Friday

Hi friends,

I've had a busy few days. Not a lot of exciting things as such but I'm very happy.  It's because after a long period of time I'm finally making progress on a number of outstanding "to dos".  I'm also making progress on a few new things.

First up are my new projects.  Some of you will know that I started off the new year making crocheted afghans.  I had a long standing cold (which is still not fully gone!) so I had a lot of indoor time. I made two afghans in a new to me pattern in the month of January. The first one is a combination of colours (ivory, gray, gold) that is much more subdued than I usually gravitate towards. I enjoyed making the afghan and wanted to make another one so I could hopefully remember the pattern better.  for the second one I decided on a very bright combination of colours (burgundy, teal blue, mustard yellow, gray and orange).  These yarns are made by Caron in a variety of variegated colourways and I'm not too familiar with them. I was trying to figure out which one I might like!

 Can you see the 4 colours? The one on top is the first afghan I made. The green at the bottom is the last.

Once I made a second afghan I decided to gift one to a cousin who celebrates a her 60 th birthday this month. She plans to visit at the end of the month so I will gift it to her then.  In the meantime I've described the afghan colours to her and given her a choice between the two. She chose the brightly coloured one though she hasn't actually seen it yet. She wants to be surprised.  Then she said she might want to buy one or she might know someone who wants to  buy one so I made two more.

A cushion project is one that's been around for awhile. I've had several large cushions which do not have cushion covers. They are only covered in muslin and the kapok stuffing cannot be washed.

I could never decide on the style or colour of cushions covers I wanted and dithered about it for some time.  Since the stuffing needs refreshing I opened them up again and washed the outer part. It is a messy job because the stuffing gets all over the place.

Kapok is a natural material which comes from the Kapok tree. Kapok is also called Java cotton.  The Kapok tree is native to west Africa and was transported to Asia where it is cultivated for its fibre or floss.  The tree can grow up to 4 metres (13 feet) per year and reaches about 50 metres maximum. The kapok fibre comes from the trees pods which open and are then dispersed by the wind before harvesting. 

The stuffing is used in pillows, mattresses, upholstery and insulation but with the availability of foam, plastics and synthetic fibres, kapok's use has declined. Personally I have used kapok for a  few decades and I prefer it to foam and other unnatural fillers.

The kapok tree

Kapok from 3 large cushions.

I went to Ikea and purchased 5 different but complementary cushion covers. It's feels so good to get that niggling job out of the way. I very seldom get to Ikea. I don't really like going there because of it's enormous size and maze of rooms you must make your way through to find what you want. But if one has time and energy it is fun looking at all the things one can possibly need for one's home. It is also very inexpensive to shop there unlike some other places and I find the quality is good or comparable to other places.

Another item I needed from Ikea is a large majestic palm. I have gone without large plants in my living room for quite some time simply because it is very drafty and cold along the window wall.  Now I've decided to try again.

Majestic palms are not that easy to grow at the best of times since most of us tend to over water them or improperly water them .  They need to be almost dried out before they are watered well and drained so that the bottom of the planter is not sitting in a pool of water.  I'm hoping I can keep this one alive for awhile.  I  plan on putting up some drapes over my window blinds too. Normally I do not like drapery but I have grown tired of looking at beige blinds.  I also want to see if some simple drapes will help minimize the draft.

I haven't been out to take any nice photos so I'm sharing some I took at the waterfront at English Bay Beach in October 2017. 

Linking with Friday Foto Friends 

and 

Skywatch Friday

Have a lovely weekend.

Saturday's Critters ~ February 10, 2018

Gift from a friend.  A blue glass bird. I love it!

A friendly old dog patiently waiting for his master at the Park's canteen.

A small ant working hard to climb to the top.

An energetic dog fetching ball.

A black fly enjoying the pretty petals.  I don't know if black flies eat nectar like bees do.

(It will be easier to see the ant and the fly if you click on the photos to enlarge them).

I've been busy crocheting another afghan.

My cousin who lives in Edmonton will visit briefly in about 2 weeks. 

I want to gift her with an afghan for her 60th birthday.

I will unveil new afghans soon.

I also have to get started on making some clothing. I began cutting out the fabric a few weeks ago but have much more to do. I also need to return some clothing I bought without trying them on.

