Looking Skyward

Our summer finally arrived this past week. I read on Twitter that it is the latest arrival of summer in 40 years. My experience of having lived long on the earth is that it was indeed a very late summer arrival and the twitter feed simply confirmed it.  If you were in Vancouver over the past few months you could safely vouch that this was the case because it has rained so much since April. Virtually every day and sunny and dry days were few and far between.

Hot weather did not arrive until a few days ago and for the first time since May I went to the community garden. I thought that after several days of sunshine and hot weather the garden would need a good watering.  Truthfully since I've been self-isolating it has been very easy not to go to the garden though I did worry about how unsightly it might be by now. I certainly didn't worry that the garden wasn't getting enough water.

Imagine my surprise to get there and find that most things I planted or that grew because of wind swept seeds taking root, were bone dry! Only a few bunches of a variety of lettuces and some nasturtiums  looked like they would survive.  There was a huge proliferation of poppies that had gone to seed. I noticed that to be the case in neighbouring plots as well. I didn't plant any poppies and I'm sure my neighbours didn't either.  I remember one of the gardeners last year saying she hated the poppies. Now I know why.  I spent a bit of time clearing out dead stalks and leaves. I hope to return soon-ish to clear out the rest and leave it be for another year.

Since there was nothing much to look at in my garden, I took a photo of the sky on my walk to a local pharmacy.

I finished The Dutch House which was a very interesting, though sad book. Since my last post I also read The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society.  I found it a comfortable and satisfying read; a cosy book if you will.  The only complaint I have is that there were so many characters at times it was a bit difficult to keep track of them all. If you like you can read more about the book here.

In the meantime, the book Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven by Dr. David Jeremiah arrived in the mail.  I'm half way through it and it is a very interesting book.  Dr. Jeremiah tells us what Heaven is like through the many verses of Biblical scripture. Most people probably don't realize just how much the Bible says about Heaven and what we can expect there if that is our destination. It is interesting and easy to read so I highly recommend it. Another book I recommend is Dr. Terry Law's book, The Power of Praise and Worship.  I found it very inspirational and motivating.
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I didn't only read books this week. I did the usual grocery shopping. Since many of my readers are from other countries, I thought it might be interesting to sneak a peek at some of the foods and prices on offer.

It's a good thing I don't care for steak that much. These 3 steaks in a package cost just over $40. Canadian and it isn't even Porterhouse or Sirloin steak which I think are a higher grade.  The chicken is a bit pricey this week too. I try and buy them when they come two in a bag for the same price or a bit more (maximum $16.00). Then I keep one whole for roasting and cut up the other one for a few meals.  Alternatively, I buy chicken already cut into pieces when they are on a reduced price.

Sorry for the blurred photo. I bought a bag of organic sweet potatoes (right) $6.99.

I like the price of cherry tomatoes.  I buy a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes every week and/or tomatoes on the vine. 

 

 I bought a bag of avocados. There were 4 in a bag for $4.99, the usual sale price.

I've been craving a papaya and I bought one for $5.99. I finished it off by the next day.

The cucumbers were $1.29 if you have the store app (which I do).

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I also spent a bit of time talking to some far away relatives to see how they are coping. My aunt told me that a cousin who lost her son about 2 years ago was going through a difficult time. They were all meeting at my cousin's brother's place for lunch and pouring over old family photos. My cousin broke down in tears and they flowed heavily that day.
 I know it is very difficult for a mama to lose a child. It just isn't the natural order of things.
(The father also died just about a year prior to his son).  But the tears are a necessary and healing part of grief.

My aunt also told me that another cousin has gone to collect her daughter in a small city and take her to the big city of Edmonton, Alberta. The daughter is having some serious health issues and needs a specialist's examination.

It is always sad to hear of others who are suffering but I thank God we can turn to him with our problems and concerns.

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I've also been checking up on various people in Kenya. 

