green beans.  It was good and also filling.  Again, I couldn't finish it but it will make a good Sunday snack.

I made ground beef and vegetable soup for Sunday.   Normally I put rice, potatoes or pasta in the soup but this time I did not. Since I didn't cook and render the fat from the ground beef first, I'll skim it off after it cools in the refrigerator. 

I hope you had a great weekend. Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the week ahead.

A Neighbourhood Stop

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you're well.

Over the past week, I've found it quite cold on several days but we are creeping toward warmer temperatures in general.

That usually means looking for cold treats to have while out and about.

I happen to love ice cream and so the local Dairy Queen (DQ) is one of my favourite places in the neighbourhood on a particularly warm or hot day.

My favourite DQ treat is a Banana Split but I don't have these too often since they've become quite expensive. I usually have a small sundae or a dipped chocolate cone. I know these treats aren't too healthy but when you grow up having these kinds of things with friends or on a family outing, it evokes happy memories and it's often hard to give them up completely.

In fact, the other day when I was there a man sat at the table next to me. While he was eating his sundae, he turned to me and asked  how I was enjoying my ice cream.  Then he began telling me about his memories of visiting this same DQ location all through the years. He told me he is 53 years old and had been coming to the location for as long as he could remember. 

His wife offered that he is a good dad and because he made sure to bring the children for an ice cream treat knowing that their daughter is a huge ice cream fan like myself.  It was nice to chat with them over a simple thing like an ice cream treat. Clearly,  the dad was nostalgic.  When his kids grow up they too will have memories of going out for ice cream together with their dad.  The mother is Japanese.  She told me she couldn't figure out her son can eat so much and why her daughter likes ice cream so much.  I told her her teenage son is a growing boy and needs lots of calories.  As for her daughter, well I understand being a fan of ice cream, lol.  I guess the mom didn't grow up eating ice cream so her outlook and desires are different.

Well friends, that's my little story for the day. I hope you have a great day with some fond memories either recollected or newly made.  I'd love to read in the comments what fond childhood food treat memory you have. Thank you for stopping by!

Happy New Month of June

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you're well. I don't know about you but I feel as if the month of may went by in a flash. I've been kept on my toes so that usually makes the time fly by.

Let's hope the month of June is a good one for all of us and that it doesn't get too hot or too cold where you live.  In Canada, wildfires started a few weeks ago in the far north of British Columbia and northern Alberta.  Several communities in both provinces had to be evacuated. Fortunately, they got the green light to return to their homes just a few short days ago. Sadly some people did lose their homes but I think the damage might have been less than originally expected. Thank God for small mercies. It's never fun having to move out of your home unexpectedly and especially not knowing what you might be returning to at the end of the ordeal.

Where I live the weather has been beautiful for much of the month of May but in the last week it turned quite cold.

The small community plot that I planted is doing 'so so'.  It was very cold in April and the garden rules are that the gardens must be fully planted by May 1st.  In April, there weren't a lot of starter or nursery plants available in my neighbourhood but I bought what I could and also sowed sunflower seeds directly into the soil.

They are green items growing in the foreground.  I probably planted too many because they didn't do so well when I tried to start them indoors so I wasn't sure how they would do being sown as seeds into the garden plot.  I've been to the garden plot a few times to check on them.  They seem to be growing a bit slowly but perhaps that is normal since they have a longer growing season than many vegetables.

Various invasive plants have planted themselves in the garden plot as well. I just let them grow.  It doesn't bother me but it does bother other gardeners.  I plucked out most of the mint but I left the strawberries and some poppy plants.  The cherry tomatoes haven't grown very much since planted but this seems to be normal.

We are growing kale, swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes, sweet peas and corn.  The other plants have sown themselves or they come back yearly.  Soon I have to return to do some weeding and also harvest some chives.  They grow so well no matter what the weather and it seems like they don't really need any maintenance.

I picked a few strawberries and ate them after washing. It was a nice little treat.

I'm joining in with Skywatch Friday today.  Thank you for stopping by! Please come again soon.

Wednesday's Progress

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, Happy Thursday to you! I trust all is well in your world.

I continued to be busy all week with the condo water damage issue. I fluctuated between moving out completely or staying put during the completion of the damage assessment. In the end, I think we've decided to fully move out the belongings in the master bedroom where the majority of the damage is located. We decided to stay put while the work is going on. Primarily because it seems that the work itself may not take that long though we don't know that for certain.

Wednesday I started packing up all the clothing, shoes, projects and so on that I may need for the summer months just in case things drag on as they have a habit of doing. One of the factors that made me lean toward staying at home is all the projects I want to make progress on including more decluttering and also craft projects. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress since my theme word for 2024 was 'create' but I haven't had much time to create unless you count being creative with the meal planning and meal ideas.

