Our First Snow

This photo was taken in the early afternoon (Sunday). You can click to enlarge it.

The next two photos were taken about 4:30 p.m. when the sun came out for a short while.

Scenic Sunday link

Weekend Plans

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored. Earl Nightingale 

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8:15

It's Saturday today and I'm looking forward to it. It's been raining a lot over the past two weeks.  Not every day but almost every day and I've been spending a lot of time indoors.  It works out perfectly because it gives me a chance to make a lot of hats.  Some of you know that I'm planning to sell them to raise funds for my favourite charity, Missions of Hope (MOH, see button link on side bar).  I think I'll have enough inventory soon to sell and hope to spend some time in the near future to write up the descriptions and describe each hat/beanie and size, etc.  I'm hoping to make a badge too (just thought of that) and if you want to support the MOH, you can place the badge on your own blog. It will link to my Etsy shop for those that want to purchase.  Not only will a person be buying a hat but they will also support the needs of poor villagers in Kenya.

So far I've got 2 berets, 1 tam and 2 beanies for a woman, 3 beanies for toddlers and 3 for babies. I will be adding more colours and sizes but am also trying to use up what I already have.

Even though I was busy, I did manage to get out for coffee with a new friend.  We both had a good laugh when we realized that our paths almost crossed many years ago through mutual friends but we didn't meet until decades later!   At the Diabetes Clinic I attend, I was finally able to get some help with my broken glucometer.  Now I can start testing myself more consistently.  I need to monitor the blood sugars consistently to see if the new medicine I've been given will help my sugar levels which are still too high despite all my best efforts.  I do hope it works.

Last week,  I purchased alpaca yarn at the yarn store and mother of pearl buttons at the bead store. I need to go back to both of these stores to purchase another skein or two of yarn, as well as exchange some of mother of pearl buttons.

A few of the buttons are too thin on one side (see lower right of photo).  Buttons are so expensive these days with these ones being $4. (Canadian) a piece.  The owner let me have them for $2. each and about 4 of them are not of good quality.  I've never had this problem with a button before.

I've always loved mother of pearl buttons.  Do you like them too? 

These buttons are quite large.  I'm thinking of using them for embellishment on cowls and hats, or perhaps on a sweater.

Once the errands are done, I 'm heading out for dinner with my nephew and his girlfriend.  It will be the first time I've seen their new apartment so I will take them a draceana plant as a house warming.  I checked with them first if they wanted it.  I thought they might be too busy to care for a plant or not that interested but they seemed eager to have it.  I think they like the fact that it will grow quite high over time.

After my dinner, I am meeting up with a Ph.D. student from Kenya.  He also teaches and tutors in the Swahili language and I'm thinking of hiring him as my tutor.  This might work out better better than taking classes once a year.  The classes don't always fit into my schedule and the sessions are so short that one can't learn a whole lot before the sessions are all over.

Sunday I am hoping to hear from a new Brazilian friend, Maria, whom I met here last week when I went for a foot reflexology session (heaven).  Maria is a psychologist and she will be returning briefly to Vancouver after a tour to the Rocky Mountains.

I hope you all have plans for a good meal and or joining up with friends. Enjoy!

Today's Sky

It has been raining a lot here over the past two weeks and the sun has only been seen 2 or 3 times for a brief period. Today it was a beautiful Friday with glorious sun and partly blue skies.

I love the bright orange of the tree in the background (as seen between the branches of the tree).

If you have a few moments please read news of Kenya here.

I'm joining up with Skywatch Friday today. You can also enjoy a lot of submissions from around the world if you click here.

Prayer Request & Report: Missions of Hope

Hello friends, here is a word from Jonah in Kenya.  I'd be grateful if you could please take a few moments to read up.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

PRAYER REQUEST:  Please pray for Jonah's mom. They have done tests at the hospital where she lives and don't know what is wrong with her.   She has been transferred to Eldoret Hospital. Healing and funds are needed so we ask for prayers. It is God who can provide the answers. Blessings.




Kenya Missions of Hope: A Life Well Lived: This week I lost my aunt. It was one of the hardest things to believe.  But I took time to believe that she has died.  I tho...

(Click highlighted link above for the rest of the story.)

Berets & Beanies

Wordless Wednesday here.

Tale of Three

 Be ye strong … for your work shall be rewarded 

 2 Chr. 15:7

My friend Jonah in Kenya has had a lot of highs and lows over this past month.

He finished his thesis and has now been able to have it bound and attend to all the administrative requirements they had him to at the main campus in Uganda. He is just waiting to get his official grades and graduation certificate later this month but he has done well.  However, he has not been able to move all his belongings from Nakuru to his home in the village. Please keep this need in prayer.

