A Unexpectedly Beautiful Day

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. 

Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, 

certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. 

Robert Louis Stevenson 

I was surprised to see there was a seagull sitting at the top of the cross on the church spire.

The wispy clouds are dark grey. It was supposed to rain. Unexpectedly the sun was out and it was a glorious day.

Here you can see the snow blankets much of the mountain.  

Thank you for your visit. Please visit again soon!

I Do Love Antiques

I am not sure why but I have always loved antiques and I have a few pieces that I cherish. I wrote before about one such piece which I will sell due to it being too large for my condo.  That didn't stop me from buying another treasure.  This one I purchased more for practicality than anything.

My latest acquisition is a Chinese Elm wood blanket chest. It is about 150 years old so not terribly old but I like the character it has. I immediately wiped out the inside and filled it with some of my craft supplies which are overflowing in the living room.  I covered the stop with some of my African craft finds and my Aloe Vera plant which really does need to be re-potted into a larger container.

I have been wanting a Chinese antique for years.  Initially, I was thinking of an altar table to be used in my front entry.  But really I have no room in that area because it isn't a hallway and that is where I have bookshelves housing many of my books.  The altar tables don't have the kind of practicality I need since they don't have doors and drawers to hide things.  I think this piece is more suitable for my needs.

I got it for a wonderful bargain and paid almost one quarter of the original price. These days, antique shopping is a luxury for most people and the store owner is branching out in many ways to try and save her business. She can no longer afford to just sell antiques. She understood the value of off loading her inventory by giving me a fabulous deal.  It also helped that I had my eye on other pieces in a different shop and so knew my prices as well as the market right now.  Learning how to establish bottom lines and haggling in Kenyan market places has helped me here at home. At least with stores that aren't big box stores.

I'm very pleased with this piece. I see that I  need to give it a good cleaning on the outside as well but that can wait until I re-organize things a bit more.

What about you dear reader? Do you prefer antiques that have the character and vibe of days gone by or do you prefer the modern look?

Creamy and Tangy

Saturday's juice was a little creamy and a little tart.  It was made in my blender rather than in a juicer.

I wanted to make a juice featured by my friend Brenda at Hearts Touching Hearts here,  but I didn't have the ingredients on hand so I had to modify the recipe substantially. I still need to try Brenda's avocado drink. Next time I get to the produce store I will make certain to buy spinach and English cucumbers.

My juice consisted of:

- 4 stalks of kale, chopped finely
- 1 small lime. chopped fine
- a small piece of zucchini squash, chopped
- a few stalks of parsley springs, no need for chopping
- 1 small avocado, peeled, no need for chopping but discard the nut inside
- 1 half of a small banana, peeled

Throw all this into a blender along with a cup and half or two of water and some spices as you like. I used some Mexican chili powder but would have added some cayenne or garlic powder if I had some on hand. Yet another few items for my grocery list.

Blend until you can no longer see any specks of kale and drink.

I found this blend of produce made a creamy if somewhat tart and tangy juice due to the use of a whole lime. Perhaps next time I will try it with only half a lime.  My blender is just a regular household blender and I could taste little pieces of the vegetables in the mix.  This didn't bother me. It probably all works as good fiber. This is good news for my reader Kay, at an Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel, who wants to try blender juicing.

Creamy rich avocado is considered the world's healthiest fruit, because of its nutrient contents such as vitamin K, dietary fiber, potassium, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin C, copper, and it has reasonable calories in it. Potassium can help you guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke.  Avocados contain many good things for our bodies but I will end my little educational bit here and encourage you to eat an avocado now and then. It contains good fat.

Where I live avocados are quite expensive as they are imported from warmer climates. I make an effort to always have them on hand and try to eat them once or twice a week in simple salads, a sandwich and now, juice.

Not bad and I think it is probably quite healthy with avocados and kale as it's main ingredients.

What about you dear reader? Do you have avocados as a crop where you live or is it too cold?

Macro Flowers ~ October 28, 2011

I captured these at the beginning of the Fall season. 

The colour was starting to fade and the petals were a little wilted but I found the faded beauty enchanting. 

Join Maia and Tina for more beautiful macro flowers. Just click on the badges below.

Thursday Sky

First snow on the North Shore mountains this year.  It is a nice, sunny day even though we were expecting rain.  There is no snow at street level here in the city but the air has a definite chill. Time to start wearing and carrying gloves.