Rumour has it that the President may be bringing in some harsher restrictions next week because of the rising Covid 19 numbers in Kenya.  After many months of low numbers of Covid 19 infections, their numbers are rising rather dramatically each day and that is why I'm expecting more stringent restrictions in the country though the restrictions were only loosened about 2 weeks ago.
On the missions side of things I've been trying to keep ahead of things to ensure that the people we're trying to help have a bit of money to at least by a bit of food in case they are not permitted to go shopping. Some people are harvesting crops right now. Mainly corn or maize that is a staple of the diet but I am not sure if the corn and other crops we planted awhile back are ready since we planted a bit late.
 I really think it is too early yet for the harvest but hopefully in another month or so.
It is always a scramble to ensure that people have the funds for the medicine or for a bit of food especially if mobility is restricted. In Kenya there will be very little warning before high level decisions with wide reaching ramifications are made.  We do our best to prepare within our means.
People continue to suffer there in a myriad of ways and everyone is coping as best they can.
At least in Canada and the USA the governments have been giving out money to help in a variety of different ways. In Canada not everyone gets the same help and there is nothing like a stimulus cheque. This is a different approach to our neighbours to the south who I think receive a sizeable cheque (or two) regardless of their income or impact of Covid 19 on their work.
I'm grateful to live in a country where the government tries to help it's citizens.

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I leave you with a few photos from the breaking of morning on Thursday.

I absolutely love the way the sun is hitting the clouds from underneath and casting such a beautiful glow.

Even the dark clouds have some very interesting formations.

The ever present sea gulls are out as always every morning at this time doing their daily fly by.

I hope you are all doing well and finding something of joy during these unique times and challenging times.

Stay safe.

Thank you for stopping by.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday this week.

Another Week Flies By

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

Today is a mixed bag of weather. It is mostly cloudy with a few brighter spots. It hasn't rained today but it did rain yesterday.

I continue to be busy with all the paperwork. I'm also catching up on tax filing. One of the things that's been on my 'to do' list for awhile. I did tell you in my last post (read here if you like) that I had gotten very far behind on my personal business while I was busy care giving. Now I have an opportunity to get everything back on track.

Right now I'm cooking beans (kidney beans and chick peas) in the instant pot. I need to get back to healthier eating and beans are good for the blood sugar. I also roasted some yams and sweet potatoes and cut up some red peppers, English cucumbers and avocados.  I will be blanching some green beans and boiling some eggs.  All of these will be used throughout the coming day and if I don't feel like eggs I can have some fish or some chicken.  But for dinner tonight will be some coleslaw and smokies along with roasted red peppers and onions.

A few photos of my garden.

These are what came up from some wild seeds I planted.

These geraniums are late to bloom. These are the first flowers coming out. Black eyed Susan behind them will be opening soon.

A few strawberries ready for eating.

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I'm reading a new digital book, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, on loan from the library.

A few years ago I read Bel Canto, another book by the same author and I enjoyed it very much.

Ann Patchett is a wonderful story teller.

 

I  learned that the local library will not be open until September though other branches have already reopened. Until then they have extended loan periods for books previously on loan before the pandemic. 

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In cat news I decided not to wait any longer for a call back for interview and called the rescue center myself to make sure they received the cat matching information.  The woman decided to interview me on the spot so that turned out well. We discussed various cats that are awaiting adoption and now I just have to wait to hear when a cat comes available for me to view and decide. I am not the first person on the list for any of the cats which we discussed so I have to be patient.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thank you for stopping by.

Note:  As always, if you have an interest in African missions please see the various links at the side bar. We covet your prayers.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday

What Have I Been Doing?

Hello friends,

I pray you are all safe and well during these tumultuous times.

In my little corner of the world I am super busy. I am catching up with many jobs and tasks that should have been done earlier but I lacked motivation and energy so other more immediate priorities took precedence. Like the seagull in the photo above, I would rather soar high away from the mundane things in life, ha ha. Now I have to roost for a bit and get caught up.
 

I can tell you I am so glad to be moving forward and getting things organized once again. In my former life I was a super organized person.  Over the past many years though I have done a lot of travelling.  Mostly to look after my dear late mom and also to undertake the missions in Kenya so it gave me less time to keep things well organized.