No sooner did Jonah complete his thesis then his aunt took ill and died.  Her funeral was just the other day and was very well attended. She was a good strong Christian example and she will be deeply missed.  You can read more here.

In other sad news, Jonah's mother is now ill and has been taken to the local hospital for medical tests and evaluation.  She will probably be sent to Eldoret for more testing because the local hospital really doesn't have much capacity. Jonah's mom just graduated last month with a Diploma in Theology.

Jonah's mom on the left of the photo.

Please keep all these needs and Jonah in much prayer.  Everything has a financial and personal or emotional cost and we all need help in times like this.

We are also still trying to raise funds for Little Linet's cleft palate surgery.

You can read more about that here. If you can help with any of the costs, please send your generous donation.

Time is Flying By!

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

  1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 NIV

I cannot believe that it has been an entire week since I've posted. I think that has only happened twice in the last several years so my apologies to my regular readers.

The weather has turned cloudy this week and today the rain accompanied the dark sky.  The rain is expected to last a few days.  It came down rather heavily today but I was fine with my jacket and rain hat as I braved the weather to go to the fabric shop. I was looking for fabrics so I could finalize plans for two quilts.

Imagine my surprise when I got to the shop and found a very long line up.  There were also many people hanging around the front entryway, mostly young men.  I quickly realized that the majority of young shoppers were there looking for ready to wear Hallowe'en costumes or fabric to make costumes. 

The popularity of Hallowe'en grows every year and people spend lots of time and money getting creative with their costumes.  I don't celebrate Hallowe'en or get dressed up in any costumes.  That stopped when I was 13 years old.  I don't even give out candy to children because there are really so few children who go house to house.  These days mainly it is a time for adults to get dressed up and have a license to party.  I'm beginning to sound like the Hallowe'en Grinch, lol. It isn't that, but I do not celebrate most holidays except Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

After winding my way through the crowded store, I managed to find most of what I needed.  Afterward, I met a friend for dinner.  Then we went for coffee and she shared some sweets though I didn't want too much of it today. I walked her to the Bingo where she said she would play a round before making her way home.  I walked home the several blocks rather than catching the bus.  There I sat, unpacking my "goodies" and trying to figure out how to work my various fabrics into the two quilts I have in mind.

One find that I did not have on my list when I went to the fabric store today was fabric for a quilt for my niece.  I've decided to make a very simple quilt for her using a quilt panel with images from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. My niece LOVES Dorothy and the different characters like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion and so I thought it would be a nice Christmas present just in case I don't see her for Christmas and have to mail the present, I need something that will ship easily.

This is part of the panel I will sew to some quilt batting and backing.

This week I also made this crocheted scarf.  It has metallic thread in it which gives it a glittery look.  Some of you might remember the one I made last week in shades of rust and brown.

In trying to wrap up my reading goals for the year and make progress on a late addition goal (reading the Bible from cover to cover), I managed to finish reading "Letters from Africa, 1914-1931", Isak Dineson (Author), Frans Lasson (Editor), Anne Born (Translator).

I recently read Isak Dineson's (Karen Blixen's pen name), "Out of Africa" which leaves out many details because it is not written chronologically.  This book of letters helps to fill in some of the gaps.  What I enjoyed most in the letters was reading about the many people Karen Blixen met in Kenya, her day to day activities on the farm, her interactions with the tribal people, her love of nature, which included many hunting trips, and just the way life was in Kenya during it's early foreign settlement.  Karen Blixen also writes extensively about feminism, marriage and sexuality.  But I felt that her writings on these latter subjects did not convey her thoughts quite as clearly as on the former subjects.  The fact that she did express views on these subjects at all however, make this book an interesting "must-read".

At the moment, I am reading the classic, "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck.  This will be my last book in my annual reading  goal before I carry on with my goal of reading through the Bible.  I thought I had reached it already with the completion of "Letters", but I was mistaken.  When I was a university student, I read "East of Eden" and remember enjoying it a lot. Recently I found an old copy of the book in the thrift store and decided to re-read it.  I am not enjoying it as much as I did the first time.

I think it's because I no longer have the tolerance for racism against Native Indians (through use of derogatory terms like "squaw"), or misogynistic views of women which is conveyed in different ways throughout the book.  The story is about the two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and it is set in Salinas, California during the era when California was first being settled.  Racism and misogyny were likely very much in existence in those days, just as they are now so in that sense they make perfect sense in the book.

John Steinbeck is one of the foremost American writers of recent times and it is important to be familiar with at least some of his writings. Many of you have probably read  his novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" or at least seen the film by the same name and I would recommend "East of Eden".

Soon, I must get started on my other quilt projects and make some crochet or knit hats.  I have so many projects to undertake that it is often difficult to know where to begin so I usually just work on whatever I feel inspired to work on at any given time.  


I  wish you all a wonderful week ahead!