Hallowe'en

I've long noticed (and heard on the news) that Hallowe'en has moved up several spots in the retailer bonanza. This means the day is no longer just for children.  In fact, I daresay that adults have virtually taken over the day from the children and use it as an occasion for dress up and partying.

As each year that goes by the restaurants and retail stores also get caught up in the day because they are trying to entice the adults to spend.  In my small sample of photos, I saw several restaurants using the Hallowe'en theme to decorate and offering themed food and drinks.  These days I think small business owners have to work very hard to stay in business so they get creative.  I even saw one high end consignment shop trying to induce shoppers with the creative use of clothes for elegant costumes.

I took these photos as I was doing errands late this afternoon.

I don't celebrate Hallowe'en. I  gave that up when I was twelve but I do understand that little children find the day fun.  It is also a time when a lot of parents bond with their children over preparing the costume for the evening and going out together to get the treats. I see the children holding hands with moms and dads in the neighbourhood. They always bring a smile to my face. But I actually see more adults in costume than children and today was no exception.

Not to be a party pooper but I abhore all the money being spent on decor and costumes for grownups. There just is so much need in the world and even here at home that I wish people would save the money and give it to charity. There are people going hungry and dying for lack of medical care in many places around the world. Even in Canada, individuals and families go hungry & go without homes.  Many that still have homes and jobs have taken on a level of household debt never seen before.  Looking for party excuses is perhaps one way to blow off steam and avoid dealing with the family finances.

Right now I hear firecrackers going off. It will likely be like that until 3 or 4 in the morning. 

On the news yesterday there was a report of one old wooden house burned down due to firecrackers. 

Some residents want the firecrackers banned altogether. Especially those that live in a very old house. 

 Whether you celebrate Halloween or not, stay safe.

Saturday's Critters ~ October 30, 2015

A collection of  critter photos taken down at the beach recently.

I don't know what all the commotion was but there were swarms of birds in the sky.

There were more than this but I didn't have a chance to capture them. they were moving too quickly for me.

This nice dog had lots of fun watching the water and digging a hole in the sand for his ball. His owner was relaxing with a book.

This was a smaller swarm of black birds. I think they are crows.  The black colour looks so nice against such a beautiful blue sky.

The birds perched atop a few trees before flying off again a few minutes later. 

Boy did they make a racket as they called to one another as they flew off.

I often wonder what it is they are telling one another. 

Since they made racket in their landing and their leaving, I assume they were

cawing about where to land and when to leave.

Joining in with host Eileen

at Saturday's Critters.

Yesterdays' Skywatch Friday pics.

Have a great weekend everyone!

An Afternoon at the Seawall

I'm glad I took these photos while the sun was shining because this week it has been raining and overcast.

I went to see the new movie, "Truth" today.  The events depicted in the movie are those responsible for the resignation of Dan Rather and the firing of producer, Mary Mapes from "60 Minutes".  The movie is a bit long and draggy in parts but is worthwhile going to see for the excellent performances of  Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett, Dennis Quaid & Topher Grace. I don't remember this particular story that gripped the American press so it was a good insight into some of the history of the times.

I've also added two more books to my reading pile. One, Moonstone (written by Wilkie Collins), was recommended by blogger  Frugal in France.

 The other I got from a woman in the movie line up tonight.  She was reading Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis.  When she and I discussed the book I thought  it sounded like a very interesting read. Both books are now on hold through my local library and I should have them soon.  This time there isn't a long wait list for either of them.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday
&
Friday Foto Friends.

Thanks to Yogi, Sandy, Sylvia & Deb for hosting these fun memes!

Wishing all of you a fabulous weekend.

A Tuesday in Late October

Oh my, the time is going quickly, so quickly. I know I've said that before. Before you know it Christmas will be here!

In the meantime, I've got a lot to catch up on; including reading. I'm still about 13 books short of meeting this year's reading goal of 45 books. It is a goal easy enough to reach but not if you've gone months without reading and are busy with many other things. I'm doing my best to catch up but it won't be the end of the world if I do not meet the goal. I will simply shift some books to next year.

This week I've finished reading the following books:

This was an easy read and had some good tips;  especially for retirees in USA.

This is interesting because it gives insight into how a poor Puerto Rican rose to become a US Supreme Court Justice.