I hadn't really realized just how behind I was because I managed to keep everything moving along fairly well.  But now that I no longer spend so much time in care giving and I've been travelling less, it hit me that I have too much stuff and not enough space for it all. I don't want to simply organize it anymore. I want to get rid of of a lot of it.  Those of you who declutter on a regular basis would take the view that it is a never ending process to be clutter free. I still have some work to do before I get into the maintenance mode. I will be very satisfied when that time comes.

I've been doing this decluttering project for some time now and I've reached the stage of dealing with paperwork and files.  I've made a lot of progress over the past few days.  I'm excited that this task is well in hand especially since it is one of my least favourite things to do.

Some of you may be at the point in your own life where you need to get rid of things. Others of you still like your collections and sentimental items and you don't mind the extra time it takes to maintain  them.  Some people I know have far more paper than I do and others have virtually none.  We are all different.  I  just want to pare everything right down to the essence so that there is little left for someone else to have to deal with when I am no longer here. While I'm still here, I want to be able to easily access information and not have to dig here and there.

Anyway as you can imagine the week went by rather quickly with all this work.

Kenyan Missions of Hope Update:

The Kenyan Missions of Hope also occupies a good portion of my time.  On a regular basis I communicate with various Kenyans, do a lot of financial number crunching to figure out how to meet the needs and try to keep abreast of the many changes that regularly occur in Kenya in the political, economic and health areas.

The specific mission activities included:

• follow up on the application for Eunice's pension and hire someone to do the leg work (the elderly widow who has been in hospital all year).
• preliminary investigation as to whether Eunice can be moved to her home town and what will be required.  This initiative will take considerable communications with multiple levels of medical personnel and government politicos.  It will also take a lot of prayer and wisdom.
• sourcing and buying food, medicine, vitamins for Ernest (the diabetic man who broke his leg last year)
• assisting Alvin (the young university graduate who is looking for work in Kenya).
• researching work ideas to assist Alvin and others in Kenya where the unemployment rate is staggering
• preliminary investigation on land transfer issues relating to gifted property in Kenya.
• communicating with a Kenyan doctor friend about his plans to seek employment in the UK or Canada and helping him identify the English requirement examination (process and costs available in Kenya).
• considerable research and review about Kenyan political and economic developments.
• assisting with burial costs for the widow Esther who was laid to rest a week ago Saturday. You can read more about that here. Though no one from Esther's home area would step forward to help with burial plans and costs, many of them did arrive to pay their last respects when she was laid to rest. We thank God for that. I did what I could to ensure Pastor Jonah stays safe with social distancing and face masks while he undertook the organization of the funeral arrangements.

Of concern is that people in the villages do not tend to wear masks.  I see that some at least tried to keep social distance.

On Monday July 6, 2020, the President of Kenya lifted movement restrictions (effective Tuesday, July 7th) that have been in place in Nairobi, Mombasa and and Mandera.  These restrictions were put in place to try and contain the spread of the Coronavirus. However curfew restrictions are extended for another 30 days as are public gatherings.  Masks must be worn in public and social distancing maintained.  Schools will gradually be opened as of September, bars remain closed and churches can meet for no more than one hour with a maximum of 100 people in attendance with appropriate social distancing measures.  Domestic flights will resume July 15th and international flights as of August 1st.  As of Monday, July 6, Kenya has recorded 8,067 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 164 associated deaths.

Covid 19 Update in Canada
 
Most provinces and territories in Canada are returning to business since the Covid 19 pandemic was announced.  Today. July 6, 2020, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Medical Officer issued the following statement 

There have been 105,536 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 8,684 deaths. 66% of people have now recovered. Labs across Canada have tested over 2,940,000 people for COVID-19 to date. Over the past week, an average of 39,000 people were tested daily, with 1% testing positive.

I live in the province of British Columbia (BC) on Canada's west coast.