The store is not so far away so that will be good exercise.

I'm hoping to do a little reading, cleaning, etc.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Joining in with Eileen at Saturday's Critters.

The Skies Were Blue Today

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sky was blue today,

I wanted to go out and play

I took my good camera with me but forgot the memory card in my computer!

Thank goodness for phone cameras.

I snapped these few pics on the way to meet a friend I haven't seen for long.
We exchanged Christmas gifts. Yes, you read that right.
We don't get together so often but we pray for one another a lot.
She gave me a wonderful book on alternative health remedies.  She also gave me a pretty glass bird which had a mottled blue colour inside.
I will try to take a picture and add it here later. The gifts were perfect.

I gave her a few hand knitted dishcloths in her favourite colour (variegated yarn in red)
and a personal alarm device.  The latter she can can use when she is travelling alone at night from her ministry at the old folks home.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

and

Friday Foto Friends

Light & Lasagna

Hi friends,

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend.

I had a mostly indoors weekend though I did get out for a short time on Saturday mostly to post mail and pick up some milk.  I also spent a lot of time online pricing and looking for various light bulbs. It seems all of a sudden my hallway lights, oven light, dining room lights and bathroom lights, including a heat lamp bulb, all needed replacing. Most of the bulbs I needed were found at Walmart but they had an even better selection at Canadian Tire.

My oh my, bulbs can certainly be expensive. I haven't had to buy any for awhile because I usually buy ahead and store some but needed to replenish my stock. Personally I've found that even if I buy more expensive bulbs they don't seem to last any longer so I'd rather buy less expensive ones.

About one third of the bulbs purchased.

Now I know energy consumption and conservation are issues and I do take them seriously. I minimize the power usage as best I can. Lights are not kept on very often. Only when necessary. Whether to turn lights off when you leave the room depends very much on the type of light bulb you are using.  If you are interested you can read more about it here.

Also I use the lowest wattage possible especially when a fixture requires more than one bulb. Not only does it consume too much energy to use a higher wattage but the bulbs also throw a lot of heat.  I  buy flood lights for the hallways and for my floor lamps which are LED lights.  I detest the light provided by the flood lights. Even though they are the "right" wattage and lumens, the light they give is so minimal and so cold looking.  To be honest I can barely see in my bedroom hallway.  But I use them anyway because it is actually difficult at times to find just the right bulbs and I will make do with what I have. Maybe there is a different brand that is better but when I've looked in stores these kind of bulbs are usually only made by 2 different manufacturers (GE and NOMA).


It rained heavily but today (Sunday) the sky broke for a bit and I managed to get some lovely sky shots.

The sky looks like there is light behind the clouds.

I made lasagna for dinner.  I'm hungry and look forward to eating since I'm hungry.  I've only ever made lasagna about 3 times in my life as it isn't something I crave very often. I just had it a few days ago as part of a buffet in a restaurant. The lasagna was not good at all. It was so dry and tasteless.  But I didn't go to the restaurant for lasagna, that was just a side thing I decided to try. I was mainly there for the BBQ ribs and salad bar which were delicious. They also had a lot of beautiful desserts but I was so full after salad, soup and main course dishes that I had very little room left for dessert.

Lasagna before baking.

I don't have a recipe to share for the lasagna. I cobbled together a few recipes from on line as I didn't have exactly everything for one particular recipe. There are some simpler recipes that don't call for ricotta or cottage cheese but I wanted cottage cheese in mine.  I also wanted to use some fresh spinach I have since I won't be making salad today. I might just cut up some English cucumber slices and have some grape tomatoes on the side.  I used no boil lasagna noodles though I know some ladies use the regular noodles and they add a bit of water in the pan before the dish goes into the oven.  The water helps the noodles cook. The lasagna was very delicious and there is a lot left over for freezing and future meals.

The finished product.

I tried and failed to get a good macro shot of a slice of lasagna.
I'm not sure why but since I had my eye surgery I find it difficult to get good indoor macro shots.  Maybe it's just the night shots in winter. I'll have to see how things progress.

