Interesting Skies Before Fall Arrives

I captured this interesting series of sky photos with my cell phone a few days ago.

I haven't been out with my camera lately so have had to rely on my smartphone.

I need to try and make some time to get out with the camera but the days seem so busy.

September is fully booked with errands, appointments and things that really need to get done.

Then it will be October and Thanksgiving which comes a bit early (it seems) but it is always on the 2nd Monday of October.

A friend will be visiting from Toronto, Ontario and has offered to make the dinner.
He is a great cook who once owned his own restaurant so it is no sweat for him to do so.

 Many people have a day off work on the second Monday of October. They often use the three-day Thanksgiving weekend to visit family or friends who live far away, or to receive them in their own homes. Many people also prepare a special meal to eat at some point during the long weekend. Traditionally, this included roast turkey and seasonal produce, such as pumpkin, corn ears and pecan nuts. Now, the meal may consist of other foods, particularly if the family is of non-European descent.

My friend will also be visiting several other of his friends in the City and staying with each of us for a night or two. Though he has offered to make the meal things might change at the last minute so I need to be ready to step in.

I always enjoy Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks for my many blessings.

What about you dear reader?

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

If so, how do you celebrate?

I am joining in with Skywatch Friday 

and

Friday Foto Friends

this week.

Thank you for dropping by and paying me a visit.

Enjoy your weekend.

Changes

Every year at this time I am amazed at how the weather dramatically shifts from Summer to Fall. 

 Overnight the temperature goes from warm to chilly once September arrives. It never fails though often once that happens we continue with much warmer weather into September and sometimes even October.

Soon we will be singing this song (Fall officially begins on September 22nd this year)

These dramatic sky shots were taken with my smartphone while in the car home to Vancouver from visiting my mom in the Interior of the province.

Once in Vancouver it was also cloudy and has been cloudy and a bit rainy every day since.

Before I left for a week to see my mother I put most of  my potted plants in the shade and watered them.

They held up well but the season for growing is pretty much over, especially as far as pansies (violas) go.

 I took this horizon shot yesterday.

Today is the first day back to school for all university students and anyone in grade school.

The weather forecaster predicted rain until around noon but I think it seems to have stayed dry.  At least in my neighbourhood.

After the events of the past few weeks I am still recovering my energy levels.

I am finally going to meet a friend today.

We will see the new movie

The Light Between the Oceans.

(if you click on the linked title you can read all about ir and/or see a trailer).

I haven't read the book yet but I'm sure I'll enjoy the movie.

Update on mom:  She has improved the use of her right hand/arm and continues valiantly to speak. Some days it is hard to make sense of what she is saying but I know she is working hard at it. I find if I just ask her a question she can answer 'yes' or 'no' and that way she doesn't have to get frustrated. I know she has asked for prayer to speak again and I've assured her that is what we are praying for.

Update on Eunice in Kenya: Eunice underwent surgery late last week and returned home yesterday.  Thank God.

I don't know much more than that or even whether she can speak. I hope to find out more later.

I'm linking up to Our World Tuesday and later in the week, Skywatch Friday.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Happy 80th Birthday!

The last time I posted here my mother had had a serious stroke and was admitted to hospital. 

 I'm happy to say she was discharged to her home last Saturday.  We spent a few extra days visiting and making sure she was settling in okay,drinking adequate fluids and eating.

She is currently on a pureed diet and on gel like water flavoured with honey and lemon.
She likes the flavoured water much better than the plain old thickened water they had at the hospital.

On August 31st we were able to celebrate her 80th birthday. It was a real joy to see her be able to mark the occasion and in her own residence.

We usually have a dinner and cake and a few family members gather with her to celebrate.  We planned to do the same this year but had to forego that idea for now because mom cannot eat a normal meal. In fact, we were not even sure she would make it to her birthday.  We are pleased with her progress and have promised we will have a proper dinner and cake when she is stronger and able to eat regular food. For now we had the very small cake with candles so we could sing "Happy Birthday" and take photos.

When I arrived at the care home I was so surprised to find mom dressed, sitting in her wheelchair and driving herself.  She had also had her hair done by the in house hair dresser.  Last Sunday evening when I left her she was lying in bed and we didn't know if she would be able to drive or feed herself. She is now doing all of the above.