• There have been 31 new cases across B.C. since Friday.
• 6 people died from COVID-19 between Friday and Monday (all at long-term care homes).
• There have been 2,978 positive cases in B.C. since the pandemic started.
• There are 166 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
• 16 people are being treated in hospitals, including 4 in ICU.
• 183 British Columbians have died because of COVID-19 as of July 6.
• Benefits have been extended for low-income seniors and those on disability and income assistance.
• Over the weekend, Providence Health Care announced three new deaths at one of the hospitals.

One emerging issue is that there are American tourists who have been founding touring in Canada despite being told that the country and the province of BC is not open for tourists. In BC, Americans have been given the courtesy of travelling home through the province up to Alaska. However some of them have been found off the beaten paths in areas that are clearly not on the way to Alaska. This has been going on in several Canadian provinces and sadly due to lack of compliance some Americans have now been fined.  If you have any American friends who want to travel to Canada please let them know that it is not advisable at this time.

In reading goals I finished reading  The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. It was quite enjoyable and I learned something I did not know before about the Korean Island of Jeju where women were fishers and divers and the men stayed at home.  The novel is based on actual events and was very interesting as it is set in wartime when the Koreans had to contend first with the Japanese then with the American soldiers.  I am still reading The Power of Praise and Worship by Terry Law, Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah and have started a new book called The Miracle of the Scarlett Thread by Dr. Richard Booker.  


I started watching a Netflix series called "Dead to Me" which is rather quirky kind of story about a woman named Jen whose husband dies in a hit and run and she wants to solve the crime.  I also picked up where I left off in watching Season 3 of "The Crown", a series about the British Royal Family through the decades.  Soon I hope to  begin watching Season 2 of a series called "Hanna";part thriller and coming of age drama about a young girl raised in the deep forest by her father who trained her to be a perfect assasin.  She is dispatched to Europe and pursued by an intelligence operative.

 

 I've been longing for a cat companion. I told one of my blogging friends that it has been difficult to find a cat to adopt. I just read in the news today that shelters are struggling to keep up with adoption requests and a single puppy can get up to 200 requests to adopt, similarily with other pet friends.  I submitted two adoption applications last week. I was told by one agency that I am on a back up list (they don't give you any idea who is ahead of you on the list.  I think most adoptions go through so that one probably isn't going to work out). I had another agency call and want to schedule an interview.  I've responded and am now waiting to hear back. Apparently this province often gets adoptable pets from USA and Mexico but with the borders restricted this has created a lack of adoptable pets. More news on this front as time goes by.

Last but not least, I am still taking early morning photos off the balcony. I cannot believe that it starts getting bright (like the light you get at twilight) anywhere from 4:45 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. I'm not sure how long this will last as summer solstice usually means the days get shorter by a few minutes each day.

That concludes another post for now. It is quite long as I am not posting very frequently these days. That might change in future but for now I want to focus on getting things organized however long it may take. Once the weather turns hot, if it ever does, I will not want to be dealing with decluttering.

Take care until I see you again. 

Joining in with Our World Tuesday

 

Bathed in Pastels

We continue to have rain (the almost constant rain for almost 2 months is not so good for the garden) and temperatures on the low side.  The past week it is a bit of sun and rain and I've noticed a lot of humidity though nothing like it gets in eastern Canada or eastern USA.

I do find the skies are quite beautiful at sunrise and I like all the shades of colour I find in the early morning hours.

I've been spending a lot of time on line doing an online version of  "window shopping" as I continue to look for a few items to complete my household decor needs.  I've been getting rid of a lot of things and still have one large item to offload, my late mom's first power wheelchair.  I've found a new home for it but it won't be out of my home for awhile yet. A friend of mine is raising money to replace the chair's batteries and battery charger and to hire someone to deliver it to the intended recipient.  This is a combined humanitarian gesture by my friend and I to someone who suffers from major mobility issues.  Once the chair is gone it will be a huge relief as currently it is several hundred pounds of dead weight and it takes a lot of space.  I'm very pleased that someone who can really benefit from the chair will get one because for her to try and buy one would be a near impossibility.  These kind can cost well over 10 thousand dollars.