That lack of clarity in taking photos is the only real change I've noticed since I had lens implants.
Has anyone else experienced this issue?
I am continuing with the Systane Balance and thanks to Eileen I checked into the prices at Walmart.
I'm happy to say the price is much better there and I can get two in one box so that keeps me from running low too quickly.

~~~~~~~

The weeks ahead

I've got plans to see friends I haven't seen in a long while, get several doctor and dentist appointments out of the way and hopefully participate in a workshop or two.

If you caught my last post here you'll see I've also got a lot of reading (and I've added more books!), crafting, paperwork and so on. I don't expect I will get a lot of these things done this coming week but I have enough on my plate to keep me busy with fun things in February. Well, mostly fun things. I don't enjoy the paperwork largely related to financial matters.

 ~~~

The Black Panther, the new Marvel Comics movie is being released on February 16th and my brother and I are looking forward to it.  We don't do so many things together but we do like to go to Marvel Comic movies together. We also like to see Star Wars and Star Trek movies when we can but we also try and take our niece and nephew when it works out. We are all fans of these movies.
I still haven't seen the latest Star Wars movie because I had hoped to see it with my niece.
Then I delayed my travel due to illness. I won't be able to travel soon so I may end up having to see it as a rental. I prefer to see it on the big screen.

~~~

Wishing you an awesome week ahead.

Fresh Snow

Happy February everyone!

 I hope this new month finds you well.

I think I am finally over the bug I've had but am still trying to take it easy.

Last weekend we had another dusting of snow on the mountains.

 I thought it looked very pretty despite the heavy cloud cover.  

We've had a  lot of rain over this winter and it seems few sunny days but if we can have at least a break in the rain and one or two days of sunshine every few weeks I can handle it.

That is part of the price of living on the beautiful west coast and in these days of unpredictable weather you never know what you are going to get.

I love the mountains when they are outlined in snow. I also don't mind the high rise to the right I think it helps me that there are green trees planted at the top. Can you see the bird flying high in the air (you might need to click the photo to enlarge) ?

If you will notice my header doesn't feature the high rise. That's because the header was made 2 years ago and the high rise has gone up over the last year or so. The building development isn't quite finished but it is in the last stages and work is progressing rapidly.
When I first discovered a high rise was going to be on my horizon I wasn't very happy but I'm glad to see my view is still very good. I thank God and I hope it remains this way for awhile now.

I spent some time watching the flock of birds flying and swooping back and forth across the great expanse of sky.

They fly so fast that it is hard to get clear photos.

Very soon the weather will be much warmer and the sun will shine far more often.
In fact on Tuesday this week I felt the change in the air.

Avid gardeners will start preparing their gardens.  I tend not to do much until the month of May no matter my fantasy.  I just can't seem to get things all organized before then.

I'm keeping busy in other ways. I'm ahead in my reading and crochet goals for the year as a result of not being well enough to go out as often. 

Right now I'm taking a break from crochet work.  My eyes have been too dry and strained.
 If interested in what I've made so far you can check out my January posts

here  and here.

Currently I am reading these books but I've slowed down as to how much I read each day due to the eye issues once again.

I read "The Girl on Train". I thought this one was equally good.

Beautiful pictorials. I drool over each one.

About a woman I never heard about until this book. Very interesting.

A very impactful book. It touched my spirit so much.

A classic. It is estimated to take 34 hours to read.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to the eye doctor for my last visit today. The eyes have healed well and completely.
Now I need to work on the dryness. I notice my eyes only respond to drops with lipid based eye drops.
I wore contacts for so many years and in some ways they protected my eyes but in other ways they helped to dry out my eyes.
Before I returned home, I went to buy some Systane Balance and will be using them 4x daily until my eyes are back to health.

 ~~~~

I had a head start on grocery shopping this month.

It helps me start the month off well and manage the budget.

