Starting the Week off Right

Last week was the first sunny week for some time and in fact the week ended on quite a hot note. That is about to change and thankfully I was able to complete planting both my balcony garden and my community plot before the weather cools a bit. It is expected to cook by about 10 degrees Celsius this week and hopefully it will rain for several days.  According to the weather forecast it looks like the best chance of rain is on Tuesday with 90% chance of rain and Sunday and Monday with 70% chance of rain respectively. I find the garden does much better with rain water than with tap water and the ground just soaks up the rain which is great for the tender plants.

On Sunday evening (Mother's Day), I was walking back from the community plot and came across these gigantic poppies. They were simply too beautiful to pass by without getting a photo or two even though the sun had set about half an hour earlier.

The photos are not the best quality but I think they look a bit like paintings.

I went out on the patio in the wee hours of Saturday morning to take a few photos. I was excited to find a hummingbird perched high on a nearby tree.  My camera battery was dead and I had to use my phone so the quality is not the best but I think you can make out the outline of the bird at the top of tree (right side of the photo).

The hummingbird was perched quietly on the tree top for almost 30 minutes in total.  I was hoping it would make it's way to my patio garden but it never moved until it flew away.  I spotted another hummingbird flitting about and drinking nectar from the blossoms on the Solomon's Seal on my patio.  It moved  far too quickly to take a photo and didn't stay very long to enjoy the nectar.

The sunrise is always so peaceful and beautiful. I love the golden colour of the sky.

At about 4:30 a.m. it gets rather noisy with the seagulls squawking overhead. They zip back and forth and back and forth like they are going crazy. It is almost like they are excited about having freedom in the skies at that early hour. I do not know why they don't do this during the day time too.

There are always several seagulls flying about but I only managed to capture one as my main subject was the hummingbird.

Thank you for your visit to my blog.

Wherever you are in the world I wish you a fabulous week ahead.

Our World Tuesday

This and That

In my last post I mentioned the long delay in planting my garden due to inclement weather. While I was waiting to plant  I've been catching up on other things like reading.

Here is a photo display of the books I've read so far. I've mentioned before that I have a modest goal of 20 books but with current books I'm reading I will soon surpass the goal.  Once I achieve it I don't have ambitious plans to set a higher goal. Instead I'll spend time doing other things like arts & crafts, sewing, gardening, decluttering and simply enjoying life as much as possible this summer. It seems there is never enough time to do everything but stopping to enjoy life is very important especially enjoying time with family and friends while you can.

I'm in the process of building a new life as it's been 2 years since my late mom passed, 1 year since my sister in law passed, 1 year since a dear old friend passed, almost 1 year since we lost Grandma Sally and 2 months since a young cousin passed.  The last while has been a time of many losses.  Though I do believe I will see all of them again one day it has still taken it's toll on me. I miss them and the losses leave a void in my life.  I've had to try and rebuild my life without them, with some it is a bit easier to do than others simply because of distance or time spent with them but they were all a big part of my life and now they are are no longer here.

I've kept super busy over these past two years trying to move forward and clear out a lot of things that are no longer needed.   I've also spent time trying to catch up to my own personal needs and business.  Some of that will continue.

A while back I mentioned I wanted to change financial advisors. In serendipitous timing my current advisor called me late last week to let me know he is moving on to a different company. It will cost me money if I follow him to wherever he is going.  Though he is willing to split the cost with me I think the time has come to move on though I'm still mulling it over.

This week I met with a possible new advisor.  We had a good first meeting but I'm still exploring options, pros and cons and so on. In my next meeting with the new advisor I will see what he has to say about my current investments and what he might recommend. I also want to learn more about him personally. I don't know about you but when you see a financial advisor you basically lay your whole life bare because your whole life is tied up in your finances, your spending, future spending, income, investments, retirement, wills and so on. So I think it's only fair that you learn something about them personally.  Also, there are many people out there who call themselves financial advisors or planners but they have no real credentials or experience. Canada is thinking of regulating this area (you would think this would have happened before now). It pays to do your homework.

If any of you have experience of changing financial planners and/or investment advisors please let me know in the comment section how you went about it and whether you were satisfied with the outcome.

I've also been trying to carve out more time for personal prayer and study. I'm currently participating in a forty day (40) prayer and Bible study.  This is a huge commitment because it adds hours a day to my already busy schedule.  I have 18 days left in the commitment. Once it is done, I'm hoping to be able to establish the right balance and daily and weekly routines. At least I'll try.

But right now I'm enjoying this intensive time of prayer, Bible study and fasting (from meat and poultry).  As you can imagine, something has to give in the schedule so it means I'm spending less time chatting with friends abroad as well as less time blogging and on entertainment activities.

To be honest, I'm also feeling quite tired. On top of that my knees have gradually begun to bother me again to the point where they are almost constantly in pain.  I've been needing to take pain relief nightly which I've never done before.  I'm not certain how much fatigue is health related, pain related, or even related to the fast and change of diet (I've increased my supplementation with Omega 3, broad based vitamins and turmeric or perhaps more accurately I've started being more consistent in taking them).  Thankfully I haven't really been craving meat or fowl that much but I'm not used to going long periods without meat protein and I'm finding I just don't feel good so I'm trying to go easy on myself.  Today I managed to make a more nutritious and filling meal (vegetarian curry  made with onions, carrots, potatoes, spinach and peas over rice). It was nice and of course there will be left overs which is always helpful.

Finally, I was pleased to get the community garden plot in yesterday. I was so happy and blessed to have the help of the young woman who has the garden plot right next to mine. My knees were so bad and though I didn't share that with her she just pitched right in and volunteered to turn my soil, recommended where to plant my various seeds for best results and dug out a huge rosemary bush which I asked if she wanted.  She was very happy to accept the rosemary bush as she said she had been admiring it for awhile.

Night descends on the community garden at a small, well used park near my home.

Now I just have to make sure to visit the plot often enough to keep it well watered.  The young lady offered to water the plot today because she was visiting her plot anyway.  I will make sure I get over there tomorrow since I still want to plant a few carrots and some kale. I need to buy the seeds tomorrow.  One thing I'd like to learn more about before next year is companion planting. I don't tend to plan my garden too much because I usually use starter plants.  I have to go with whatever plants are available when I shop in the stores.  Often they don't have what I want. With the veggie garden I'm mainly using seeds.  It provides more options and ability to do some companion planting.

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