Intersection of Hastings & Granville

I was in downtown Vancouver just over a week ago.

I took these fun shots of the city sky at the corner of Hastings & Granville Street.

A Blessed Easter weekend to you and your family.

 

Joining in with Skywatch Friday

Look What the Last Day of March 2015 Brings

The day was not bad as we made our way out of the city in the early morning about 7:00 a.m.  The weather forecast for Vancouver today was heavy rain and thunder.  I was glad it wasn't raining when we left.

In the photo above and below we are travelling over the new Port Mann Bridge. Every time you cross the bridge you must pay a toll fee of about $3.00 each way (more if you take longer than 7 days to pay).  Unlike New York and many other states, you do not stop and pay the fee at the bridge. Instead you pay on line or by cheque. Tourists must also pay.  There are a few exemptions such as emergency vehicles, public transport vehicles, taxis and people with proof of disabilities.

As we head in an easterly direction it looks quite cloudy.

Passing through the City of Chilliwack (photo below) you can see all the water pooling in the farm fields.

We've been getting a lot of rain for well over a week.

A nice rainbow came out as we stopped in Chilliwack for gas.

About a half hour later, the snow started flying. You can see it all over the windshield of the vehicle.

This next photo (below) is near the peak of the mountains on the Coquihalla Highway.

It was very foggy in parts and quite gray in the sky.

I snapped some photos of the trees and road banks just to show how much snow had fallen in a short space of time.

Another 45 minutes drive to the north and we are nearing the town of Merritt, BC.

The sky is spectacular but I see in the forecast that they are expecting snow tonight.

We descend the mountain into Merritt (photo below) where we will make a quick coffee stop.

On the north side of Merritt, we reach what is often referred to as the "Second Summit".  Here you will run into bad weather once again. In winter it is usually very icy, or snowy,  or both.  Today it was snowy and wet.

From this point we are about 40 minutes away from Kamloops, our ultimate destination.

You can see the road sign warning of sudden weather changes.

In this last photo we are descending another mountain into the City of Kamloops.

I made this trip to take my mom for a medical appointment.  Actually I was planning on visiting anyway but when I got the call about the medical appointment, I had to visit on this particular day.  I've been doing a spot of sewing frr mom so delivered some of the new items.  Whenever I visit I always try to make some sense and order out of her wardrobe as staff make a jumble of all her clothing. I also cleared out some of the items I don't think she has been wearing to make room for things to hang properly.

My brother joined me and was there to visit with mom and to touch bases with a few other people while I went to the medical appointment with mom.

The drive back to Vancouver was much of the same weather and we stopped for more gas and a wee bit of shopping before getting home about 10:3 p.m.

It is always good to see mom but it is also good to get home after a long day!

I hope you had a good last day of March 2015 for we won't see it again.

Thanks for visiting!

Fleeting Tree Blossoms

Hi friends,

We had a reasonably good winter with hardly any snow and the rainfall seemed less than normal too.

But now it is Spring and I'd like to get in the garden. 

However it has been raining cats and dogs!

How is the weather where you live?

 Manure and topsoil was purchased and bit of potting soil for the container plants. I also purchased some pansies to plant and a new patio umbrella stands at the ready but none of it has been used yet.

 

I hope the rains will stop soon though I don't complain too loudly. 

On the few nice days we've had without rain, I hardly had an opportunity to get out to take photos of the tree blossoms.  I hurriedly snapped a few once or twice while out running errands and happened to have my camera along.

I have so few photos of the tree blossoms compared to previous years.  The blossoms came out very early this year but with all the rain falling it hasn't been the best time to take photos and I was busy on the few really nice days we've had.

I am glad that I did manage to capture a few tree blossoms late last week on different errands around the city.

If I had more time I would go to another neighbourhood or two and capture some blossoms where I know they have lovely trees.  But time is limited right now and because a lot of the blossoms started early, many of them are already gone though a few new ones are coming out. Such a strange season this year. Or should I say, stranger than usual as  the weather has been getting unusual all around the globe for some years now.