I will be doing some meal (2 weeks at a time) planning this month.
~~~~~~~

Has anyone out there seen the movie, The Shape of Water? What did you think of it?
Is anyone out there waiting to see The Black Panther?

I hope you are coping well with winter or summer wherever you live in the world.

Linking up with

Skywatch Friday

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters

Ducks and More Ducks

These duck photos are from my archives.  They were all photographed at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC.

I love watching birds but I seldom get to see any variety. 

I have to travel a distance before I have any photo opportunities to capture birds other than pigeons, crows, seagulls and sparrows.

I guess that is true of anyone who is a city dweller and would like to photograph birds. 

I think the detail on the feathers of these ducks is so beautiful.

Joining in with Eileen and others at 

Saturday's Critters

and

Weekend Reflections.

Thank you for stopping by.

Beautiful Nairobi Sky

African skies have some of the most beautiful sights

Today I'm featuring two fabulous sky shots taken by photographer

Curtis Masafu of Eyeland Pictures in Nairobi, Kenya.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday
 and
Friday Foto Friends

Happy weekend to you all!

Miss Sally ~ Home At Last!

I'm happy to say that Miss Sally (Part 1 here and Part 2 here) has made it home after almost a full month in hospital.  It was touch and go on several occasions but by God's grace Miss Sally has recovered and gone home.

Her discharge date was delayed by two days. The hospital had ordered some medicines from Nairobi and wanted to both administer the medicines and run tests to ensure a good red blood cell count.

January 22, 2018 ~ Miss Sally is overjoyed to be home again.

It has been difficult for me to focus on much over these past few weeks since Christmas other than Miss Sally's condition, my own sickness and praying for a few other needs. On good days I have done a lot of reading, crocheting or cooking and baking. On other days I've just managed to do a bit of house work here and there.

Lovely fields of green

near where Miss Sally was in hospital (near Bomet, Kenya).

Miss Sally is not out of the woods yet.  She will need to have a better diet and possibly supplements. If things don't improve consistently she will require more medications. If you feel led to help her in any way, kindly let me know. Otherwise we would appreciate your prayers for Miss Sally.

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

While my sickness with cold and flu bug has dragged on I don't feel up to doing the usual things. I've spent a lot of time in prayer and reading the word but have also spent a lot of time watching television and programming on Netflix. I managed to watch two full seasons of The Crown and enjoyed it very much. Claire Foy does a fantastic job of humanizing the Queen while maintaining the dignity required of a Queen.  The cast of actors are all fabulous.

I'm on a free trial for Netflix and it expires this week. I would like to cancel my television channels and subscribe to Netflix or other streaming service but am waiting for high speed internet to be available in my building. I hope I won't have to wait too much longer as it has already been years, yes you read that right. I've been waiting years for the high speed internet. When I first moved into my building we had the fasted internet speed in the area and in much of the city. I felt quite smug, lol. That didn't last because now we have the slowest internet in the area. It still pretty good considering but I'll want the much faster speed if I am going to rely on the internet for watching television and movies. I would then upgrade to unlimited internet data for home use.

When I'm confined to the house during illness I tend to want junk food or comfort food, especially late at night. I haven't been buying "treats" because of the high cost and also for health reasons.  Instead I'm doing some baking here and there. though I haven't exactly made healthy options, I can do things like reduce the amount of sugar used and so on.  I can also freeze some and eat it later.  I did some baking today.  The results are in the photo below.

I must be on a health upswing as I made three different treats

First up was something called Butter Cake. It was the first time I'd heard of it.  I came across the recipe when searching for a simple, basic cake.  It was quite tasty but I doubt very much I will make it again. Too much butter for me.  I really don't know what I was thinking because I wanted a lemon cake to use up some of my lemons. I did use some freshly squeezed lemon juice in the batter but the butter overwhelmed the lemon flavour I was after. Oh well, next time I will make sure to make a plainer cake with lots of lemon.

I also made a dozen blueberry muffins and a few dozen jumbo raisin cookies. Most of these will be frozen and used as needed.  I far prefer home made muffins to store bought ones. I only like the store bought muffins at high end places. Otherwise they tend to have a lot of oil or a lot of air. I like my muffins with a bit more substance.  Same with cookies. I don't like sweet cookies and I do like to have them large so I can dunk them in tea or coffee. These are also good to take with me when I run errands and I need a snack.

The muffins and cake were baked in silicone muffin and loaf pans.  

