My World This Week

There has been a lot of rain over the past week or two. I got wet on two days last week and ended up feeling poorly. I took Friday to recover as Saturday and Sunday were full of commitments. Having the one day to do nothing but rest really helped a lot though am still dealing with phlegm and fatigue.

I managed to capture a few scenes to illustrate some of my week.

I am at Heather Street taking a photo but am really in the area to shop.

I always love this view toward the city from Broadway on Heather Street.

Taking a walk in another part of town  after having some Vietnamese Pho Soup.

There is still some lovely colour in the tree leaves.

Many of the Fall leaves now blanket the streets and sidewalks.

A friend and I spent the entire day together on Sunday after attending church together.  She is an out-of- town friend and was here for a mini-vacation. We had a great time together but she ended up getting two parking tickets in one afternoon! It turned out to be an expensive day for me , paying for our lunch and one of the parking tickets.  I don't go out to lunch terribly often  so this splurge for someone I don't see too often is okay. I told her it will be our Christmas lunch since I won't see her at Christmas.

We got our second ticket just before 6 p.m. on Sunday night.  It was pitch black but we were looking out over the city lights from Queen Elizabeth Park. It was very pretty but I'm afraid my cell phone camera doesn't do it justice.

Looking out over the City of Vancouver from Queen Elizabeth Park.

This city has gone beserk with parking rates and meters everywhere.  This and lack of consultation on rapidly accelerating development will cause me to vote for a new mayor next weekend. He promises to do reduce paid parking hours, put a bit of a brake on the fast pace of development and find a way to do real consultations with communities.  If he wins the race (it's a close race), the citizens of the city will have an opportunity to see whether he made good on his promises.

I managed to squeeze in a few days of reading in this week.   After finishing a very satisfying read,  The Shadow Queen by Sandra Gulland, I quickly moved on to The Juggler's Children.  The latter book is a story of one woman's search for her family roots and her use of DNA testing to piece together her very interesting family background. When I borrowed the book last Thursday I didn't notice that it was a fast read so it's a good thing I had time to read it right away. I will return both books on Thursday.

When the year opened, I set myself a modest reading goal of  35 books.  I passed the goal some time ago.  I've been slightly adjusting the goal upward. every time I surpass it by 3-5 books.  My current goal is 52 books.  A few pages from now I will have read 51 books. I'm not sure what I shall read for my 52nd book and would love to hear your suggestions.

Are any of you reading a good book right now?

I'm joining in with Our World Tuesday this week.

Nostalgia & Gratitude

Hi friends, It is Sunday night and I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. I was looking at old videos I had made. They are rather amateur but I would like to share some in the next few weeks.

This first video is probably the best video I made and also one of my first ones. The sound quality seems to be much better than some of the later ones I uploaded.

I hope you enjoy.  There is soothing music to go along with it the photos.  It is raining here today and far from the beautiful bright days you see in the video. Nonetheless I had a good day because I was able to sleep in, rest, catch up on computer work, connect by text with a number of friends, connect with my mom and help her out by prayer and advocacy.  I also got to make plans to meet two friends,  later this week; one who is from out of town.  I'm looking forward to seeing both of  them.  I also have a busy week of appointments, errands, phone calls and will be grateful to make it through the week intact and not too tired.

Graphic credit: 30 Days of Gratitude

Whenever I have a lot to do I try to plan out my days carefully. I plan out the time so that I can accomplish what is in my calendar at a steady pace rather than a hectic pace. It usually works out well.  I also try to work in rest periods, coffee or lunch stops and time to read a bit of whatever book I'm reading. This week I must return books and need to try and finish one of them which I started long ago. It's called Currency Wars by James Rickards. Very interesting but I can only digest a few pages at a time.  I recommend you catch the author on youtube if you don't want to read the book.

Much love to you all and thank you for stopping by to visit.  I send you all loving thoughts for a beautiful week ahead.