It's Another Friday

 This is what it looked like on our Thanksgiving Day last Monday.

I already forgot what it was like on Tuesday and Wednesday but I know yesterday it was quite nice and the sun came out. I was able to do some errands like deposit funds at the bank and pay some bills. My local branch is still  not open and the ATM is only available until 6 p.m. on most days. I did see staff in the branch but I'm not sure if the branch was open to the public or staff was just working in there. If you want to do in person banking you have to go to a different branch.  I also dropped off my back pack for stitching and stopped off for some groceries and a quick stop at McD's. I didn't have time to stop at the dispensary to get refills on body wash because the shop closed earlier due to Covid like most places. 

I pick up my back pack today so I'll stop off for the body wash as well. Before that I have some parcels to pick up at the post office. Hopefully they are there. The tracking information tells me they should be there today but maybe not until late in the day.

Today it's a rather dull, gray day and it will probably start raining very soon. I checked the long range forecast and it doesn't look much different for the rest of the month. I guess I left the clean up of the garden for too long. If I do it soon I will most likely be working in the rain. I've found it cold indoors this week. I turned my heating on in the bedroom and living room for the first time last night. I didn't leave it on overnight. 

Here is the sky photo for today. It looks almost the same as Monday's sky.  It is 9°C or about 49°F. As we transition from late autumn to winter, the sky will not vary much unless there is a sunny break.  Then we could see some more interesting cloud cover.

As they say in Copenhagen, 'you make our own sunshine'. I never hear anyone say that where I live, lol. We love to talk about the weather and complain about it, then we laugh. I like the Danish view of bad weather.

While I was out running errands the sun came out for awhile.  It's always nice when that happens. It tends to make me forget about the rain even if it rains later.  When I snapped the next few photos the sun was gone again but at least there was colour in the trees.

 

I'm linking up with Skywatch Friday today. Have a happy and safe weekend.

Missed Opportunity - Car Story

 Hi friends, 

This is just a quick post to update about my car and a few other matters. 

The car tires needed to be changed today from summer to winter. They get changed again in spring from winter to summer.  Of course all this costs money but is also a good time to find out whether the car needs this or that.  Last year at this time, the front brakes needed to be replaced and the conclusion was that the rear brakes looked good. This time they said the rear brakes need to be replaced and the car would not make it another 6 months.  The lug nuts also need to be replaced.

All in all, the car has been kept up to date over the years with oil changes, tire needs, windshield replacements due to highway stones putting cracks in the windshield, windshield wiper replacements and a little maintenance here and there.  Total costs for this year's tire and brake jobs is about $1600 which is not that bad.

The car is now getting old by car standards (2013) and due to declining sales the Ford company has decided to discontinue the model. In August 2020, the Ford company announced it was pulling the plug on making Ford Fusion cars and would instead focus on SUVs, crossovers, pick ups and the iconic Mustang. I missed my chance for a trade in while the car could still bring in a good penny for trade in value.  I  don't believe in paying a whole lot of money to get a car of my dreams since they depreciate so quickly.  That means I will probably keep the car as long as I can continue to repair it at a reasonable cost.

Another cost factor in car ownership is cost of car insurance and petrol/gas,  Where I live the cost of car insurance for one year is through the roof.  Almost a year ago I paid more than a return flight to Kenya for the car insurance and would have  paid much, much more were it not for a long and good driving history which gave a 40%  discount. I don't know how young people were able to manage the costs. I had read horror stories like the one about one young woman who was working as a waitress while to university and her car insurance was going to cost $5000. Petrol or gas as we call it, is also extremely expensive. The cost was $1.40 a litre pre-Covid ($1.06 US). Right now it is about $1.20 a litre (.91 cents/litre or $4.54 per gallon US). For the longest time, the cost was about $1.30 a litre so it has come down now that people are not driving so much.