I hope you are all enjoying good weather wherever you live. 

It looks like a movie was being shot on this street in the eastern part of town. I love the old building!

I have also been enjoying my new pressure cooker. So far I've made vegetable soup and now I've made some navy bean soup. It was sure thrilling to wait for only half an hour to have fully cooked (and softened) navy bean and vegetable soup! This sure beats the overnight soak or 1 hour quick soak method. First I put the navy beans in the pot just covered with water. I let those cook for about 15 minutes before I added a colourful array of veggies. In this case I purchased a bag of cleaned mixed veggies from the produce market. You know the kind they clean because they don't want to throw it away? I purchased one large bag and used about 1/3 of it. I chopped the veggies more finely in my food processor.  I didn't mince them too finely just gave them a coarse chop and put them in with the beans along with some herbs. Another 15 minutes and the soup was great. Next time I make soup it will likely be vegetables and some meat. If you like Italian food I think the pressure cooker would be ideal for making chicken cacciatore.  Well I'm off to enjoy some navy bean soup right now for a spot of late lunch.

This photo was taken right downtown at Hastings & Granville.

I will be joining up with Mosaic Monday & Our World Tuesday this week.
Our World is a very fun meme which I've participated in for years already. How time flies!
Mosaic Monday is a new to me meme, hosted by my neighbour in the far east of Canada.

Enjoy your week!

Remembrance of Pretty Skies

These sky shots were taken near my home about 14 months ago.

I haven't had a chance to post them yet.

I didn't realize until later that there were numerous birds above. I think these might be seagulls but they are a little far away for me to really be sure.

The sun was setting quickly as it was late in the day. 

I thought the sky was particularly pretty that evening.

Linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Click the link and enjoy some gorgeous skies from around the globe!

A Frugal Day

Hello friends,

It is now officially Spring but the warm, sunny weather hasn't really arrived. We've been getting buckets of rain since late last week. I can't remember much before that, lol.  After hearing today that they have had another snowstorm in Eastern Canada (the third storm this week!) and that parts of the USA are also experiencing fresh snow storms, one can hardly complain about rain.

But this kind of weather does bring with it the problems of never knowing exactly how to dress. It can be a bit chilly when it rains. It can also be hot if the rain decides to stop and Mr. Sunshine pays an unexpected visit. I've found this weather makes it rather chilly in my home. I had to turn the heat on last week and I don't even turn the heat on much during the colder winter months  At the same time, it can get muggy indoors.  So yesterday and today I've opened the doors for fresh air. I think after the winter months, the place needs a good airing.

So with all this back and forth weather, I'm finding I need to eat something hot and nourishing. Today I had the help of a new  kitchen gadget which I recently purchased on line.

For years I've been trying to get used to making meals ahead in a slow cooker but I could never get comfortable with it.  I am too impatient to wait so long for food to cook.  Inevitably I would put the food in the cooker too late and it was never fully cooked and ready by dinner time.  I also could not get used to the idea of putting food in the cooker early in the day and leaving it to cook all day while I was out.  It just made me nervous. This is thanks to my mom who had some very firm ideas about electricity and safety issues. Even though a slow cooker is made to be left all day I simply couldn't do it.

 This is the exact model and colour I've purchased though it comes in many other choices

I've always thought a pressure cooker would be more my style because it cooks a lot faster. However I remember the old fashioned pressure cookers could be very dangerous. Recently I found one on line that looked easy to use and so I bought it.  I was fortunate to buy it on sale because I never purchase anything at full price.  It is an electric pressure cooker and it is very easy to close the vent (to increase pressure) and open the vent to release steam.

The cooker arrived last week and I immediately washed the inside pot and cooked the night's meal in it.  The roast and vegetables  turned out very moist and tasty.  But the cooker took two or three times longer to cook than I  was expecting. I was experimenting with the machine and I suppose every time I opened the lid to to test the meat, the machine lost a lot of heat.  Once the cover is replaced and the machine turned back on you must wait for the pressure and heat in the pot to be raised again. Once I know exactly how long to cook things this won't be a problem. The cooker does come with a few recipes but mostly it is for stuff I do not make. You also have an option to purchase a cook book of more things to make in the pressure cooker.

