Retire in Style with Lolita

I have three African Violets which I bought almost three years ago. They all bloomed last year. And to my pleasant surprise I found one of them blooming again this year. The other two African Violets have no blooms yet. I will be repotting them soon and hopefully this will help encourage them to produce more flowers. Please click to enlarge pictures.

It is not unusual for priests to be reassigned from one parish to the other. Still, there were tears and disbelief when our pastor announced that after eight years in this parish he will be leaving to take on another assignment. There were several transfers this year announced by the Archbishop. Each priest accepts the assignment given to him without reservation. After twenty five years in Coquitlam we moved to Maple Ridge. That was three years ago. There were so many events in our family life in that short period of time. Some events were happy and some were sad. Through it all our faith and church was the stabilizing factor that kept us grounded and strong. Our Pastor made us feel welcome to this parish community. My participation in parish activities added a new dimension to my retirement. The parish is in the midst of a capital campaign to renovate the aging structure of the church and school. Despite our "newness" to the parish he entrusted me to help coordinate the ...

It was a joy to find it blooming this week. This is the first time it bloomed since I planted it last year. I snipped a few stalks and placed in a small flower vase with another flower from Dream Weaver Hosta. Please click pictures to enlarge

I decided to lose at least 5 lbs instead of going the next dress size ! It took 3 months to lose 5 lbs. And I have been maintaining my weight for the last 3 months. I went regularly to my Zumba Gold classes and Hawaiian dance classes. Since early Spring I have been gardening. We have a fairly large size front and backyard and gardening is in my fitness program! I did not follow a strict diet. I continued to enjoy my favourite foods but definitely ate less. Please click picture to enlarge. "With stick-thin Hollywood celebrities, diet commercials and weight-loss TV shows in our faces every day, it's hard to judge what a healthy body should look like -- especially once you're older. Yet with health problems on the rise as you age, it becomes even more important to eat well, exercise regularly and maintain a healthy body weight that is neither too heavy nor too light." from an article "The importance of maintaining healthy weight for older women" by...

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osle Please click pictures to enlarge. All my hurts my garden spade can heal.

Every year my daughter checks our favourite pick-your-own destinations for when the fruits are ready for picking. Early in June we went to Krause farm in Langley to pick strawberries. We all had fun picking the reddest, and biggest strawberries. Please click to enlarge pictures. We picked 22 lbs of strawberries. We freezed them in 2 and 5 lb-bags. We use strawberries in fruit smoothies and I found a great recipe for strawberry muffins. "Strawberry muffins that can be made with fresh or frozen strawberries. If using frozen berries, thaw slightly, then chop with a knife." No. of servings: 8 Ingredients: 1/4 cup canola oil 1/2 cup milk 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup white sugar 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup chopped strawberries Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oil an 8 cup muffin tin, or use paper liners. 2. In a small bowl, combine oil, milk, and egg. Beat lightly. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, b...