The government runs the car insurance program here so it has a monopoly and there is no competition (it's different in other provinces). They say the high cost of our car insurance is due to ballooning cost of motor vehicle related litigation and court judgements in such cases. Quite recently our provincial Attorney General put forward legislation which limited the kind of payouts one could get for certain types of injuries and the legislation was passed.  This change is supposed to lead to reduced car insurance rates and possible rebates next year in 2021.  I hope that  this intended result really happens in my case as far too often I hear how this or that has been reduced only to discover later that the benefit doesn't accrue to me for one reason or another.

Below is a photo of the make and colour of  my car.  It isn't my car but this is what it looks like.  I love it because of the look and because it is roomy and comfortable and has many places to put your drinks in both the front and back.  This is very convenient when travelling out of the city.  The trunk is large and the seats can be put down in the back if you need more room to transport things. 

 

I do not need a SUV or a pick up so this car does what I need for the most part. It took me back and forth for years in the last few years of looking after my mom. It has also made 3 long trips to the north country.  Mainly though the car is used for local jaunts on an intermittent basis not a daily basis.  It is not used for going back and forth every day and that is why the car insurance is such an issue for me. In 2020 I paid over $2000 Canadian dollars for a car driven for pleasure and not for work.

Everyone has a different way of approaching vehicle needs and much of it is tied into our other expenditures and income levels as well as insurance costs.  What about you dear reader? Do you have a car which you really love? Are you the type that splashes out on top model cars, leased cars or used cars?  Or do you buy a new car and repair until it is no longer feasible?

It's been that kind of day trying to get odd jobs done. Besides the car repairs, I needed to call the telephone company and try to get a deal on my internet and television needs. My contract expired one month ago. I spent an hours on the phone talking with two different people and we were about 2/3 finished when the call ended. The representative called me back while I was trying to call her. She said she could hear me but I couldn't hear her. So frustrating as that is time lost and I will have to explain it all and listen to someone else try to explain their complicated pricing and discounts again.

At least one thing went as planned today. I baked a ham the other day and saved a bunch for soup.  Today I made ham and lentil soup to go with the home made French bread I made last night. This is the second time I've made French bread in the last week. After this bread is gone that will be it for the bread making for awhile. I eat too much of it.

The soup was just right. Not too salty and I put cabbage and red pepper in it to use up leftover veggies.  Normally I only put onions, celery, carrots and potatoes.

I wrote before about a backpack my nephew bought me when we travelled to Paris together. I have enjoyed using the backpack a lot but a strap broke off on the weekend. I took the pack apart so I could restitch it and discovered my sewing machine will not sew through the thickness of 4 layers. I now need to find a seamstress with an industrial machine or a shoe cobbler. I prefer to find a seamstress.  The last cobbler I went to charged me $40 Canadian to sew a few stitches in 4 different straps. I can do it all myself if I just had the right equipment.

I hope all is well with you and life is treating you well. In my corner of the world I will be keeping busy trying to get things done. It seems like never ending list of things to do.

Bye for now and stay safe.

Update:  I found a seamstress who will reattach both straps, sew the opening on the inside and reattach the binding. She will do it for $21. Canadian and have it ready on Friday afternoon. I thought it was a fair deal as it saves me from running around trying to find someone to do it at a fair price and someone who will do it quickly. It also saves me dealing with 'fiddly work'.  I use this backpack daily when I go out so I would like it soon. It reminded me that I have a cross body purse that also needs repair so I'll have to get that done and have it as my back up. I have a lot of bags of various kinds but few purses with straps that will allow me to go about 'hands free'.

A Beautiful Day After All

 Hi friends, 

I awoke today to a beautiful day.  That was a very pleasant surprise as I thought we were going to have another gray, overcast day.

I didn't go anywhere but having a beautiful day always makes me feel like doing more work inside.

While I'm busy this weekend doing the usual routines of cleaning, cooking and laundry, I am also trying to rest, relax and enjoy life.

I've been feeling a little more tired lately so I am trying to take it easy a bit but still keep busy if that make sense.