This book gives insight into the traditional spiritual ways of Lakota people.

~~~~~~

I enjoyed all three of these books for different reasons and if you are looking for some different kinds of reading material I think all three books qualify for different reasons. Please note if you are interested in reading Black Elk, this is not the book of a similar name, Black Elk Speaks.  The book I read is written by a Native American scholar as told to him by a spiritual elder of the Lakota people. The book is not for anyone who rigidly adheres to grammar and finds it difficult to follow stories that are not told in a linear way. You need to be more open and flexible to reading and learning the contents of this book and I've read in reviews that some people just find it too frustrating.

I have a lot of reading material right now that I want to make progress on. Much of it is financial related (debt, estate planning, finance for women, that kind of thing). I also have a few books on  my Kindle and my Kobo readers that have been suggested to me by various bloggers (more about that in a future post). I also came across some new to me Kenyan authors that I would like to read. However these books are not in my library system so I probably will have to purchase them down the line.

Here are the two books and on line descriptions of them. You will notice that both of them are set in the same area in Kenya. I'm interested in them because I enjoy all things Kenyan but I also enjoy learning more about those the white expatriates who went to live in Kenya.

The Ghosts of Happy Valley, Juliet Barnes

 This is one of the write ups I found about the story line.

‘Happy Valley’ was the name given to the region of Kenya’s Central Highlands where a community of affluent, hedonistic white expatriates settled between the wars. Including the writer Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), the pioneering aviator Beryl Markham and the troubled socialite Idina Sackville whose life was told in Frances Osborne’s bestselling The Bolter, the Happy Valley set’s notoriety was sealed in 1931 with the sensational – and still unsolved - murder of the Earl of Errol, the investigation of which laid bare the extent of the set’s decadence and irresponsibility, and made for another bestselling book in James Fox’s White Mischief. But what is left now? Juliet Barnes, who has lived in Kenya for many years, has set out to explore Happy Valley in a remarkable and indefatigable archaeological quest to find the homes and haunts of this extraordinary and vanished set of people – grand residences like Clouds up in the hills that once hosted opulent and scandalous parties. With the help of African guides, and guided by the memories of elderly expats she tracks down to the Muthiaga old enough to have first-hand memories of the likes of Idina and Lord Errol and the lives they led, what she finds - ruins reclaimed by luxuriant bush, tumbledown dwellings in which an African family ekes a subsistence living, or even a modest school – is a revelation of the state of modern Africa that makes the gilded era of the Happy Valley set seem even more fantastic. A book to set alongside such singular evocations of Africa and its strange colonial history as The Africa House, Happy Valley: The Biography is a mesmerising blend of travel narrative, social history and personal quest.

The second book is called The Temptress: The Scandalous Life of Alice de Janze and the Mysterious Death of Lord Erroll

A glamorous American multi-millionairess, Alice de Janzé scandalized 1920's Paris when she left her aristocratic French husband for an English lover—whom she later tried to kill in a failed murder-suicide in the Gare du Nord. Abandoning Paris for the moneyed British colonial society known as Kenya's Happy Valley, she became the lover of the handsome womanizer, Joss Hay, Lord Erroll. In 1941, Erroll was shot in his car on an isolated road. A cuckolded husband was brought to trial and acquitted, and the crime remained tantalizingly unsolved.

Paul Spicer, whose mother was a confidante of Alice's, used personal letters and his own extensive research to piece together what really happened that fateful evening. He brings to life an era of unimaginable wealth and indulgence, where people changed bed partners as easily as they would order a cocktail, and where jealousy and hidden passions brewed. At the heart of The Temptress is Alice, whose seductive charms no man could resist, and whose unfulfilled quest for love ended in her own suicide at age forty-two.  



There is a new movie coming out with Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett and Topher Grace. Its a 2015 American political docudrama film written and directed by James Vanderbilt. It is based on American journalist and television news producer Mary Mapes' memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power. The film focuses on the Killian documents controversy and the last days of news anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes at CBS News. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and I understand is currently in limited release in Canadian cities and possibly cities in the USA.  It should be more widely available at the end of October in North America and Australia.

We had not a bad day weather-wise here though I definitely feel the chill in the air at night. At least I have some scenic eye candy to help me through the next few months. I took these photos a few days ago down at Vancouver's waterfront area.

The water was very choppy but there were a lot of vessels out at sea, many of them pleasure craft.

There were also a lot of sail boats out for the day. The sun was shining brightly on the water.

This man had the right idea and sat and watched the waterfront for quite some time.

Joining up with Our World Tuesday today.

Thanks for visiting.

A Full Week

Hello friends, 

It has been a busy week. 

Several days a week, I have been trying to devote time to the study Spanish.  I've also been scouring used book shops for good dictionaries and phrase books.

I purchased this small phrase book of Latin American Spanish, a book of verbs and a small dictionary.  If I continue to spend time in self learning I will expand the Spanish language resources I have.

My Spanish teacher is from Mexico.
Thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mexico right now.
They have just experienced one of the strongest hurricanes on record on the Pacific Coast. Many of us have thankfully never had to experience a hurricane and I can only imagine the horror of it all.
For some of you this will hit closer to home if you have friends visiting the country or family living there.

