After a lot of soul searching, I decided that maybe I needed to look further than my own backyard for a job. So, I was offered a position at the Canadian International School in Tokyo as the school librarian and language support teacher.
If you're still reading and interested, please join me for the adventure and read about it all at my new blog: http://mylifeeast.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you there :)
Hey it's me--long time no see (or in blog terms, no write!). I've been having a summer with some highs but mostly lows. A lot of it has to do with my continued dry spell in finding a full time position. It also has to do with not being particularly happy with "me".
I'm giving this blog a rest. A change is needed in many areas of my life. When I started my blog, the intent had been for me to get back to writing. It became a healthy lifestyle one and then a gardening one and now just a miscellaneous one. So, I'm going to focus on my other blog and if you're still here, I'd love to have you visit me at: http://manuela-musings.blogspot.com/
Wishing you and me too! all the best :)
I can't believe how long since I've made a visit to blog world! Life has been busy with its ups and downs. I'm trying to focus on the things that I want from my life and a major hangup in my achieving those things is fear. Fear of applying for that job because I might actually get a call for an interview! Fear of making that trip because something could happen!
So, the one thing that I've always wanted to do is visit the Holy Land. Not only because of my faith but because I love history and it doesn't get too much more historical. I'm thinking of this fall or maybe early next year. Have any of you been or know of someone that's gone? I would love to hear from people who have been on tours and which they would or wouldn't recommend.
Hope that you are all well and enjoying the dog days of summer :)
Thank you all again. It was and is greatly appreciated :)
I know that I don't have too many readers out there but those of you who come and leave comments are so appreciated! My mother was admitted into the hospital yesterday after suffering a mild heart attack. She'll be there for some time while they run tests and decided what needs to be done. It's pretty common now for any number of heart procedures but because of her kidneys there are more risks.
The best reason of all for staying fit and eating healthy--not developing a chronic illness such as diabetes that brings with it a multitude of additional risks!
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers--they are appreciated so much :)
We've had some nasty weather in my part of the world. Not far away from my home, a tornado touched down and caused some terrible damage. I got lucky with just a bit of flooding in my basement.
So, the weather has been kind of yucky and because of that I'm taking care of things indoors. Gardening is unfortunately on hold for a bit. I recently became enamored with Quinoa and have tried a few recipes using it. Anybody out there have a favourite? Allrecipes.com has some good ones that I'll be trying.
Have a great Wednesday :)
Just ate for lunch: Lemony Quinoa-1 cup quinoa cooked in 2 cups of water (let boil then simmer until water is gone); add one stalk chopped celery, 1/4 chopped red onion, chopped bunch parsley, juice of one lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Reminds me of tabouleh but without the mint. Delish!
I have a very dear friend who is supportive, loving, and kind. She is extremely allergic to dairy products but loves tasty goodies (who doesn't?). So, I took my favourite lemon square recipe and substituted margarine for butter. You know, they turned out awesome! I love baking but DON'T love having that stuff around so it's wonderful to be able to make things for other people and have one piece for myself :)
It was a perfect day for baking as it rained for much of the morning and the temps came down quite nicely. I also managed to get a few more pictures in of some of my other roses. The yellow rose is Graham Thomas (David Austin). The red/pink bush I have dubbed Snow White and Rose Red. The pink was what I purchased several years ago not noticing that it had been grafted onto what is probably Don Juan. The pink is extremely fragrant while the red has little or no fragrance at all.
Hope that you're all having a wonderful Wednesday!
I love my roses! I wish you could smell them :) I really cut them back last fall and wonder if that might have anything to do with it. I've been so busy with other things that I finally noticed just how overgrown my garden is! Seems it's not just the roses that are out performing past seasons--everything else is too!!! Next week will be an easy week for me as I hope to spend more time just cutting back some things.
For now, I'll just enjoy all the wonderful fragrance and colour that is running riot in my garden. Have a wonderful weekend--I'm off to the U.S.A. More on that later ;)
We've been lucky enough to get a few sunny days in a row here in Windsor. My tulips and daffodils are finished for the season and next up are the clematis and peonies! The top clematis is Josephine. There's a bit of schmutz on her as this photo was taken after the rain.
This one never fails to deliver on big, beautiful blooms. Only thing is that I can't remember its name! Somewhere, I have all my tags so I'll be sure to look it up. I still have two peonies in that back that need to bloom. Hope you're having a wonderful day (we're up for more rain over the next 2 days!)
(this picture makes me feel like I did when I was a kid growing up in the mid 70's!)
Last year I made a mistake with my wisteria. I managed to end up with about 4 miniature blooms that year. This March I set to hacking at that thing to make it more manageable and low and behold, this is what I ended up with! You see, I had forgotten that if you want to have blooms, chop this sucker to within an inch of it's life ;)
Loving it!
Yay--my blog was accepted. If you love visiting garden blogs, this is a terrific site :)
I'm excited to meet gardeners from around the world and share my love of gardening with them!
Funny how every summer when I'm planting my annuals, I totally forget about where I have tulips! I don't know how many times I've stuck in my shovel only to pull out several bulbs. This year I think I'll be moving them from the front of my bed to the back where the leaves can die down. This fall I'll start fresh and plant in a more organized manner.
Really, this award is to all of you who keep coming back and care enough to leave a comment. Karen was so awesome for remembering me and I appreciate it (I need to take a page out of her book--I've fallen off the wagon a bit lately, pesky emotional eating!)
If you haven't visited her blog I highly recommend it, for the pictures and the message. Rock on Karen!
So, I've decided that I'll be dedicating many of my future posts to gardening. I came across a cool site where other gardeners have blogs so it should be fun to share!
Please stick around because I'll still post about that other fun stuff (healthy living, exercise, me getting a teaching job!).
Manuela
Two years ago, I was an avid blogger--commenting on other blogs and having lots of comments on mine (I'm glad that a few of you have stuck around ;) One such commenter was a lovely lady from British Columbia. She had stopped to comment on my garden photos and I visited her blog to see the lovely photos of her flowers and garden. I noticed the lovely peachy/apricot irises and said that I would love to have them in my garden. What do you think she did? She cut off several rhizomes and sent them packed, every so lovingly to me! I planted them and finally after two years they have settled in nicely and are blooming as we speak!
Thank you so much Sabine! People like you are such a blessing to "meet" and I hope that although you don't blog anymore you will stop by and accept my online gratitude. My garden and I both thank you :)
Thanks for any information :)