Personally I don't like silicon pans as much as I like the tin or metal ones. 

I find they completely change the texture of the food.
If you are a baker have you noticed any difference?

Joining with Our World Tuesday 

Pictorial Tuesday

Sally's Miracles - Part 2

This is Part 2 of the story of the elderly lady named Sally that I introduced you to about a week ago. If you missed Part 1 and are interested you can pick up the beginning of story here.

I left off in Part 1 by saying how Sally began having health issues and had to be admitted to hospital more than once.  I guess that can hardly be surprising at the ripe old age of  103 years but she had been a vibrant, energetic woman throughout her life so this was a new thing.  Sally began having unexplainable fainting spells and weakness.  Once admitted to hospital she was alternatively placed in a private ward or an in Intensive Care Unit depending on her particular condition which would change if she was in the hospital for any length of time.

A week and a half or so before Christmas 2017 she was discharged to go home from one of her hospital stays.  She was extremely happy because she wanted to spend Christmas in her own home. Of course anyone can understand that. But it wasn't meant to be. Within just a  few short days she returned to the hospital and has been there ever since.

Skies above Utali College, Nairobi, Kenya, January 18, 2018.

  Now comes what I feel is a very miraculous aspect to this story.

These Kenyan skies give a feeling of peace. Taken January 18, 2018.

I  had gone to sleep rather late on Christmas Eve and was awakened at approximately 5:50 Christmas morning. In Kenya the time would have been approximately 4:50 p.m. Christmas Day.  I awoke with a song playing through my head (Song: This is Just What Heaven Means to Me).  I felt led to pray for Miss Sally.  I knew from previous experience that this meant that Sally was struggling with life and likely on her way home to Heaven.  Yet I had been roused from sleep and felt the need to pray for Sally so I did. Shortly after prayer I went back to sleep. 

Another Nairobi sky, January 18, 2018.

Later that same day, I chatted with my Kenyan friend and asked some questions. Through the process I learned that Sally almost went home to be with her maker at precisely the same time I had been roused to pray for her.  But she rallied and ultimately lived through the day and was at that moment stablilized

I was very grateful. Grateful to hear Miss Sally was still amongst the living and grateful that I did pray for her too

I remember saying to my friend that I was glad that the family did not have to lose their loved one on Christmas Day. If that had happened they would always remember Christmas Day as the day that they lost their mother or grandmother.  I also said at the time that we do not know how long Miss Sally would live and remain on earth but we knew that God had answered prayer and he would determine how many days she would have left.

Since that time Miss Sally has had a few medical ups and downs. We thought she might be discharged at one point but later she lost strength and was ultimately sent to another city, as if often the case in Kenya, for MRI and other tests. They found that she has a very low red blood cell count and have been administering appropriate treatments.  But they also think there might be some kind of a spinal issue.  The doctors are thinking Sally may be released if her blood pressure stabilizes but she will need to return frequently as an outpatient for check up and  treatment.

We continue to pray for her and she seems to be improving daily.

I conclude this story by stating how strong Miss Sally's faith has been throughout this time. On the days when she has been able to talk and is aware of everything, she prays for the needs of others, sings songs of praise and encourages her family members to walk uprightly and in a Christian manner.  Her approach to life and her approach to dealing with these difficult days has been very inspiring. In fact, her ability to bounce back has been very surprising too to everyone, including the doctors.

I do not know how many days Miss Sally will be given but I thank God that I have been able to help her and that her faith has remained strong throughout.  It is very inspiring to walk with Sally through these latter days of her life

Now since it is Skywatch Friday I want to leave you with some a few more sky photos from Vancouver, British Columbia where I live.

This is the sky on Thursday afternoon So dark and foreboding.

If I look further up, I see there actually is some blue sky above.

I was lucky enough to capture a seagull in flight.

It has been raining heavily on and off over the last few days but the temperatures are about 5 degrees warmer than the usual temperatures at this time. That's what I learned on the late night weather report recently.  Thank you for dropping by. I do appreciate each and every one of you who visit and leave a comment.

Joining  in with

Skywatch Friday 

Friday Foto Friends

and

Saturday's Critters.

Update: Friday January 19/17 - I've received word that Sally is to be discharged this weekend. The hospital is waiting for medications sent from Nairobi. The medications are expensive.  I am helping with the full hospital bill and required medications but I need help for future medication needs. If there is anyone that feels led to help Sally into the future please do get in touch with me.
Otherwise, I understand.
Thanks so much for stopping by!