During this hectic time, I continue to make meals and use up the foods we have had on hand for awhile.  Of course, I've had to supplement with fresh or frozen vegetables as well but I'm trying to keep food purchases to a minimum to minimize food and money wastage. I have a tendency of buying more than I need and I'm really working on changing old habits. The meals in the photos were made Tuesday and Wednesday night. 

Tilapia fish, fried potatoes and mixed salad greens

Stuffed green peppers stuffed with salmon/rice/veggies

Chicken and rice soup

Much progress was made on the paper decluttering though I still have a lot more to do. I can't believe how much paper and other things I still have because I've already shredded so much.  I've decided to stop saving receipts for the remainder of the year in order to reduce paper build up.  I'd been saving all receipts for the past 2 years.  I planned to log them all into an excel spreadsheet  & track my spending in different categories. I just never got around to it and there were so many receipts, especially for groceries.  I'll consider saving and tracking receipts in 2025 once I'm caught up to all the paper decluttering but only if I have time to input the information to a spreadsheet.  I do still keep receipts for anything I buy that I might need to return. I've very much cut down on buying since I'm trying to minimize what I have. My new approach is to buy nothing unless I know I'm going to be using it in short order.  Most of what I have purchased are clothing because of weight loss over the years. I've also purchased a number of work tools to help with small DIYs around the house.

Wednesday's paper trash 

I wondered when I would ever start to notice any progress for all my decluttering efforts. Now that I got rid of a few large pieces like a large screen television and a large stationary bike, I can definitely notice a difference is being made.  Friends were delighted to get the stationary bike because they were recently talking about buying one.  Several friends wanted the television but it wasn't possible for any of them to pick it up in a timely fashion so it went to a local charity.

Last, but not least, I had a meeting with one of my doctors today. He was investigating some spots found on my liver in some other recent tests.  The most recent CT scan I had showed that there was nothing to be concerned about after all. I felt enormously relieved.  I already have so much on my plate with both the indoor and outdoor renovations work that needs to be done. 

Though it may not be ideal to remain at home while renovations are being done, I'm looking at it in a positive light. If I remain at home, I'll be able to see the work that is being done and raise any concerns I might have as they happen.  If there are no concerns, then I'll benefit by feeling good about what is being done.   Another benefit is keeping my eye on patio renovation work and getting the patio set up when the work is completed at the anticipated time of end of June. I'm also hoping to get more decluttering and reorganizing done in the front rooms while work is ongoing.  Of course I don't plan on working every day. I hope to enjoy some time outside in the garden and with other outings.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you can come again soon. xx

Recent Days

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, 

How are you doing?

Life is very hectic right now so I thought I would just show you my current life in pictures.

First up is the patio. It's being completely renovated but the work has been on hold for awhile. Once new pavers arrive for other patios in the building, the work will restart. The pavers will be laid, the cladding and railing on the exterior wall replaced and the garden wall built and filled with soil.  The new estimated completion time is the end of June.  I have no idea what I'm going to plant since I want something that can withstand all seasons with a bit of space left over for annuals. I'd also like something large enough to provide shade but I'll have to wait and see what the new garden guidelines will state.  We've never had garden guidelines before.
 

I made a lot of progress this week on decluttering.

After shredding, these papers go into the big bag in the above photo.

I bought these from SA but never did use them. Sad.

A TV to give away or take to electronics recycling.

 

The bags went to charity, the bike went to a friend

Sunday dinner of baked salmon and roasted vegetables.

Hair tool went to charity

A tasty dinner out, courtesy of a brother

Decluttering.  These went to the trash

Whew! It's a lot of decluttering but it feels good. I just wish I could make quicker progress with the papers. 

I'll be finding out in a day or two whether we have to move out.  I've been working hard to downsize on the assumption that we'll be moved out by the end of May.  At this point I'd rather remain at home because I don't think the work required is as bad as initially thought. But I'll know more soon.

Keep well and thanks for dropping by!

A Dinner Out

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

How are you doing?

You may remember that I celebrated my birthday last week. It was a hectic week due to water leaks in the building and dealing with investigators, movers, insurance adjusters and temporary lodgings but in between I managed to have a birthday lunch or two.

One of my brothers who lives far sent me some funds for a meal on him. Due to being quite busy and not in the mood for cooking, I really appreciated having a meal or two out. This was the meal I had on Friday night and it was delicious (Spicy Tuna Maki and a Bento Box meal of Beef Udon Soup, a California Roll, Mixed Tempura and salad).  This is one of my favourite 'go to' places in the neighbourhood and one of my favourite Bento Box meals. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit, lol.  When I know something is good I return to it again and again.

How about you dear reader?

Do you like Bento Box meals?

Are you a creature of habit like me?

Once again, I thank you for your time to visit my blog today. I'd be honoured if you would leave a comment and I hope you can visit again soon.