I didn't do the Fly Lady routines in order or keep on top of it all but I did do the routines as best I could. I also did some other "projects" such as decluttering my closet and one dresser drawer. I gave all the clothing items to one young woman who wanted them for her mother and grandmother. I am always pleased when someone will take and use the clothing because to be honest, I didn't even wear half of the items. The other half were worn once or twice. As I've lost weight my sizing changes and also I no longer need most of those items so off they go.

Other projects included:

• cleaning the cupboard where I keep plastic items and some bake ware. I got rid of a lot of it that was no longer usable.
• purchasing some new bake ware on line which I expect will arrive in a week or two. It will be nice to have something pretty to cook and present Christmas dinner in. The bake ware is from the Temptations line which many of you may be familiar with.
• sorting through my cedar chest where I keep duvets and sheets. I thought I had items in there to give away but I must have cleaned it out last year. I did notice though that the fitted sheet in the only set of white sheets I have, was terribly yellowed. I have only used them once and they are kept in a cedar chest so I'm not sure how they got so discoloured. I thought to give them away but decided I would try to get rid of the stains. After much effort on my part, the sheet is almost fully white again.  In a week or two I will clean it again and it should be perfect. At the same time I cleaned my sheets I cleaned a white, cotton safari jacket I have had for years.  In the last several years it was starting to yellow and discolour at the collar, sleeves and cuffs.  I also had a few pillow case protectors that started to yellow and I was able to get all of these items nice and clean. I still have a lace tablecloth that has a few yellow spots.  The next time I do the sheets, I will also trwat and wash the table cloth.
• making a loaf of French bread for the first time. It turned out well though I have to work on shaping. The outside was nice and crusty and the inside was nice and soft.
  

 

• making Cream of Broccoli soup for Sunday lunch.  A few days ago I found a bag of broccoli crowns on clearance sale for  $1. This is a photo of the soup before it was blended.
  

 

•  making a French Apple Cake. I had no plans to make an apple cake but someone posted a photo of the apple cake they made and I thought I had better use up the apples that were slowly going too soft. I've made apple cake before but this is the first time I've made French Apple Cake. I didn't have ice cream with it but it was really nice and I think I will make it again one day soon. Here is a link to the recipe I used in case you are interested.

 

Beyond cooking, cleaning, a few errands and household projects, I also watched a few movies and read some books. On Netflix I watched a few movies. One is called "The Inheritance" (not to be confused with the play of the same name) recommended by a friend of mine. It is a thriller/mystery and was good in a creepy kind of way, though not a horror movie as such. I also watched a cute movie called "Carrie Pilby", an American comedy/drama.  Book wise I'm making my way through "The Minimalist Home" which sets out yet another method of decluttering your home, and "The Convenience Store Woman", a quirky book about an unmarried Japanese woman who works at a convenience store and has to contend with the judgements of her family and co-workers.

Monday is Thanksgiving Day here so I will likely take the day off from reading blogs.  I have to prepare dinner and I want to enjoy a slow day of cooking and relaxing in the process. 

I wish you all a happy rest of your weekend and a pleasant week ahead.

Lakes Bogoria, Baringo and Nakuru in Kenya

The waters of several Kenyan lakes in the Great Rift Valley have been rising and in the process flooding many hotels, farms and residences.  Thousands of people have been flooded out of their homes and many businesses have lost their livelihoods. 

The flooding follows many months of unusually heavy rain but illegal deforestation and climate change also contribute to the problem.  What is happening is very alarming and threatens not only the people but the wildlife.

Lake Baringo is freshwater and Bogoria is salt water. At one time these lakes were one about 12.5 miles (20 kms) apart but now are so close together that experts fear they could contaminate each other and further threaten wildlife and the people.  The lakes have risen at least 30-40 feet and are rising daily.

Even Lake Nakuru adjacent to which Kenya's 3rd largest city, Nakuru is situated, is flooding.  I read from one tourist who said that the Baboon Point I showed you about a week ago (see this post) shows that 75% of the park has been flooded. This seems totally unreal to me.

Attacks on people by crocodiles and hippos have escalated, many schools and hospital have been flooded or cut off from their student and patient groups and wildlife has had food supply affected.

