Sylvia's Simple Shots

I did manage to pick a few handfuls of raspberries this week.  There are several bushes in the neighbourhood which are on my morning walk route.

I sure miss picking raspberries in Mom's garden. 

The Big Dreams Beach Hotel by Michelle Gorman writing as Lilly Bartlett.This was a nice light read.  

Rosie fled New York City after a failed relationship and the resulting loss of her job in the hospitality industry. Betrayed and devastated she headed back to her seaside home town in England.  

She now manages a quaint Victorian hotel owned by the Colonel where there are several permanent senior residents, a eccentric chef and a dog named Barry and just enough rentals to keep it afloat. 

Next, the Colonel has sold the hotel to a couple of brothers from America and a young man named Rory arrives as the transition manager. The changes are significant, renovations to the building, new decor, new menu for chef to learn, and the end to tenant contracts for some of the residents.  Where will they go?

It  has been scorching hot again this week.  

I had to place a sheet over the curtains in the dining room to keep the heat of the morning sun.  It is not cooling down overnight so it's been about 82F to 89F in the place. Soaking my head and shirt to keep cool.

These pine crates elevate my TV so I can place the DVD player and the stereo below it on the console table.

They are rough pine and are not finished.

I decided to give them a good sanding then a couple of coats of Tung Oil since they are not being used right now with everything in the living room packed.

I just did the outside since the inside will not be visible.  They are very rough and an electric sander would have been helpful but I go with what I have.

They do look better so I am happy.  It will be at least another couple of weeks before I can start putting the house back together.

It has been a full 2 weeks of waiting, emailing, researching, emailing some more to get approval to move forward with the installation of the flooring.

There's a trip to Calgary this week I hope to pick up the underlay.

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah was a book I recently finished.  This is my second or third book by this author.

Annie Colwater lives in California with her lawyer husband and daughter.  She has been a housewife for 20 years and a mother for 17.  She is a great manager of the house and her husband depends on her to make him look good.  

He wants a divorce.  What is she to do? Her daughter is off to London before college and her husband has moved out of their house.

She heads north to the small town where she grew up and spends some time with her Dad, Hank. She meets several people she went to school with and one in particular Nick Delacroix is in need of support.  His wife has died and their 6 year old daughter has been expelled from school. She is not handling the death of her mother well.  Annie offers to babysit the girl while Nick is at work.

A love story develops and she finds her purpose. 

I won these picnic place mats at the reunion raffle last weekend.

Great way to not lose your cutlery and have a clean place to eat when you are using public picnic facilities.

Great for the RV or trailer.  Washable, reusable and a great addition to any camping trip.

My sister made these and they will be added to my camping gear.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 A beautiful hollyhock plant grew on the edge of the parking lot of an abandoned building.

It is a volunteer! I am so glad it decided to grow there.  I have no idea where the seeds would have come from.  I have not seen some of these in the neighbourhood.  I suppose it could be dropped by birds? Carried by mice?  Who knows!

A very tall stalk sporting several gorgeous warm pink flowers.

It was a precious surprised and it blessed my day.

My niece gave me a nice macrame plant hanger when I saw her a couple of weeks ago.

It was to replace the flimsy one I had cobbled together to hang my spider plant in the bedroom.  The plant is doing so well there in the north window.  I have been cutting off the spiderettes when they grow on this plant.  I may decide to keep the next one to create a new plant.

I decided to re-pot this plant while I was at it.  I put it into a bigger pot and added soil. It should be good for the next year or two.

I am wanting a Sansevieria / Mother in Law Tongue / Snake Plant which likely will go in the bedroom as well.  I stopped a CTire today and checked out their garden center but no luck. I will have to go to a green house this week.

I found a new tape measure.  The one I have owned for 30 years had the lock break about 6 months ago so it is very difficult to use.  

I found this one this week for $1 so the price was right at the thrift store.

It may be shorter than the other one and it is smaller so better size for me.

Trying to decide if I keep the other tape for crafts or not.  Probably not as I have other priorities.

It worked well to determine how much flooring I would need for the kitchen.  We shall see!

This book Take me with you by Brad Newsham was a great change from the fiction I have been reading.

I'm not much of a traveler so I have not experienced wanderlust where one just needs to leave and go.

As a young man in his twenties in the early 1970s, Brad took a trip to Europe but was pulled to visit Morocco, Turkey, Iran and finally to Afghanistan.  The trip was to be a month but lasted over 7 months. At the end of the trip he wrote in his diary - Someday, when I am rich, I'm going to invite someone from my travels to visit me in America. 

14 years later, he lives in San Francisco and drives a taxi for a living.  Safe to say travel may be in his blood.  Now, single again, he decides to take 100 day trip. On this trip he has decided to keep the vow he made years ago. He visits the Philippines, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He is traveling on a very low budget of $25 a day so he find very cheap accommodations in each country.  As he travels he gets to know people along the way. He gathers the name and addresses of many people.  Some he has promised to send photos he has taken.  He has not shared his plan with many people.  The book tells it like it is to travel in very poor countries, travel in less than ideal conditions, but meet some salt of the earth people. 

I have been able to pick about 1/2 cup of raspberries in the patch at the end of the block.  I have permission to pick.  I am amazed that many don't pick them but I guess if you grow up thinking raspberries come from the grocery store then you may not recognize them on the bush dow the block.

I love raspberries and they are my favorite fruit to pick.  I love picking my fruit clean and it is very easy with raspberries.

I have had raspberries on my breakfast 3 times.  It is delicious and nutritious.

This has been a very good year for raspberries.

I won a few things at the raffle at the reunion.  

There was a Tupperware tumbler with blue and yellow items.  That got my attention.

Here's the nice tea towel that was included in the tumbler.

There was a small Tupperware key chain, stainless steel straws, and a few other things on the summer theme.

I hope you have a great week.