Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Summarizing Current Life Happenings

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

 

I hope all of you are doing well. I've been seeing that many countries have experienced huge snowfalls over the past week. Where I live we were also expecting snow but it never arrived in my neighbourhood.

Sky this Week

The sky this week has been heavy with rain.  I was actually hoping for some snow for a change of pace but it looks like rain in the forecast for the next few days at least.

The sky on Tuesday, January 25, 2021

 
I got this little surprise on Monday, January 18, 2021. These pansy blooms popped up in a long neglected pot.

The sky on Monday, January 24, 2021

 Cooking

Cooking is a daily need for most of us. Here are a few of the things that have been on the menu this past week.

 

Cabbage and navy bean soup in tomato broth


Shrimp and vegetable stir fry over steamed rice

Spaghettini and Parmesan cheese with Kielbasa sausage and vegetables

Ham and pea soup with freshly baked bread rolls





I baked some bread and gave a loaf to my nephew.



Christmas Wrap Up
 
Mail has been slower than usual over the Christmas rush due to Covid protocols. But all mail did eventually arrive.
The winter Pea Coat I bought for my nephew arrived and he came to try it on. Thankfully it fit him perfectly and he liked it very much so I won't be needing to return it.
 
Two lovely little books arrived from my online friend in Folkestone, England. I enjoyed reading The Little Book of Mindfulness and the gratitude journal will be very useful. I'll start using it when I can get through my major project and a few other things so I can be more mindful when writing in it.This time of year is always super busy with the Annual General Meeting of the Strata (key things being annual budgets and inevitable strata fee increases), city property assessments, property taxes, property vacancy declarations and filing of federal and provincial taxes.




 

 Gifts from a friend, Joy in 
Nottingham, England

She always sends wonderful packages of interesting things.

 Reading

I haven't really gotten into reading yet. But these books are currently in my 'to read' pile.


Slowly making my way through this book.


I borrowed, The New Bohemians Handbook thinking I would get to see a lot of lovely decorating photos. I was disappointed that the photos are so small.

This is a newly borrowed book by Kristin Harmel. I read two of her books just before Christmas and enjoyed them so much so I'm looking forward to this one.
 

Home Improvements


Before Christmas I mentioned that I will be making a few home improvements mainly to help things function better for daily living and to assess what might be needed or detracted from my home as I continue with the decluttering.  Some of it is minor maintenance.  

The first improvement was painting one wall in the entry way and moving a small Asian chest/armoire from the living room to the freshly painted wall.  I also touched up the door to my bedroom and master bathroom (more to come in those areas later). The second improvement was to install a new range hood. I've gone without one for so long and I could not keep up to the accumulating grime on various surfaces. I was very happy when my brother bought me a new range hood and installed it for me as my Christmas gift. Before he did that I cleaned behind the kitchen stove and painted.  I laughed when I saw the upside down bow he placed on the range hood after installation. He wanted to make sure it looked like a Christmas present, lol.

 

The third item was to order some shelving for the kitchen to address the lack of a pantry. I have been wanting to order one of these shelving units for the longest time and have been checking them out both on line and in the retail outlets. I wanted a particular specs and I finally found one on Amazon which I ordered and received just after Christmas. I tried once shortly thereafter to set it up and it fell apart. I never tried again until last night and I'm pleased it went much more smoothly and seems sturdy.  I am very pleased with it and think I should have got one a lot sooner.

This is a work in progress. I am still rearranging and deciding what goes on these shelves.

But so far I'm loving it! It's a huge improvement ton having food on the floor and a small cart where everything was forever overflowing (as in the below photo).

 

Kenyan Missions

Over the past week we managed to get a new smart phone for Pastor Jonah. It will soon be time to send monthly medical, food, nutrition support and seeds and fertilizer to a few families. If you can help at all, please send your  donation via Pay Pal to kerichojoy[at]gmail]com (taking out square brackets). Otherwise we would appreciate if you could continue praying for the needs of the villagers. Thanks so much! 

Over the next while I'm continuing to work on my digital project. I don't expect to be back to regular blogging until it's finished but I pop in to read blogs here and there. I hope all of you continue to stay as safe as you can while we all await vaccinations. I don't expect to get mine until at least the middle of summer, possibly a bit later depending on how the roll out of vaccinations goes and whether our country gets the vaccinations that have been ordered for us.

Take care.

Note: I had trouble uploading tonight and the fonts kept going awry. I tried to fix it.

Friday, January 15, 2021

A Quick Stop

Hello everyone, Happy Friday and happy weekend to all of you. 
 
