Good Morning Tuesday - Tuesday 4

It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 ... just four questions each week for you to ponder and share your thoughts, likes and dislikes.  You can visit others and see their opinions and hopefully make some new blogging friends.

Can we talk about mornings? We all have them, right?

1. Do you jump out of bed or hit the deck running as I call it or are you slow to get up to speed in the morning?

I'm slow to get up to speed in the morning. It typically takes me hours to really get going. I'm a night owl not a morning person.

2. Do you start the day with coffee or tea?  Or do other things help you wake up like washing your face, etc.?

I usually start my day with coffee and cream after making my bed and making a washroom stop. Sometimes I'll wash my face then but usually I wait until I've had my coffee and feel more alert.  Then I'll take a shower including washing face and brushing teeth and and get dressed to start my day.

3. Is the best part of waking up some Folgers in your cup? What brand of coffee or tea lights your fire?

I like the jingle for Folgers coffee but you'll find Maxwell House in my cup instead. I read the other day that the coffee got it's name from the Maxwell Hotel. 

One of his [Joel Cheek] first big customers was the Maxwell House Hotel. The hotel bought some of his coffee to serve in their dining room. Supposedly, the customers loved it so much they demanded that the hotel keep selling it. Joel named his coffee brand Maxwell House after the hotel in Nashville, where this happened. Tennessee State Museum website

 4. In the Netherlands toast with hefty style chocolate sprinkles are a usual breakfast.  Italy also begins the day with rolls or cookies.  Britain and America are eggs, bacon, toast, or cereal.  What about you? What is a typical breakfast for you?

Many years ago I used to eat breakfast more often; usually a cold or hot cereal with toast. On weekends I would have the full American breakfast of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and toast on a Saturday.  I remember the days well because I was a student or a young career woman.  Saturday was always a time relax and do errands, and meet a friend for late breakfast and a natter. These days I seldom eat breakfast.  When I do it's usually toast and coffee.  Sometimes I have a craving for hot porridge or bacon and eggs and I'll make those if the craving or hunger is strong enough.

I've recently had a huge breakfast of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and toast. I probably won't have it again for quite some time. In this case I was using up some small potatoes before they went bad.

I'm joining in with Tuesday 4 today.  Thanks for stopping by!

A New Beginning

Hello friends and fellows bloggers,

Happy Monday to you.

It's almost like every Monday we have the chance to start our lives all over again.

Do you ever feel that way?  

I remember when I was working. I really didn't look forward to Mondays. I always wanted the weekend to last at least a day longer because so much of my weekend was filled with catching up to housework, grocery shopping, church and friends and family. I never had time to really rest.

Now that I'm retired, Mondays still signal the start of a new week and a new list of things that need doing.  But Mondays are all my own, not my employer's and for that I'm eternally grateful. 

I've always been slow to get myself moving in the morning. I'm the same way with the days of the week.  I'm 'warmed up' by Tuesday, lol.  But these days I choose to view Mondays more positively.  I use the day to take inventory and transition into all my weekly appointments and more.  These days I still structure my time and try to accomplish and enjoy as much as I can each and every week.

I wish you all a wonderful Monday and a blessed week ahead.

Sunday Thought

 

The Weekend

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you've had a great start to the weekend.  It's usually a time when I run some errands that require me to venture out a bit farther than my neighbourhood shops, go to the library and/or meet up with a friend.

This week and weekend, I'm trying to finish several books that are coming due soon.  The first one is called Embers in the London Sky by 'new to me' author, Sara Sundin.  Set in the 1940s during German invasion of the Netherlands, Aleida, the young mother in the story leaves the Netherlands with her abusive husband, Sebastien and their small child, Theo.  During their escape to London, Aleida falls asleep and while she is sleeping her husband gives Theo to complete strangers for 'safe keeping'.  

When Aleida wakes up she is horrified to learn about her child.  But before she can find out the details from her husband he is killed by a bomb blast. Upon arrival in London, Aleida does what she needs to do to survive but searching for her child is the single most important things to her. The book takes us on an intense journey of Aleida's search for her child and about finding real love along the way. 

Now I'm reading Hello Stranger by Katherine Center.  This is not the kind of book I typically pick up but I wanted what seemed to be a quick read. This one has all the markings of being about romance and indeed it is, but it's much more than that. 

The young protagonist, Sadie is a struggling, New York City painter. Early on in the novel she suffers a non-convulsive seizure and ends up in the hospital.  After diagnosis she learns she has a medical condition called prosopagnosia or facial blindness where you have difficulty recognizing people's faces. This is problematic since she is a painter and she has just been accepted into a competition in which Sadie has to paint someone.  Apparently, there's no treatment for the illness so the story takes us on a journey about how she copes with life and how she enters the competition despite being unable to paint faces. 

My weekend plans include the goal of finishing Hello Stranger and making good progress on the final novel in the stack, Digging Stars which I'll have more to say about once I've finished read it.  I'm enjoying it so far.

And what about you dear reader?  What are you weekend plans?

Skywatch Friday

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are all fine this beautiful day.

These photos are from a walk to a small local park.  Some trees are just now blooming while others are well underway to showing their green beauty.

After the seemingly long winter with dull, grey skies, we are now experiencing lovely blue or mixed blue and cloudy skies on almost daily basis.  It makes for many photo opportunities.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Bar Keepers Friend vs. Brasso

I've been quite busy these days trying to get a lot of small, time consuming jobs out of the way.

Some of you remember I spent days last weekend and early in the week looking for 2 items: Brasso and neutral coloured shoe polish. I never did find the shoe polish.  I'm not in a rush now so next time I'm at Wal-Mart I'll look for it there. I don't get there very often. I did find Brasso on Tuesday at the Safeway Grocery Store.

I was looking for Brasso to clean the rust off of a bathroom light fixture. Before I tried Brasso though I tried something called Bar Keeper's Friend that I had on hand.

I found Bar Keepers Friend (BKF) did a better job and didn't burn my fingers like Brasso did (I didn't wear rubber gloves). See the before and after pics below (click on the photos for a better look).

Before

After

This fixture has been rusted for years already and I intended to replace it. Then I had the bright idea to try something to remove rust.  I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

I don't actually like using BKF much because it is very clumpy and hard to make into a paste especially since the fixture is up on the wall it make it a bit tricky.  But after 2 applications and a bit of a scrubbing I am pleased with the result. I will do it once more before I replace the globes (you only see 3 light bulbs because using 4 makes it too bright in the bathroom.

Let me know if you have any experience and success with home made or store bought products for rust removal and cleaning of metals.

Image of the Day

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

One of my favourite subject matter for photos is trees. Another of my favourite subjects is the sky.

Taken May 7, 2024

What subject matter do you like to photograph?

Thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you again soon.