sun

The weather was awesome today. There was lots of sunshine with no clouds over head. That is to last into the weekend but Sunday may see some showers. Temperatures were around 18 degrees Celsius with a night time low of around 8 or 9 degrees. My daily mode of dress is a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I opted to leave the sweater at home a couple of days ago and likely won't need it much until autumn arrives. Its great to be wearing something lighter!

Today, I finished off the last of the duck leg with sweet and sour red cabbage plus potatoes, all for lunch. This evening I had sauerkraut with pork hocks and boiled potatoes for supper. I filled a mason jar with some of the stuff to take in to work for lunch Friday.

When my mother was alive, I remember her telling me that her mother used to make sauerkraut from scratch. That meant using a large earthenware crock and filling it in alternating layers with shredded cabbage, then a layer of salt, more shredded cabbage and so on. Then it was weighed down and the contents allowed to ferment in the forming brine. According to my mother, the aroma of fermenting cabbage would fill the entire apartment.

While on the subject of sauerkraut, I love having a hotdog on a bun with a generous helping of sauerkraut over top, a Coney Island hotdog I guess its called!

Well, now its time for bed once again. Have a good night and pleasant dreams all!!! - V

supper

I had the last of the duck leg with sweet and sour red cabbage for supper. Its usually served with boiled potatoes but I used the last of them for preparing tomorrow's lunch to take into work. The lunch includes the potatoes, sweet and sour red cabbage and part of the meat from a duck leg all in a mason jar. I'll remove the lid and microwave it before eating, however, I prefer re-heating on a stove top but this will have to do.

This evening I cooked up pork hocks with wine sauerkraut and tomorrow evening will re-heat it and serve it with freshly boiled potatoes. Some will end up going into work on Friday. Nothing particularly fancy. Simple food but tasty. Now I'm heading off to bed. Its another work day and 5 am comes early! Good Night!!! - V

thanks

The latest issue of Exercise for Men Only magazine features an article with Scott Herman as the subject, the Best Abs Winner, Scott Herman's Secret Routine. Its on the news stands now, so check it out.
While on that subject (Scott), last week he sent an email with a couple of links attached, including a YouTube video giving thanks to various blogs (and bloggers) by name. Check that video out here! We should be thanking him because he's done a lot for us as well. Thanks, Scott!!! We can benefit from each other, so keep it up! - V

tulips

Sunday afternoon took me into Vancouver for a haircut first (needed that) and then for a walk to the English Bay Beach at the bottom of Davie Street in the West End. The tulips are just about done for the year. In fact, most of the main plantings at Davie and Denman Streets have been removed to make way for the summer flowers to be planted out soon. I did manage to get a few good shots though. Since it was also Mother's Day, seeing the Forget-me-nots is also a plus.
The beach itself was filled with people out having good conversation plus enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. The fact hot dog stands are out and getting plenty of business must mean that the pleasant, warm weather is here for sure.
I saw a game of beach volleyball in play with the participants wearing shorts or underwear and there were sailboats on the water too. It was great weather for both.
Above is a close-up shot of the same tulip that you find in the very first image at the start of the post. And the fan palms have started to sprout their new growth for the year. It most definitely is spring with summer not too far behind. I hope you all had a great weekend and spent it doing what you most like doing! - V

home

I noticed Saturday that the succulent that I bought from the grocery store across the street a couple of months ago has sent up a flower stalk. The plant is commonly called a "Zebra Plant" because of its alternating green and white markings on the fleshy leaves. In Latin its called a Haworthia attenuata which originates from South Africa's Eastern Cape ranging from sea level to 1000 meters altitude. Succulents are related to Cactii. I'll have more on these plants later.

Behind the subject of this post is my Pineapple plant raised from a crown cutting last year. I plan to put it into another window with even better light with the hope that it too might flower! Some of its leaves are a good size. Lets see what develops!

There'll be some photos posted soon from Sunday's walk along English Bay Beach in Vancouver. Look for them! - V

late cherry trees

A couple of weekends ago I decided to take a walk to nearby Queens Park rather than go further afield. As it was, the weather was iffy and it was starting to cloud over again. I took advantage of the sunshine while it was there. The photo above is of the late Cherry blossoms in flower at the time. Much of their blossoms have faded away and been replaced by the greenery that we'll see through the summer. I'll have more photos soon, so enjoy this one for now! - V

the apartment

The apartment still needs some organizing but things are moving in that direction. One of the legs on the dining cabinet needs to be re-glued before I load up the cabinet. That will get things organized in a big way once that is done. The plant you see in the centre of the dining room table is the Pointsettia from Christmas. That plant is doing quite well growing new leaves. Once I re-plant it I plan to set it out on the balcony over the summer. The photo below is the basis of the image from which you saw in the last post. It gets cluttered on occasion, so cleaning is a never ending chore.

The last photo is that of the living room. The last of the boxes to be organized will disappear once I've purchased a couple of armoires which I plan to set side by side along the wall you see. That will get rid of most of the remaining boxes and the old, worn blue jeans and other material will be recycled. That's the plan anyway. Then the living room will be turned into a combination living area and photo studio!

In other news, I was having issues with Internet Explorer and finally decided to continue using Google Chrome. That appeared a wise choice since it allowed me to continue with blog posts without problems which the latter seemed to have to no end. What ever works, as they say! Have a great night and an awesome week, guys!!! - V