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...

Hair dye has changed the landscape. There are fewer women my age with gray hair. Therefore I usually stand out or should I say command attention because I am usually the only one around with gray hair :) A friend said, his gray hair is his medal of honor. Bill Cosby said gray hair is God`s graffiti. Mine is simply, my crown of glory.

Now and again we get together for lunch or dinner. This time we decided to go for Dim Sum. Paul recommended Top Cantonese Cuisine in Vancouver. Dim Sum was superb! Lots of laughter sharing stories and pictures of recent travels, grandchildren, etc. The restaurant clientele is mostly Chinese. I was probably the only non-Chinese speaking person present yesterday at lunch. My friends spoke Chinese and English to accommodate me. I am so used to Chinese being spoken around me. I am also used to being mistaken for Chinese. Here are some of the Dim Sum selections yesterday. I enjoyed them all. My friends identified each dish in English and Chinese. They ordered the traditional items plus some new ones that I have never tasted before. Baked turnip pastry. Prawn dumpling. Pan fried bean curd wrap with pea tip. Rice roll with fish paste and Chinese donut. Steamed pork dumpling or siu mai. Stir fried green beans. Sticky Fried Rice with Chinese sausage. ...

My Crimson Star Columbines are blooming. The flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds and I read that they are great cut flowers too. So I gathered a few and placed them in water. We shall see how long the blooms will last. Please click picture to enlarge. What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile, a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the earth, and are not our stars the flowers of the heaven? —A. J. Balfour Please click picture to enlarge.

After church and lunch we went for a walk at Finnerty Gardens. Please click pictures to enlarge. The Rhododendrons were spectacular. Beautiful, graceful bamboos. A walk in the garden is always uplifting and refreshing.

I was pleasantly surprised to find these creations with succulents at Minter Gardens. Please click to enlarge pictures.

We went to visit Minter Gardens in Chilliwack. The scenery was refreshingly beautiful.

I bought two Kalanchoe plants at the garden section of our local grocery store. They are succulents and the flowers are so very pretty. Very inexpensive too. Please click to enlarge pictures. They bloom for long periods. I never kept them after blooming is over. This time I will try and save the plants and see if I can make them bloom again. I read also that it is easy to propagate them.

I love orchids. Last year I had several and tried to nurture them but none lasted more than 6 months. Last Sunday at a church fund raiser I bought a Cymbidium orchid. Looks healthy and really pretty. This is the first time for me to have a Cymbidium. My previous orchids were Phalaenopsis or Moth orchids. Apparently Cymbidium orchids are the least demanding of indoor orchids. Please click to enlarge pictures.

Our lovely Sakura Kanzan (Cherry Blossom) tree is in full bloom. Please click pictures to enlarge The Kanzan Cherry tree is the most numerous type of Japanese cherry trees in Vancouver and suburbs. Its blossoms consist of over twenty, dark pink petals which open around the middle of April. It has a very short flowering period, just a little over a week and the petals start falling off. Main roads and many residential neighborhoods in Maple Ridge are lined with Sakura Kanzan trees. Ours is in full bloom since yesterday. Our neigjhbor has three small ones in their backyard and all in bloom too.