I know the daily news is dreary and sometimes frightening, for many of us right now.  But here's to hoping that you will find something to make you smile or give you joy this weekend.
 
Where I live we've been deluged with rain and also a couple days of extremely windy weather.  I heard the meteorologist say the wind was moving southeast after it left us.
 
I was glad to see the backside of both the rain and the wind even if was only for today.
When you get the days like today you forget all about the rainy days.
 
I've been wanting to capture some waterfront scenes for all of you for quite some time. 
I'm glad I was finally able to do it.


These scenes were taken from a place called Ferguson Point in Stanley Park. Anyone who has been to the Teahouse Restaurant across the street will know how to find the point.  This is the first time I've stopped at the point and I'm glad I did even though my visit was brief.


There were a lot of people out walking and cycling.  When we get so few days of sunshine over the winter months everyone makes good use of them. I do hope they are all taking precautions as well. Recent reports from our head doctor are showing a trend downwards in our province.  But the outbreaks are now happening in places that were largely unaffected by Covid in 2020. 

I continue to take care and have only been out twice in 2021;  once for groceries and once to the post office. I will make another post office run very soon to deal with purchase returns, and possibly make a stop at the pharmacy. Those will be my only outings in January.

It will likely be mid-summer up to late autumn before I am in line for a covid vaccination so I continue to be as careful as I can be.  I am more concerned for my loved ones who live up country because the numbers are growing so big in the areas where they live. I will try not to fret too much and deal with my concerns through prayer.  That's the best any of us can do.


 

As you can see by the photos, the sky was very clear today.

I saw some wispy, low lying clouds as I took the photo looking toward the building in West Vancouver.
 

Since I last wrote in this space, I've been super busy working on a personal project which is very labour intensive and approximately 2/3 to 3/4 complete.  By the first or second week of February it will be completely done.  Once it's done I will rest briefly before buckling down and getting rid of old papers and more digital files.  I cannot get rid of excess files first out of fear I might inadvertently get rid of papers or digital files that I need for the project..

I haven't been as up to date with all the household routines during this period. It's mainly the dishes that I never quite seem caught up to doing. I was trying to get all the dishes done by hand and sinks washed and dried by the end of the day but it doesn't work if I have too many other things to work on and want them done quickly. I do continue to try my hand at new dishes or old dishes with a twist.  I didn't take photos of all the dinners but here are a few.

First up is a sausage and chickpea in stewed tomatoes over steamed rice. It was very good and I will make it again. I made the chickpeas in my instant pot (pressure cooker) which I cooked for 12 minutes. That way they would be able to cook for awhile in the stew mixture without breaking apart from overcooking.

Chickpeas and sausage over steamed rice.

The next dish is an Italian New Year's dish made of lentils and pasta. I think the Italians use smaller, round pasta but I could only find rigatoni at my local grocery.


Last but  not least, is a dish of creamy chicken breast, seasoned roasted red potatoes and finely sliced sauteed kale with onions and garlic. It was my first time making the chicken with the sauce and it was quite good.

 

I haven't done a lot of reading but I did read this fascinating historical book on the life of Father Yungbluth (Youngblood), Oblate Missionary to the First Nations and Metis people of the Peace River District (PRD). The PRD is located in the northern part of two provinces, British Columbia and Alberta. I knew this father when I was younger or at least I met him at various funerals he officiated.  He was already old at that time so I'm glad someone has set his story down for posterity. He was really a colourful character.


Kenyan Missions Update

In Kenyan missions, please pray for Pastor Jonah who was robbed as he alighted a bus Friday night (Kenyan time) after having travelled from the countryside.  He had gone to attend court to aid a widow who is seeking a court sanctioned land grant.  Many times villagers die intestate (without a will) and the land succession issues never get properly dealt with. It can create a lot of problems.  

In this case, the widow's husband died without land title but I understand her husband didn't have recognized title either as it rested with his late father.  The process is not yet finished but in about one month we hope it will all be successfully completed. We have been hiring legal help here and there and paying all the court filing fees because the woman is destitute.  In the meantime, we also now need to buy a new phone for Jonah so he can continue to communicate and make financial transactions (This is how most Kenya villagers now do it.  Most foreigners have a difficult time grasping this because they wonder how a villager can afford a smart phone. They pretty much need one because it is a lifeline to doing so many things, especially when you don't live close to a bank or a hospital).

 As always we welcome your participation in these undertakings if you are led.

Keep well and enjoy your weekend.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday



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