Tag Archives: purple ball

Heat

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The warm weather continues, with some humidity.

My Mom received her birthday present today, she said she likes it. I was concerned about the gift wrapping, as I had no idea what sort of wrapping it would be. Mom said the box came in a “A lovely bag tied with a bright red ribbon. Not paper.”

Mom birthday present 2018 Mom just sent me this picture of her birthday present (Friday, May 4, 2018), so here it is! Thanks Mom!

The temperature in the house remained relatively constant through the night last night, coming in at 21C first thing this morning. The chilly night had almost no effect on the temperature in the interior of the house. This is a new phenomenon, and a welcome one. The heat was turned off on Tuesday evening, so the only explanation for the maintained temperature during the night is the new attic insulation, and the new windows.

This combination of home improvements makes a noticeable difference in how the house feels, and in how I remain comfortable in the house. Suddenly, even with the outdoor temperature falling to 10C overnight, the house maintains its heat. In the winter months the thermostat is turned to 17C for the night, my preferred night time temperature. My light weight duvet provides far too much warmth for an indoor temperature of 20C or higher.

Nightwear and bedding need to be adjusted. Tonight a summer weight pair of pyjamas will be worn, as an experiment, while leaving the duvet on the bed. If I am too warm tonight, tomorrow the duvet will be cleaned, and put away until next autumn; the flannelette sheets will be stripped off the bed, to be replaced with cotton percale sheets. If I am still too warm, I will leave the ceiling fan running while I sleep.

If these measures fail to provide a comfortable night’s sleep, then a day and evening with the windows open might lower the interior temperature. Failing that, as a last resort, the air conditioning could be turned on. Air conditioning seems so wrong, as the heat was just turned off the day before yesterday.

The hydro bills have taken a dive, which they usually do at this time of year, when the air source heat pump runs infrequently. Checking usage online, the month of April saw a 4% drop from last year, in the amount of electricity used. This is more significant than it sounds, as April this year was very cold compared to last year. Despite the increased heating demands based on temperature, fuel consumption decreased. Because of the generous government grants for these upgrades, our investment was lowered to the point that we might see a return over the next few years. Of course, that is assuming the funding reaches us. The cheque is “in the mail”, so to speak, so fingers are crossed that it will actually arrive.

I am enjoying Tai Chi, and have started to follow videos and continue on with it at home, as my paid lessons are coming to an end soon. I anticipate a smooth transition. Videos make learning easy; pressing pause, and repeating the move in the video, allows for personalized instruction. I have my little learning aids. Being slightly dyslexic, the moves can be very confusing in the mirror image that one sees in a video. To resolve this, the demonstrators outfit was determined to have a more intense colour on the right side. A wrist band on my right wrist allows the wrist and intensity to match. Where there is a will there is a way, with many things in life. I tend to be delighted with my little work arounds, it is wonderful to enjoy my ingenuity without a critical, and sadly articulate, “eye” present.

I may return to the paid lessons at a later date, I do enjoy them, but for now they are very expensive. The cost of the lessons is just within financial grasp, but the fuel for travel makes it a very expensive pastime. Perhaps it will be a future indulgence. The warm weather months are not a time for schedules!

Attila and I continue share our house in peace. The garage project is not schedule until June, his art studio will not be available for quite some time. Happily he is finding great pleasure in working in the garden.

My days pass peacefully, reading, crocheting, writing, working on genealogy, taking on small projects like cleaning Iris the trailer, cooking, baking, cleaning, and now sitting on the back porch enjoying the activity of the birds, the squirrels, the rabbits, and the ever active purple ball that lives in the back yard.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

14°C
Date: 8:00 PM EDT Thursday 3 May 2018
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 14.4°C
Dew point: 14.4°C
Humidity: 100%
Wind: WSW 10 km/h
Visibility: 3 km

Quote
“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
Bruce Lee
1940 – 1973

The Purple Ball

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Last summer we had a serious wind storm. During that storm, a large purple ball blew into our fenced yard. It would have been quite a feat, jumping that fence, the ball must really have wanted to live here. I’ve been watching that ball, it blows around the yard with every passing breeze. I never know where I’ll see the ball, sometimes it is out of sight altogether, hiding near the back porch, or behind the shed. Most of the time it is resting comfortably somewhere in the yard, against a fence, on the compost heap, beside the ash tree, near the cloths line pole… I’ve grown quite fond of peeking out the kitchen window every morning, just to see where the purple ball has gotten to.

I have to get back to the bank again this week, how tedious! Also, the car has to go in for servicing, which isn’t a big deal, but things have to be scheduled around the event, as it leaves us with one vehicle.

I have decided that this week I will not attend Tai Chi, it is too hard to fit it in. However, if I am honest, there are factors acting as deterrents in my Tai Chi attendance this week. I didn’t want to attend the class with Little Miss Bossy this week. I was going to attend the next day’s class, but it was cancelled for an “intensive” Tai Chi event, which several people were adamant I should attend, which I did not want to attend, and there was a pot luck dinner after the event, Russian Roulette, no thanks, and I didn’t feel up to trying to explain about my allergy, and why I won’t attend the pot luck dinners, which in my experience is regarded as an antisocial act… avoidance seemed the best choice. Then two extra tasks needing a vehicle came up for later in the week, so that is that, no Tai Chi this week. I will be back at it next week. My knee is feeling better every day, so I should be in good form for it.

I have been enjoying hot breakfast cereal every morning over the last few months. I have taken to those offered by Bob’s Red Mill, Whole Wheat Cream of Wheat (discontinued), 6 Grain Cereal, High Fibre Cereal, and one called Mighty Tasty Cereal, a mixture of rice, corn, sorghum and buckwheat. The same method of preparation seems to work for all of them, 1/4 cup cereal, 1 tablespoon of flax seed, 1 tablespoon of desiccated coconut, 4 dates chopped, and 3/4 cup of lactose free milk, or almond milk, depending on my whim. I microwave this mixture for 1 minute, then stir, microwave for 30 seconds more, then stir, and if needed microwave for 30 more seconds, then stir. My adjusted palate finds this mixture dessert-for-breakfast sweet. I find that left to my own devices, I tend to eat the same foods every day. This habit developed as my interest in food dwindled, as more and more foods contained my allergen, and my choices dwindled. So it is quite pleasant to have these four different breakfast cereals, plus regular oatmeal, awaiting my pleasure each morning, choice without danger!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

3C
Date: 4:00 PM EST Tuesday 6 March 2018
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.2 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 2.8C
Dew point: -5.3C
Humidity: 55%
Wind: ENE 20 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.”
Madeleine L’Engle
1918 – 2007