I've said before that Fall/Autumn season is my favourite time of year. Each year I try to get some photos of the Fall/Autumn colours but it has been so very busy this past 6 weeks and I missed many of our beautiful sunny days and photo opportunities.


Believe it or not, I spent many of the earlier sunny Fall days decluttering and organizing. I did a significant amount of work then got busy with other things. Once the weather gets rainy again, I will get back to my decluttering and re-organizing exercise and finish what I started.

The two photos (above and below) of Fall/Autumn leaves were taken one rainy day earlier in the week.

I love all the variations of red and orange in the leaves.

Mid-week I had the pleasure of hosting the members of the Kenyan Boys Choir to dinner at Simba's Grill in Vancouver.

I thought they might be homesick for some African food as they have been on the road for more than a month and are only part way through their tour.

The choir was performing at the annual WeDay Conference here as well as at many schools and other venues around the city.
The young men are always a big sensation.

The choir members are ALL wonderful ambassadors for the country of Kenya.

Each singer has his own style and strengths and together they blend and harmonize in one terrific sound.

If you get a chance to hear them you will find out what I mean.
They work incredibly hard each and every day to give the best possible performance to a wide variety of audiences.

If you haven't heard them yet, please do check them out on YouTube and support their work and mission when they come to a city near you.

You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook or purchase their music on ITunes.

Mid-week, my brother and I spent some time together going to a movie. We seldom spend time together outside of family meals and duties but it was his birthday earlier this week.  We went to the advance screening of the newest movie starring Bill Murray and Kate Hudson. It may not appeal to everyone but I found it entertaining. I won't give away the story.  If you like Bill Murray or Kate Hudson you can check out the movie trailer here.

To close out the week, I had a foot care appointment.  The nurse noted an improvement in the way my nails are growing and that is welcome news as it has taken about a year of specialized foot care to get to this point.

After my appointment, I went downtown to English Bay with my camera in hand as it was a beautiful, sunny day.

I took a lot of photos along the waterfront.

I missed so many photo opportunities earlier in the season so I was making up for it.

  It really was such a perfect afternoon.

Although the water was very choppy there was a lot of  traffic on the water (more on that in a future post).  There were plenty of people walking or sitting along the waterfront areas: soaking up the sunshine, people watching and enjoying the sound of the surf. I easily spent a few hours enjoying myself and taking photos.

The first photo looks north west toward the West End.  The famous Stanley Park is beyond the highrises.

The next two photos feature an Inuksuk.

The houses on the hillside are part of British Properties neighbourhood, an exclusive part of the city.

An Inuksuk is a landmark made of stones and built by the Inuit people of the far north to help them find their way over the vast and flat tundra.

This Inuksuk has graced the beachfront of Vancouver since the Winter Olympics of 2010.

The first bridge in the photo is Burrard St., beyond it is Granville St. bridge and the Fairview Slopes neighbourhood.

While I was taking photos of the waterfront I heard a lot of commotion in the air.

I looked up and saw a swarm, or rather several swarms of birds. It was quite the sight to see. and hear. I can't share all the photos today so there will be more in a future post.

Another most important activity this week has been praying for, and liaising with, the Missions of Hope in Kenya.

In an earlier post, I shared that the team went to western Kenya to deliver food aid to the Pokot people and to evangelize.

While they were there they were called upon to rush a young woman in delivery distress to the nearest hospital.

The closest hospital was in a small town just over an hour away.  The journey was tense as the woman's water had already broken before the journey commenced and time was of the essence.

  This medical  mission was not part of the plan or budget but it was very important to the community that the mission team help this young mother to be and she needed urgent help.

The team drove the young woman to the hospital and she delivered a healthy baby.
However, the young mom had been circumcised causing problems in delivery.

She needed more urgent care and ended up having to be transported by ambulance to a larger city centre (Eldoret) for surgery.

Doctors there saw that she had lost a lot of blood.  She has been in hospital all week getting and recovering from surgery, getting blood transfusions and being treated for infection.

Church service in Western Kenya

The newborn baby had to go with her and so a young missionary woman from the community escorted both mom and newborn. She is helping with translation between mother and medical staff and also looking after the baby.  She didn't have time to prepare for the trip to hospital because the decision to transfer the young mother was made very quickly. Basically she just took a change of clothing and they have already been at hospital for a week.

It  has been an incredibly challenging week for everyone involved, especially the missionary, the young mom and Jonah from the Missions of Hope.


The missionary woman is a single woman and has never had to look after children let alone a newborn.

The young mom, the baby and the missionary are all far from home and it has been difficult living in the hospital accommodation all week with no fresh air, no familiarities of home and inadequate clothing and hygiene supplies.  My friend Jonah has also felt the added responsibilities of trying to help the young mom get the help that she needs and medical care in Kenya is expensive.

To conclude, the woman is ready to be discharged from hospital.

She can be discharged once the bill is fully paid.

Only this financial expense was not anticipated. 

We covet your prayers and any help you might give.
Don't feel pressure or discomfort in reading these words.
I am simply sharing the needs and the realities of real people in another land.
Some of you will know as a result of travels to Kenya yourself. For many more of you, all this kind of thing is very new.

We wait to hear from anyone who feels a leading to assist.

Linking today with

 Skywatch Friday

&

Saturday's Critters

Thank you to all the hosts of these great memes!

Sending my readers lots of love, laughter and wishes for a great weekend.
Be kind to one another and to yourself.