Once it's gone I will know how I am rearranging things.  In the meantime I am looking at what I currently have, what can be repurposed and what I may need to purchase.  I am naturally drawn to patterns whether in clothing or in decor.  I also have very eclectic tastes.  After awhile I get a hodge podge of items that don't go together very well.  As I get rid of things I want a simpler, more streamlined look. I am not a minimalist by any means.  Nor do I want to be one.  But over a long period of time I've become more mindful of the things I have and only keep what I really need.  I'm sentimental so it isn't that easy for me to get rid of a lot of things. I have to cull my items several times before I get down to a good amount.  I am also one who likes things organized and so I need to consider what will work best.  I have ideas for getting the kitchen and bathrooms much better organized and all on a small budget.  Material things are not so important to me but of course one needs certain basic things and a home that functions well and is a haven of rest while the world is in turmoil.

I like reading and have several areas that I want to make more comfortable for that purpose. Currently I read in the living room. I can read paper books anywhere of course.  Likewise with certain digital books which I read on my Kobo device.. Other digital books I can only read on my computer and laptop. In future I'll also carve out a spot in my bedroom, a cosy nook if you will.

Here is a photo of the books I've read in 2020.  I have an eclectic array of interests and my reading material reflects that. Maybe you will find something of interest to follow up on.

Right now I am reading, The Island of Sea Women: A Novel, by Lisa See, Tell Tale Stories by Jeffrey Archer, The Power of Praise and Worship by Terry Law.  These are all digital books.  A new hardback  just arrived in the mail called The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah. I saw Dr. Jeremiah being interviewed on television and immediately ordered the book.  Several digital library books are ready for borrowing, including Homo Deus.  I'm putting them on short pause until I make progress on the ones I'm currently reading.

Update on Kenyan Missions

I'm keeping very busy with solitary tasks and the Missions of Hope in Kenya. One widow lady in a town called Ketingia died and left no male heirs.

Widow Esther

Her name is Esther and in her culture the last born son takes care of his mother after the father has passed.  But  but the woman only had daughters.  Another male relative might have stepped in but no one would step up and take responsibility.  Life in Kenya for village people is very, very hard at the best of times.  Due to Covid 19 and travel restrictions and the financial hardships of life her side of the family did not travel to Ketingia to condole daughter's or to help them fund raise or plan the funeral.  Pastor Jonah has been doing what he can over the past week under these difficult circumstances.  I also confirmed that the medical personnel will be in attendance to bury the deceased once everything is set in place for burial.  The widow didn't die of Covid 19 but of heart attack.  However these days in Kenya burying and gathering are under tight restriction.  The late Esther is to be buried on Saturday and I hope and pray it happens as one of the difficulties encountered is finding a date on which the doctor's schedule is open to deal with the burial. Delays only add to costs.

The other work of feeding, helping with medicines and medical follow up continues for several others including Eunice.  Those of you who follow my blog and the work of our humble mission outreach know that Eunice has been in hospital in the town of Nakuru for one year and four months.. Over that period she hasn't improved significantly though at one time it was thought she would be well enough to discharge.

Once the curfews are lifted in Kenya we will see if we can get Eunice transferred to her home town.  This is easier said than done but at least we will try and with God's help it may be possible. Eunice may not get the same level of care in her home town but she will be nearer to loved ones who will be able to visit her.  Where she is now it is too far for people to travel.  She was taken hours away in order to try and get the best care available. For most of the villagers they simply do not have extra funds to make the journey back and forth to see her.  There is a lot of thinking and planning that must go into a possible move, not the least of which is getting the agreement of the doctor/hospital where she is admitted, finding an appropriate place for her in her home town, transporting her safely and making sure she has medical care and oversight once there.

Grandmother of my friend.

New house is being built as funds are raised

A young doctor friend has been busy trying to fund raise to build a home for his elderly grandmother. He is a newly credentialed doctor and his salary is very modest given that he works in a small, rural hospital to be near to his grandmother.  She has been suffering from pneumonia as a result of the heavy rain and flooding that occurred in Kenya.  Her original house was partially flooded and is no longer habitable.  The grandmother is quite elderly.  She has been mostly in good health until recently and her grandson is concerned about her being in a proper house so she can remain healthy. hospital.