Given the back drop of all this sad news it makes my memories and my photos all the more important to me. I may never get another chance to enjoy and experience what I enjoyed in earlier trips.  Many of the pelicans and flamingos have disappeared from the lakes and I'm not sure where they have gone.

Here is a video for those interested in seeing the rising lakes. In the first few minutes you will see a huge building with thatched roof. That is the Soi Lodge located on the shores of Lake Baringo and where I stayed when I visited the area.

This is a photo toward the lake from the Soi Lodge.

 

I was greeted by ostriches at the entry to the lodge.

 

Here are a few photos of pelicans taken at Lake Baringo and the last photo of flamingos was taken at Lake Nakuru.  I had never seen flamingos or pelicans before and it was a real treat.

I am linking with Eileen and others at Saturday's Critters.

 

If you missed my Skywatch Friday post, click here.

Sky Over Vancouver - Thankgiving Weekend 2020

 

I mentioned the other day that we were expecting rain this weekend. Today is Friday and the heaviest rain was expected today. It is also a bit chilly. Right now the temperature is 14 degrees Celsius (approx. 57 Fahrenheit) at 5:30 p.m.

When you live in a place where you get a lot of rain life goes on and so you just press on. I don't really mind the rain but I like to have days of sunshine in between. 

Joining up with Skywatch Friday this week.

Update:  October 10, 2020:

On Saturday I was so pleasantly surprised to see we had a lot of sunshine and clear blue skies mixed with white fluffy clouds.  Another thing for which to be grateful on this Thanksgiving weekend.

A Little of This and That

Here are a variety of photos from my garden. I'm reluctant to put it all to bed until the rains begin for the season of winter. We are having sunshine this week until Thursday. The rains will be here in time for Thanksgiving. It will rain for almost a week and then the sun is expected to come out again but I notice the temperatures will be quite frigid. I guess I'll need to try and get things done outside around that time.

I've been busy trying to keep up with the Fly Lady routines after participating in the Fly Lady Babysteps "course". Everything is going well, perhaps better than I expected. 

I surpassed my reading goals back in August so I've slowed down in my reading habit. I just completed the 3rd book in a series by Lesley Downer. I really enjoyed the first two books and I also enjoyed the 3rd one but not quite as much. I believe there is one more in the series.

Currently, I'm reading The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker.  I've seen the author here and there on You Tube and I'm enjoying his book so far.   It's doubtful I'll be implementing Mr. Becker's system though I agree with his philosophy of getting rid of unnecessary things so you can enjoy the things you deem necessary.  I also just like reading about different approaches to major decluttering like the Kon Mari Method, Swedish Death Cleaning, the Fly Lady and so on).

I've got a simple dinner in mind for Thanksgiving as there will only be two of us and no guests this year. Ham (I'll save the turkey dinner for Christmas and New Year's dinners), sweet potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, maybe some scalloped potatoes too, a few crunchy veggies (crudités) instead of a salad and a pie of some kind. Perhaps cherry pie just to be different.  I always make more than enough food so we can enjoy leftovers and I can make ham and pea soup once or twice. Soup is always good but especially at this time of year when the weather starts turning cool.

What about you dear reader? What is the weather like where you are? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If yes, what will you have for dinner and what will you remember to give thanks for in 2020? As for me I am very grateful that my family members and friends far and wide, are safe and that I am safe. I had a bit of scare last month when a friend of mine had a family member test positive for Covid in the country of Kenya. Thankfully they had very minor symptoms and are fully recovered.

Thank you for stopping by. I'm joining in a little late with Our World Tuesday.

Rhinos and Baboons

These photos are from my archives and were taken in Nakuru, Kenya, East Africa. 

The first photo  was taken from the north side of Lake Nakuru on a return trip to see the Menengai Crater.  You get a glorious view of the lake as you approach the city from the north.  I will try to share photos of my visit to the crater in another post. Today's post is about Lake Nakuru and the wildlife park situated there.