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Enjoy your weekend and please check out beautiful sky photos from around the world by clicking on the badge below.

Pear Tart

Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 

Leviticus 26:4

One of the fruits of the tree that I love is pears.

One of the unripened left over pears.

 We had some pears this week that quickly started to ripen.  They got used in an easy to make tart.

Pie crust rolled and put into tart pan.

Ingredients:

• 1 (unbaked) pie crust
• 3-4 pears, quartered, cored, peeled, and sliced
• 1/2  cup sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp.lemon juice

Pears sliced and arranged in the pan and excess dough taken off the edges.

 Preparation:

1. Line a 10-inch tart pan  pr pie pan with an unbaked pie crust and set aside.
2. In a large bowl toss pear slices with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Arrange pear slices on crust in a pattern of your choice.
3. Bake at 350º until crust is brown on the edges and pears are tender which will take about 40 minutes depending on your oven.
4. While the pear tart is baking put the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water and the remaining pear slices.  Once it boils, reduce heat, simmer and cook for about about 10 minutes until the syrup thickens.
5. While tart cools, brush generously with syrup. 
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Finished tart!

This is a simple recipe to make and is the first time I've made it. I had pie crust on hand in the freezer from the last time I made a pie so all I had to do was thaw it out first. If you don't make pie crust you can use a store bought one.

Notes: The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar (1/3 for mixing with the sliced pears and the other 1/3 to make the syrup but I used less because of my diabetes. If you like a sweeter tart, you can use the original amount of sugar and add 1/3 cup of water when making the syrup. If you have a tart pan with a removable bottom like mine, I recommend putting it on top of a cookie tray when you put it in the oven. Otherwise the juices will be running into your oven and possibly catch fire. Putting the tart pan on top of a baking sheet will likely increase the time you need to bake the tart.

Enjoy!

Some Things End and New Things Begin

We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful... and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.

Bishop Desmond Tutu

South African Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

I so love this quote by Bishop Tutu.  It is these beautiful things in life as well as my faith in the Creator who made them, that keep me sane and help me endure whatever I may face in life. The beauty in the colours of Fall are what spoke to me of the sublime today amidst learning of the tragedy that has hit the country of Kenya.  The country of my heart and spirit. Please say a little prayer for the people as they endure yet more tragedy in the form of bomb attacks on the City of Nairobi.

A month or so ago, I started pneumatic compression therapy. It was to help eliminate some water from my legs and take some of the stress off of the right knee and leg which has troubled me for months. I think it helped me by giving me that added boost I needed in conjunction with everything else I'm doing to lose weight and get more mobility in the leg.

This is a photo of pneumatic compression therapy. I only get my legs and hips covered.

Given the high cost of this therapy, even at reduced (for me) rates, I've decided not to continue with another round. Instead I'm going to start physiotherapy on the leg and deep massage to supplement the acupuncture treatments I am still getting.

Today I managed to heed my TCM doctor's advice and walk very slowly.  Distance covered was 18 city blocks or approximately 1 mile or 1.6 kilometres. Not too bad, considering there are some days I can't walk more than 3 blocks. The new cross trainers really helped provide the stability and support I needed.

Along the way I stopped at a few shops to buy some small items and to replenish my supply of vegetables.  For a treat and for juicing, I was able to pick up a basket of strawberries on a great buy.

I stopped by my doctor's office to pick up the referral for the new therapies as they will be paid for in large part by medical insurance.  The paper wasn't ready.  Or at least the front desk staff couldn't find it.  My trip wasn't wasted as the doctor asked me to get about 4 blood pressure readings at different intervals over the next several weeks. I got the first one today.

I was relieved to find my blood pressure reading was much better than it was last Wednesday (136/76).  Today it was 126/85. I'm not sure why the bottom number is so high but I'm working on getting the numbers down to normal (120/70). I'm hopeful my next reading will be similarly good,  or even better.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have more  rain after a few days of beautiful, sunny Fall days. Today it was just nice to stroll along the street and snap a few photos of the Fall foliage without worrying about rain drops getting in the camera lens.

This is what I love about the Fall; all the glorious colour.

I want to let my regular readers know that I may not be as active for a few days while I deal with some personal errands and begin new therapies. I have one or possibly two pre-scheduled posts but I may not be up to reading blogs and commenting as prolifically as I usually do for the immediate future.