 
Two hundred people drowned in the floods and at least 100,000 were displaced from their homes and farms in May 2020.  Pastor Jonah's elder brother had a coffee plantation which was flooded.  He lost his livelihood as well as the family home.  He now lives temporarily with his wife, 4 children and mother-in-law (and other displaced people) in empty schools and churches.  The Red Cross did provide them with a tent but it wasn't large enough to house the family. I have no idea what the future holds for this particular family but since the rains have started again there isn't any immediate hope of returning to farm the land.  If a way opens up, I would really like to help them get back on their feet once rains stop. If you are feeling led to help please let me hear from you.

An aerial view on May 3 shows flood waters near the Sigiri Bridge in Budalangi, Kenya. (Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

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A young man I met several years ago from the Kenyan Boys Choir lost his mother a few days ago and she was to be buried on Thursday June 25th.  She suffered from kidney problems, had a kidney transplant a few years ago and was raising funds to undergo another transplant in India.  She succumbed to health complications before she could get surgery.  The two sons she leaves behind are still quite young though thankfully they are now young men who have finished high school. I'm praying they will be able to manage okay though I know they will really miss the motherly love and support she gave them.

As always we covet your prayers and your support if you are able. You can find details on the side bar to the left for donations and you can also find a link to the African page to read more about the missions.

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I leave you with a few garden photos. Sorry they are not that clear.  I was using the wrong lens and had a very hard time getting clear, close up shots.  I am happy with the colours though.

I can't remember what this plant is called. It really grew this year compared to other years.

 Usually I have red or pink, sometimes white geraniums. These ones are a deep salmon colour.

Beautiful red petunias and burgundy pansies.

Until next time, stay safe.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday this week.

The Sky Looks Like a Painting

Hi friends,

Happy Friday to you all. We've made it through another week intact.  When I last shared in this space a few days ago I mentioned it would be raining for a good part of the next two weeks. I'm happy to report that we had 2 nice days of sunshine. I made it out to grocery shopping early Thursday evening. It was just in time as the sky turned dark in readiness for rain again soon.

I've been using the recent rainy days to read. I finished the books I mentioned in my last post here.

Currently I am reading two new books. One called Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate. This is a gut wrenching story based on a real life scandal in Tennessee where the director of an adoption agency was involved in kidnapping and selling the children of poor families into wealthy families.  The other book is called My Vanishing Country:  A Memoir by Bakari Sellers, elected in 2006 at just 22 years old, the youngest ever representative of the South Carolina legislature. Bakari Sellers is a lawyer and CNN political analyst.  This book is part memoir, part cultural analysis. It's set in the author's hometown of Denmark, South Carolina, one of the poorest states in the USA. I've just started the book but I've read it will trace his father's friendships with Stokely Carmichael, Trinidadian-American civil rights leader and Martin Luther King, civil rights hero and explore the plight of the rural South's dwindling black working class.

It isn't very often I get to see such vibrant colour in the morning sky. I was lucky to capture these images.

Enjoy the sky where ever you are in the world. 

Keep well and keep safe.

Joining Skywatch Friday today and paying homage to Friday Foto Friends. xx

Early Morning on the Patio

Hi blogging friends,

I  hope you are all doing well and keeping happy and busy.

We are still getting quite a lot of rain where I live and I haven't been out in the gardens much.  The long term weather forecast is for more rain over the next 2 weeks. It has also been cooler than usual. At the end of this new week we will crack the 20 Celsius mark for only the 2nd or 3rd time since the beginning of Spring.

I'm not complaining as I'm still self isolating despite restrictions being lifted. I will continue to self isolate and keep my eye on the community transmission developments over the next few months. Being indoors means I am slowly getting some old business done though truthfully it is taking me a lot more time than I thought it would. I guess the good news is I always have something constructive to do.