Mom is not yet able to speak clearly on a regular basis.  She does put several words together into short sentences and can often do so in two different languages. She can also say some things very clearly at times.  I was surprised she could do this at all because it is her left brain that has been affected.  The left side of the brain deals with thinking and speaking (language).  She does have days when she is tired and cannot communicate very well and evenings seem more difficult in general. But she also has other days where she is almost her old self.  In fact, my very first day with her in hospital she was alert, talkative, funny and cracking jokes. I was simply amazed.

Several close family members made the  32 hour round trip to visit with her while she was in hospital.  She was very happy and I'm sure it aided in her recovery.  She really loves to see all her relatives at any time but most cannot visit very often.  The journey is so long and expensive and there is no way to fly directly from where they live to where mom lives so a road trip is the primary way to visit. 

My brother was at the hospital the entire time mom was admitted and making sure to advocate for her since she could not speak for herself.  By the time I joined him, he needed a bit of rest.  We both stayed until mom made the transition back to her residence but I took over the visiting and dealing with hospital and residence staff while he did his thing,  relaxed and updated people.  We are both very pleased with her progress so far and will be checking in on her again soon.

Your kind comments, prayers and wishes of support for my mother and I are very much appreciated.

All your words and well wishes meant a lot.

Sadly, just as my mother was getting better, the mother of a very dear friend in Kenya is going through the same thing with his mother.

His mother's name is Eunice.  She is in serious condition in hospital several hours away from her home. 

I humbly ask for prayers for Eunice and her family members all of whom have gone through an awful lot this past year.

Many blessings to all of you.

Difficult Times

Hello dear friends,

I'm just stopping in to let you know I may be missing in action for awhile.

My mom had a massive stroke yesterday.  

Thankfully she is still with us and alert.  She knows what is happening but she can no longer speak
though she can  mumble a few words and move her hands a bit.

She is undergoing more tests and observation at the hospital.
Today she received a feeding tube. Today she failed the swallow test to receive a feeding tube but it seems like she may have had a slight improvement by end of day. No more tests will be done until next week as specialists are gone now for the weekend.

 I don't have much more information to share at this time.

Since I'll be busy dealing with her needs and responding to family and friends, I won't be here updating on a regular basis.

If you wish to keep her and the family in prayer that will be much appreciated.

 Thank you.

A Profusion of Colour

It's been a busy time preparing for guests and doing deep cleaning in advance of arrival.
I'm glad all the cleaning is basically done because it is going to get far too hot for it in a few days.

After days of cleaning, I relaxed by taking photos and catching up on my reading goals. I've become very behind on my reading goals for the year and needed to make progress.

 

At twilight the sky is serene.

It's hard to get a good night shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week has been rather warm but it is going to get very hot by Thursday. I'll probably be looking to go to a mall or movie just to sit somewhere cool

Reading Progress This Week

The Temptress by Paul Spicer. This book attempts to solve the mystery of who murdered Lord Erroll in colonial Kenya.  I read this book primarily to learn more about the life and times of the early British and American settlers in Kenya. I enjoyed the quick read.

The other book,  West With The Night,  is the memoir of Beryl Markham.  It doesn't follow a chronological order of events in her life. Instead it focuses on  her life as an aviatrix and to a lesser degree on her experience as a horse trainer. I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot.  About half way through I got tired of  the style of writing and the lack of detail about other facets of her life.

However, Beryl Markham had high praise from the well known author, Ernest Hemingway who had this to say about her book

  "Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? ...She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade b*, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."

 ~~~~~

 I  also made some good progress on a few of the books on raw food eating that I took out of the library a few weeks ago.

New Book Started

 The new book I've started is a musical memoir written by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

I'm joining Lady Fi and others at Our World Tuesday.

Have a great week everyone!

(Note: Blogger seems to be doing funny things. It published my post twice but failed to publish several comments I've approved. I apologize to Melanie, Joanne, Teresa, Eileen and Sally. I don't know why your comments will not publish.  Thank you for taking time to leave a comment. I'm hoping they will yet appear).