Today I used the machine for the second time and made a simple vegetable soup. This experiment was much more satisfactory. Cooking time was only 15 minutes and could probably be reduced by chopping the vegetables even finer and not cooking them until they are extra soft.  But I was extremely happy with the results I achieved and intend to make the soup again soon.

Ingredients for the soup:  two very large hothouse tomatoes, half an eggplant, 1 medium red pepper, 1 medium head of cabbage, 1 leek and 1 handful of fresh parsley, 1 teaspoon oregano and 1 teaspoon of basil. I added water to just cover the vegetables and cooked for 15 minutes. After it was done the soup had a very nice flavour and didn't require any salt or pepper. I ate several bowls and saved some for tomorrow. I think I will be making this more often. I also had a left over chorizo sausage from last night's dinner so sliced it up and put it in with one of my servings. I bought the vegetables yesterday and tallied up the cost.  It wasn't exactly inexpensive because the head of cabbage was $3.50 (I used half).  Total $7.80 for 6 servings = $1.30 per serving. When you consider the cost of soup in the restaurant these days, I think that this soup was very economical. It will be even more economical in the weeks that vegetables are on sale.

I also had a great shop at the local pharmacy. Some of you know that I earn loyalty points for shopping at my pharmacy. Now and then there are promotions where you can earn points more quickly. Today I went shopping and intended to use about half of my points. It meant I got $100 "free" purchases. I bought staples like paper towel, garden garbage bags, laundry soup, dish detergent, etc. I also got some snack foods and a few items I wouldn't otherwise purchase (Whey Protein Powder, Perrier Water, hair ties and more).  I also bought some things on clearance. altogether I paid about $6.00 in tax for $100 worth of goods. The rest I got with my points.  I more than filled my shopping buggy and 2 more over the shoulder bags. I only have to walk 2 blocks so it isn't that bad of a journey with a heavy load.  The saleslady told me I could actually purchase $200 worth of goods but there is no way I could carry that amount of stuff home. I only really needed milk but not just yet and toilet paper. I don't think I could store another $100 of toilet paper in my small laundry closet so I wait for another day to use the points.


I ran out of printer ink the week before last. I try not to use the printer that often to save on the use of ink. Mainly I use it to print coupons for the pharmacy promotions to earn points and get things for free. You need printed coupons for them to scan though I overheard one of the workers today saying that soon they would get an app for the mobile phones. That means I won't have to print their coupons any more but from time to time I do need to print other things. I managed to find 2 cartridges of black ink. The normal price is about $25 each but today were purchased for under $20 each plus I got a $10 coupon to use toward anything I want in future. That made the cartridges about $15. each (a full $10 off each one). Soon I will return to the store and purchase a coloured cartridge and use the $10 off coupon since I don't really need much else at this technology store.

Altogether it was a very frugal & fruitful day. 

Also earlier this week I managed to save half the cost of a patio umbrella. I was not looking forward to buying anew patio umbrella because I just purchased one two summers ago or a little over a year ago.  Then last Fall (I think it was the Fall) we had a rain storm and my umbrella got destroyed. I was disappointed because it was rather new but I was also grateful that no damage was done to the patio table.

I asked my brother to go shopping and  purchase a new patio umbrella for me.  He was able to find  one umbrella left in the green colour I requested.  Somehow he managed to get it for less than the stated price due to some store error in the price tag. On top of that he was able to save an additional $10 due to some rules about pricing.  He used to work in retail many years ago and knows all the rules of shopping and paying. Due to his knowledge and persistence he has saved me a lot of money each year.
My patio umbrella ended up costing just over $20 and tax rather than $40 and tax.

I think that is a great savings!

A good thing because I need a lot for the garden right now.

If you are watching your funds, I hope you too are able to get some great deals to help you through the month.

Have a wonderful week!