I was out in the patio garden very early one morning and captured these photos. Most of them are of a bush that I don't know the name of but which goes through a multitude of looks over the course of the year. Sometimes there are berries.

The photo below is the only one that is not of my flowering bush. I think it's a Salvia plant but I am not 100% sure as I planted it a few years ago and it never did very well.  This year it seems to be doing better.

My reading list includes this raw and powerfully written memoir of an up and coming Indigenous writer and activist, Helen Knott. Unfortunately her story of gender violence is not that pretty but the good news is she managed to overcome her addictions to drugs and alcohol and begin a new, cleaner life with hope and promise.  The gender violence the author had to endure throughout her lifetime fed into her addictions and the memories kept her addicted.

I'm currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Several years ago I saw a movie based on the book and I enjoyed it. I'm about half way through the book and I don't remember much about whether the movie is true to the book. In any case, I always like to try and read books on which movies are based and the writing is quite enjoyable.

Last, but not least,  I'm reading Shadows Along the Zambezi. It's as masterfully written as Shadows Over an African Heart by Diana M. Hawkins.  Both books bring focussed attention to the issue of elephant poaching in Zimbabwe and all the violence and corruption that goes along with it.

Young elephants having a mud bath at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage, Nairobi, Kenya

All but one of the books are digital loans from the library which for some reason is still closed to the public.  They don't even do curbside pickups. I'm not sure why they are still closed while most places are now open with new policies in place to stem the transmission of Covid 19.  Some time back I purchased a digital copy of the book on elephant poaching and am reading it on my Kobo device, Canada's version of  Kindle).  I'll be so glad once the library is open again so I can borrow paper books. In the meantime, I'm grateful for the digital option.

A short update on the Kenyan missions.

• A variety of crops were planted for one large, extended family.  Once the harvest is ready there will be corn, cabbage, carrots and a variety of vegetables for 3 or 4 households to eat.
• Elder Eunice is still in hospital. Though it was about 8 months ago that doctors said she would be ready to go home in a month or two that never happened. She is still in hospital and is more or less stable. We have no information as to the prognosis. 
• Alvin, the young engineer graduate was hoping to come to Canada and continue his studies.  Sadly he was not accepted and we have given up on the idea.  It is very expensive process to prepare the application packages and has lead to a "no" decision two years in a row. It is very disappointing.  Alvin is a very intelligent and studious person and he would have done well here but getting accepted to a Canadian university (easier to get acceptance and scholarship if one is freshly out of high school)is difficult for people from poor countries and is more so the case when money is not part of the family assets.
• Pastor Jonah has had a very difficult experience of late with one of his molars. He needed a root canal and the hospital where they did it did not do a good job at all. It was becoming septic. Fortunately he managed to get the tooth redone at a private dentist office and after a week is now very much on the mend. 
• Others continue to receive food and medical helps when we have funds to assist them.
• I thank those of you who continue to pray for the missions and/or lend financial support. May God richly bless each and every one of you.

That's all for now friends. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Please continue to stay safe. xx

Hello June

Happy June to all my lovely readers. 

I hope and pray that June finds you doing better than May 😀

I've been busy working away on various projects that I've let languish for long. I'm pleased with my progress thus far and have more work to do.  Mainly I've been continuing my major decluttering project and in the process of doing that I've identified some household projects and also some decor needs.  These are minor things not major projects but they take time to implement.  It has been raining for much of the last 6 weeks so that has helped me move forward and squeeze projects into the available free time here and there.

Where I live, the restrictions put in place over the last several months to contain the cases of Covid 19 are slowly and cautiously being lifted.  For now I remain in isolation and I intend to remain so until we see what happens with the forecasted 2nd wave of the virus in a few months time.  As in many countries and cities around the world, containment of the virus is made more challenging due to the protests going on over the egregious deaths of several Black Americans.  Of course I support peaceful protests for righteous causes but I do not support the looting, rioting, burning of buildings and so on that has gone on in some places and I hope peace will be restored before military interventions.

These are my first sky photos for the month of June. These are very early morning photos.

Joining up with Skywatch Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend.