Monday, November 19, 2018

A Few Days In Pictures

 Watching

The sky as it was on Sunday morning just after 7 a.m.
It was nice to capture a morning without an overcast sky and rain.





Baking

Saturday I decided to make  a simple Chili Con Carne in the Instant Pot.


It looks a bit greasy but there is no added oil and the beef was lean.


That gave me a craving for freshly baked bread. I started making it very late but was able to enjoy it fresh before bed time. It was so delicious.





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Reading

New books I'm reading

Book #54

  

The description of The Couple Next Door makes me think it's based on Madeline McCann's story.
I've read the first few chapters and it seems very likely the books is based on Madeline McCann's disappearance but the details are probably creative imaginings.

If you are unfamiliar with the Madeline McCann story you can click here to read.


Book #55

I haven't actually started this book (#55) yet but it involves a young girl of 10 who lives with her mother in Vancouver.  A relative from China who was involved in the Tienanmen Square demonstration arrives to seek refuge with them.  You can read more about the book here.
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Eating 

When I am out and about on errands I usually have to have one meal out and most often it is a late dinner. 

Here are two recent dishes both from Vietnamese restaurants.  Both very delicious though in the 2nd dish the vegetables were almost raw. That didn't bother me because I've read that raw or very lightly cooked is much healthier.

Hot and sour chicken soup and a shrimp salad roll with peanut sauce.
Crispy noodle seafood and vegetables.

 Christmas

After decluttering two weeks ago and getting rid of my 4.5 foot Christmas tree I managed to purchase a more suitable one for my living space.  I'd used it for about 15 years, possibly longer so I got my money's worth.
I wanted a new one because I found it difficult to put the Christmas lights on and it is increasingly difficult each year to find floor space to accommodate it.

I gifted my old tree  to a lady who is receiving visitors from Ireland for Christmas and wants to make the house nice and cosy.

I wanted to buy a  table top tree but when I was out shopping I couldn't find a small white one. This week I finally saw the kind I'm looking for in a flyer but the only colour choices were pink and blue. 
In the meantime I've purchased a 4 foot tree. It is pre-lit and about half the circumference of the one I gave away.  
Now I'm searching for a star to put on top. The one I purchased from Michael's was far too heavy so I'll keep on looking.

I also managed to buy a few Christmas gifts. 
I still have to purchase something for my niece but I've spotted something that might be suitable to add to the puzzle I already purchased. She loves puzzles and is very good at them.

I purchased  a few more balls of yarn for the granny square afghan I'm making
I'm not sure what happened but on my way home the balls of yarn went astray.
I called the two places I stopped on the way home and they don't have my yarn.
I'm not happy because of the loss of funds and the loss of time in going to buy them.

I will need to return tomorrow to buy more yarn as I've run out today.
Thankfully I didn't lose something much bigger.

Home Improvements

I finally purchased a long curtain rod for my front room.  In early Fall I purchased and installed a rod and my curtains but it didn't work out. Within 2 hours the whole thing sagged. I took it down and have been looking for a longer one ever since.

I'm going to try and put the new one up and see if it sags.
I wanted to buy additional supports due to the problem I had last time.  But the female sales representative said she used to work in draperies and the rod I was buying was strong enough without additional supports. I doubted her but decided to try it out. I sure hope she is right and that I won't need more brackets otherwise I will have to return to the store and order what I need before the curtains can finally go up.

I also bought some weather strips to put around doors and will get some bubble wrap to put on the large windows to cut down on drafts.  I learned this latter tip from a woman on You Tube called Alaskan Granny.
I've gone years without weather proofing though one year I did put plastic on the lower half of my windows.  That really helped a lot.  This winter I don't want drafts. My feet get too cold.


Making

I'm beavering away on the granny squares and think I will have enough soon. At least I can now envision the final
product.
I'm liking how it looks and the colours seem very popular with the women.
I will show a photo soon. I'll wait until I get to a point where you can see how the final product is shaping up.

I'm not sure yet if I will gift it or try to sell it. It seems there is always someone who can use an afghan for those chilly nights.  As for the three extra afghans I've made, I gave one to a friend for her birthday (berry and pink colours) and I will give one to a friend and one to my brother for Christmas. Both of these are in shades of beige, grey and mustard colours. I haven't yet started on the grey, black and white afghan.

I wish all of you a great weekend ahead.
Prayers for those suffering right now as a result of Malibu fires and other tragedies around the world.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving if you are celebrating in the USA.
Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays besides Christmas and Easter.
In Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving in October.



Joining in with Our World Tuesday today.


Thursday, November 15, 2018

Making Slow Progress

The week has flown by! My time has been spent dealing with the missions in Kenya and following up on Jonah's care and stay in hospital. If all goes well he should be released on Friday, Kenyan time.  Thank you to all who prayed for his recovery.

I made a bit of progress reading my latest book by Dr. Don Colbert.

Book #52

I was interrupted at the coffee shop when I went there to read the book of short stories, Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie. A fellow patron who happens to own a used book store nearby started chatting and wanted to know more about the author.  I told him what I know, which isn't a lot and we briefly discussed another of my recent reads, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Then he went on his way and I had to dash to other errands.

Book #53

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I've made only a bit of progress on making granny squares. I like how they look so far though after I'm finished making squares and joining them there will be a lot of loose ends to weave in. This part can be quite time consuming.



The rest of the week I've been busy with errands and shopping for a few Christmas presents.  I 'm almost set now. I just have to finalize something for a niece and nephew. I also had to buy some tissue paper which I like to use to wrap around gifts before I stuff them in Christmas bags or wrap them in paper.  Wrapping presents seems to take longer than actually looking for and getting or making the gifts, lol. Tuesday and Wednesday I wrote out most of my Christmas cards and posted the international ones. My Christmas card list is limited to 20 cards this year whereas in some years it has been more like 60.

I was invited to an all day Christmas event on Saturday but have decided to stay home and rest.  I'm also hoping to get organized for the week ahead, do some crochet and hopefully some reading.  Right now I really don't have the desire to make nice with a room full of strangers so it suits me to stay home. I love to meet people but I have to be in the right frame of mind and well rested, otherwise being in a room full of strangers (minus my friend) is a lot of effort if you don't want to stand around looking like an awkward bump on a log.

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 It's been raining here and sometimes cold. Last night I found it quite warm which was a pleasant surprise.
 At this time of year it is usually raining and warmer or not raining and cold. It is not usually clear and warm.
Given the overcast conditions here right now I'm sharing sky and critter photos from my archives.

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The first set of photos with pink flamingos were taken at Lake Nakuru Provincial Park in Kenya.





Here is a view of the sky from my balcony taken on a clear day about 5 days ago.
You can see a bird flying in the sky. I think it was a crow. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo.


These small, colourful bird photos were taken at the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver. The conservatory has a lot of exotic birds which are always a treat for me to see though perhaps more common depending where you live.

Gouldian Finch at Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory
 
Strawberry Finch at Vancouver's Bloedel Conservatory

I'm looking forward to the weekend. 
I wish all of you a wonderful weekend.
Thank you for stopping by!

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Linking with



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