 

The next view of the lake is from Baboon Cliff Point in Lake Nakuru Provincial Park.  The point is situated on the western side of Lake Nakuru and the views from the top are fantastic.  It's one of my favourite spots in the park.  The name derives from the fact that so many baboons are living in this particular area of the park.

I'm only sharing two of the photos of the baboons. There were so many baboons and they are quite mischievous. They will enter your car and take things if you are not keeping a close watch.  The monkeys do the same.

Here you can see baboons climbing all over the parked cars.

The rhinos in the next two photos were an awesome site. These rhinos are called black rhinos though the colour can range from brown to grey.  The World Wildlife Fund for Nature Kenya  has been working with the government and other organizations and people of goodwill, to save the black rhinos from poaching and loss of habitat and so the population has more than doubled over the past 25 years.  You can read more about black rhino conservation needs and efforts here. Sadl, the Northern White Rhino is virtually extinct. Just over a year ago, Kenya harvested the eggs of the two last white female rhinos in the northern part of the country.  They are hoping to fertilize them with the sperm of the last male white rhino that died in Sudan in March 2018.  You can read more about white rhinos here.

I took a little time to see many wild animals both in zoos and in their natural habitat while I've been on missions trips to the very poor in Kenya.  I feel so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see many of these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat.  My hope is that through the good will and good work of people in Kenya and around the globe, these majestic creatures will not go extinct while we can still do something to save them. The largest threats to their survival are poaching and loss of habitat.  If you love wild animals please consider a gift to those that work in conservation.  If, like me, you are interested in alleviating the suffering of the very poor who barely eke out a living, kindly read more at the various links on the side bar and consider being a change maker along with me. During this global pandemic they are suffering even  more than usual.

I hope you enjoyed this brief post on Kenyan wildlife. I'm joining up with Eileen's, Saturday's Critters meme today.  Please come and visit this space again soon.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

Fall in Vancouver

 I'm continuing the Fall theme in this post. 

The trees photos were taken on Tuesday late afternoon when I was out running errands. I was looking for one small item and ended up having to go to four (4) different stores to find it. It is a simple little thing called a plate or tray hanger. You used to be able to find them almost anywhere.  Now I think they are becoming extinct though you can buy them on Amazon.  I found what I wanted at Michael's. The fact is, I knew that Michael's carried what I needed because I looked on line first.  But I was hoping to find them in one of the small stores near to where I live.

In the short video I am standing in the parking lot of a grocery store and looking down over Broadway Avenue. One block to the west (to the left of the scene in the video) they are connecting the street with a subway line that will eventually go out to the University of British Columbia.  This transportation option is long awaited and long overdue. The building of it has already started.

Once I picked up what I needed at Michael's, I was famished and had this lovely Teriyaki Beef Bento Box for dinner. The small restaurant where I ate was packed with diners.  They were mostly police officers on meal break but I was too tired to look for another restaurant.  At least the restaurant did have hand sanitizing and social distancing measures in place.

The next few photos are of my garden  and were taken Thursday, October 1st. The blooms are hanging in there so I haven't plucked anything up yet.  In fact, if I have time in the next week or so, I hope to try out my brother's camera lenses again.  I think the photos below were taken with my camera and the prime lens that came with it.

Here are a few more photos from Tuesday night's outing.

I found these apples growing on this tree amidst the high rises. I didn't pick them.

This blue sky photo was taken on Monday night.

 A book I recently completed and can recommend is:

It's a book about slavery, the underground railway and the magical, mystical powers of some of the people who helped their own as best they could. I did not know before reading this book, that the author and journalist, Ta-Nehisi Coates, has also written a Black Panther series for Marvel Comics. That was a happy connection for me as I very much enjoyed watching the movie, Black Panther.  I was saddened by the recent loss of one of it's lead actors, Chadwick Boseman, who by all accounts was not only a fabulous actor but a very fine human being. The more I read about him and what he did in his short life, the more I realize what a great loss it really is.  May his family and loved ones be comforted and may his legacy continue to impact many people around the globe. ♥♥♥

 

 Happy Friday and Happy Weekend to you all. Stay safe.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday today.