Coffee or Tea? ~ Tuesday 4

Welcome once again to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

The living cat on record, Creme puff,  lived to be 38 years old and was given coffee at breakfast all his life.  Breakfast for him was bacon, eggs, broccoli and coffee.

The previous owner of the record was Grandpa Rex Allen who lived to be 34 years old on the same diet.  Coffee reduces chances of Alzheimers, Parkinsons.  

Tea without adding milk can "tan" your bladder making for many problems .  Milk binds the tannic acid making it safe to drink.

Homemade food increases an animal's life span too.  Let's talk about it, okay?

1. Coffee increases a bee's memory and does the same for you.      Bees love caffeinated coffee  flowers.  What do you love about coffee or tea?

I love coffee for the smell and the taste.  The caffeine also perks me up enough to get going after a night's sleep.  I also love tea for the taste.

2. If you opened a tea or coffee shop in your neighborhood what would it be named?  How would you decorate it? Would pastry or cake be served?

Good question. I haven't landed on a name because I haven't thought much about opening such a shop.  How about "Perfect Potion" or "Chat and Brew", lol. As for decor, I envision a rustic interior with lots of wood and beams. The other option would be a shabby chic look. Cakes and pastries would definitely be on the menu because these sweet treats go well with tea and coffee.

3. Beethoven required 60 beans per cup of coffee.  How particular are you about your coffee or tea?

I am not that particular. I only require that the coffee or tea not be bitter.

4.  Italian clergy in 1600s  declared coffee the devil's brew and forbid it.  Pope Clement the VIII wanted to taste it, loved it and blessed it ... today, new research shows black coffee is drunk mainly by psychopaths.  Sweden banned coffee in 1746 as dangerous and Islam banned it for causing free thinking!  

How do you take your coffee you free thinking, radical and what's your favorite brand of devil's brew?

I take my coffee with cream, no sugar. My favourite canned brand is Maxwell House. My favourite beans if I buy at the coffee shop are Sumatra Java or Guatemala Antigua. I also like certain coffees from Ethiopia, Kenya and Columbia.  

I used to drink my caffeinated tea black or with lemon but these days I drink it with cream. If I drink herbal tea, I take it without cream or sugar.  My favourite at the moment is Rooibos from South Africa. I usually drink herbal tea at night when I'm relaxing before sleep.

Autumn is Near ~ Skywatch Friday

In a few days I'm sure I'll feel the distinct chill in air when nature lets me know that summer is over and autumn is here.  It happens each year, immediately after Labour Day.  Summer goes by very quickly and autumn even more so. I hardly caught my breath all summer as I was so busy catching up with decidedly 'unsummerlike' activities.  But I'm feeling good about it all and happy to see the backside of many small projects which never seemed to get done. Most of it was paperwork related and that kind of stuff is always good to get out of the way as soon as possible.

I'm enjoying the skies above me as always and I'm grateful for the surprises and gifts offered each day if we look up.

This summer I grew sunflowers in the patio garden. 

Normally I only plant them at the community garden but thought I'd do something differently. I noticed the leaves were turning black.  I think it was some kind of fungal disease. I just tried to pluck them off and add diatomaceous earth.

Sunflowers always make me happy with their big, yellow faces.

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

The Northern Lights Visit the South ~ Skywatch Friday

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I took the following photos on August 12th. I saw this glow in the sky which I'd not seen before so decided to take some photos. The next day I read that the city had experienced the aurora borealis or the northern lights but that was on August 8th.  I think what I captured was the tail end of it. I thought the sky looked pretty cool.

I actually grew up seeing the dancing northern lights during the winter months.  They look a lot different which is why I didn't know what I was looking at. I enjoyed seeing them because I missed them when they visited earlier.

Thank you for visiting my Skywatch blog post today. I hope you enjoyed.  I hope you will visit again soon.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know ~ Tuesday 4

Hello!  You are so welcome here at Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.  

Let's inquire about stuff....

1. What gets your blood to boiling?

Hmm, not much makes my blood boil but I would have to say injustice and dishonesty together or apart are 2 things that can get me going.  Actually I was just thinking about this the other day when I was reminiscing about being so angry with an aunt of mine through marriage my uncle (mother's brother). 

I was very young at the time, a young teenager still in high school.  My aunt had taken advantage of my younger siblings and significantly underpaid them for babysitting.  My siblings were very hurt and I was livid over it.  Since my aunt and uncle lived very close, I  went to their home just across the way and had it out with her and laid down the law that there would be no more babysitting. I was a bit hot headed and actually usurped my parent's role. I had always jumped in to save my younger brother or my younger sister whenever they had issues with others treating them poorly so it was just an instinct to do the same in the baby sitting situation.  My siblings and I never did babysit for my aunt again. We were too busy babysitting for everyone else so it wasn't an issue of lack of opportunities.

Fortunately I never had to intervene in the same way again.  I didn't feel good about what happened to my siblings on that day but I also did not feel good about losing my cool or how I handled the situation. Nonetheless I'm still bothered by injustice and dishonesty more than other things. 

2. What does a really good day look like for you? What makes you say, "That was a great day"?

It doesn't take a lot to make me have a great day.  For example, I like it when I go out in the ordinary course of business and run into nice people and chit chat with strangers along the way. 

Just the other day I went to the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE).  I wasn't sure I wanted to go but decided to go because I had a bit of 'free' time and the entrance fee was reduced by about 60% for everyone on that day.  The weather was also not too hot and just the perfect kind of day for walking around.

I zoomed into this woman's hair because of the colour.

The fair wasn't terribly busy that day and everywhere I went people were friendly and wanted to chat. I was alone so I was quite up for the chatting. I enjoyed several lengthy chats with different people throughout the few hours I was at the fair. It made my time very pleasant. 

I also spent a bit of time checking out the farm animals but I didn't get too many photos.

I love this bison

Isn't the baby llama so cute?

3. Are you continuing to grow mentally, spiritually, talent wise or are you  just marking time?

Yes, I'm growing in all ways.  I'm always studying something though I don't spend so long on any one thing. I am constantly researching and reading both for pleasure and also for learning, every day things, things on the news, new developments in the world & spiritual matters. I love YouTube because you get access to so many people that you wouldn't ever have a chance to listen to live and in person.  You can also research people and topics on line in a jiffy.

I also continue to learn new things concerning household projects and hobbies.  Over the past year I completed many simple DIYs like painting, changing door knobs, putting up shelving, etc. I also like to keep busy with my hands by doing arts and crafts.  Though I don't have patience for tackling complicated crafting projects, I do try to learn a new aspect of a craft now and then.  My newest crafting projects relate to beaded embroidery.  I made beaded jewellery as a teenager but never did beaded embroidery.  It's more difficult than thread embroidery so it will take me more practice to make something I'm happy with.  I also want to learn to do some simple weaving projects and continue with knitting, crochet and sewing, possibly quilting.

4. Have you changed your hair style since high school?   Why or why not?

I always had long, shoulder length straight hair.  In my 2nd year of university I cut it much shorter and had it permed. I spent much of my adult and working life with alternating lengths of hair from very, very short (like about 1 inch long) to mid length hair (about chin length or a bit longer). 

I'm back to wearing long straight hair like I did in my late teens.  I like this length and will likely keep it  unless it becomes too difficult to manage.  I prefer to get a colour job at the salon.  That way I can get the highlighted strips such as in the photo below that I like.  But that is a splurge and I no longer have a dedicated stylist like I used to prior to the pandemic.

If you read this far, thank you so much for taking the time to visit. I hope you will come back again soon!

Nature's Beauty ~ Skywatch Friday, August 15, 2025

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

How are you all doing?  Welcome to my Skywatch Friday post.

As summer draws to a close the weather temperatures have also skyrocketed. However cooler temperatures are supposed to be back by the weekend.  Just in time for Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition (PNE).  I haven't been to the PNE for a few years so I might go this year.  The PNE closes on Labour Day weekend, September 1, 2025. Once it's over I usually notice a distinct chill in the air reminding us that the autumn season will soon be upon us.

The garden needs a lot of water during the hottest times of the summer.

Your Reading Opinions ~ Tuesday 4

Tuesday 4 welcomes you and hopes that you are enjoying the questions we ask each week. In spite of movies and television, reading is still a popular way to spend time for many people all over the world.

All kinds of people read all kinds of books.   I thought maybe we could talk about it a bit this week and get your personal opinions on the subject.

1. What are some essential classic books that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime?

Books by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy and Margaret Atwood (new classic ?). There are many more wonderful authors who have written terrific classic books but I'll limit my list.

2.  Monday September 22 is the first day of Autumn.  Would you make up a list for us of books that you think would make great Autumn reading?

The Dutch House by Ann Pathchett, September by Rosamunde Picher, The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See.

3  What genre will we find most in your library? Sci Fi, Romance, adventure, biography, non fiction, mystery?  What do you like most about the genre?

Historical fiction. I like history but have limited patience for reading detailed historical non-fiction books. Most of them are too dull. I like a good story tied into fact based history. One can't rely on the history shared in a novel but it gives a good starting point for more research if interested in digging deeper.

4  What book would you like to see made into a movie? Any idea on who should be cast in the roles?

September by Rosamunde Pilcher. I have no idea about the casting but it should be British actors and it should be a big budget film not a cheaply produced television series or made for television movie.  I'd also l like to see a movie based on The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

Summer Delight

Hello friends,

There is nothing that gives me so much pleasure as the beauty of a flower or really any growing thing.  In this case, I'm sharing some flowers currently blooming in my garden. I like to enjoy them in the early morning hours before the sun rises but this day I captured their beauty a little bit later after the sun was out.

I didn't plan my 2025 garden because I was behind in all the things that needed to be done as summer approached. I threw a bunch of different seeds in the garden and hoped for the best. Next year it will probably look a bit different.

Thanks for stopping by!