Simple Sunday - Birthday Celebration during Covid

Due to the social distancing and all the restrictions of Covid, birthday celebrations are done so differently and so simple.  But it is possible to do something if you really want to follow and keep everybody safe.  So how did we do it.  Last week was my birthday and I decided to have a very small gathering in the backyard. We place some TV trays (2 each) on each corner of our deck.  The guests brought their own plates, cutlery, glasses and drinks.  One couple brought the salad, the other my birthday cake.  I made spring roll for appetizers and for our main dish, Thai Red Curry Shrimp, Satay Chicken with peanut sauce and steamed rice.  We shared stories, have a couple of toasts (for me , the neighborhood, and friendship). It was a perfect day, it was warm but not hot and the fact that it didn't rain was a real blessing.  I had received a lot of birthday cards, texts, emails and telephone calls.  So blessed that I was able to celebrate my birthday and had a bit of fun during these tough times for many people in Canada.  My hubby gave me a golf ball retriever, a set of fun socks and a couple of EOS lip balm. 

Aren't these socks cute?

The flower that bloomed on my birthday.

The cards from friends and family.

One of the text I received from my BFF.

Fairways Friday - Greens and Fairways

During the Memorial weekend in the USA, the Match (Golf) was on and I was able to record it but did not have enough time and it ended on the 17th hole.  It was such a nice treat to watch live golf again.  It's too bad the pairing was not Woods and Brady, and Michelson and Manning.  So I was torn because I love Tiger but not Payton and of course on the other side I love Tom but not Phil.  Anyway, the end result, Tiger won and even though Brady's team did not win, Tom had the play of the day when he had a nice iron shot on to the green and the ball rolled in the hole.  Yeah.  It was amazing how Tiger was playing in that rainy condition but he was always in the middle of the fairways.  That is one thing I learned from someone that when you are out there in the golf course, there are only two words you need to remember at all times - FAIRWAYS AND GREENS.  It doesn't work all the time but it's a good training in your head instead of maybe thinking of other hazards along the way.  A week ago, I decided to take a lesson from the PRO in my home course.  It has been over three years since I took a lesson.  So I thought I needed a little tune up.  I was very pleased that we don't have to correct too much with what I have.  Of course I am old so the body cannot do all that turning and all that power.  But one thing for sure that I can depend on is my drive (which is most of the time in the middle of the fairways) and my putt (two putt or less).  Where I struggle is the fairway woods and the irons, which is what my lessons will be concentrating on.  Hopefully after two lessons I will be able to apply what I have learned and not screw up what I have been depending on.  Last year I play with my BFF from Kelowna who works as a starter at one of the nicest course in that area.  Our 4th person was her neighbor and it was so funny that by the end of the 3rd hole, he said to me, "I have a new nickname for you, MRS. Fairways".  Then when we were visiting our friends back in San Jose, CA. I got a chance to play again with my golf buddies, and one of them gave me another nickname based on the previous story.  He said, your new nickname is " MRS. Always Fairways".  I just wish I could get more distance but for now I am happy with just being in the middle of the fairway.  

Welcoming Wednesday - New Flowers

Now that I started this weekly update on my new and old plants, I might as well continue and provide some update photos on some of the latest blooms.  Last year my neighbor gave us a few plants ( two types of iris and another couple of other grassy type).  At first I planted them in big pots but after speaking with my BFF who is a master gardener from Ontario, we took them out of their pots and planted them on the ground in the fall.  All of them survived the winter months and now in the spring, they have all come back to live.  Last week, I have noticed a bunch of them having blossoms.  And very interesting enough, the yellow and green leaves have bluish purple flower that smells like bubble gum.  While the green leaves have the yellow blooms.  By the way, one of the plant that I got this year is called Periwinkle.  I bought it because of the name, I planted it and then when the flower came out, I had to google it to see if it was actually my periwinkle.  LOL.  Now introducing all the new flowers.

Marker Monday - So cute

About a month ago I received a card from my MIL and inside there were at least 14 little fabric squares that is about 4" x 4". At first I was wondering why she sent it.  Maybe she thought I would be able to make something out of it.  I truly didn't  have any idea what I can use it so I just put it in my fabric basket for another day.  Since I have been busy sewing masks and then I got a new project to make a toddler sleeping bag (cotton fabric x 2), these tiny little square just got shove on the side.  But this weekend, while cleaning up my sewing room, I saw these squares again.  I seem to recall some type of bookmaker that maybe I could try.  All the squares were used and I made a total of five bookmarkers.  I decided to send a couple back to my MIL and I also send a couple of girlfriends, one each and I am keeping one for myself, in case I get back to reading books.  LOL.  

The zipper is at the bottom.  

Skins Saturday - Golf side game

Last week my golf buddy suggested that we do a little side bet for our golf game.  It is similar to the skins game that they play on the PGA, except our bet is only starting at a quarter.  The first time we did it, I won a toonie ($2.00 canadian).  The next day, I lost .50 cents.  So as you can see, it is not very much but it still fun and it makes you try to do better each hole.  My golf buddy, takes care of the scoring because, for some reason, I get an extra stroke on at least eight of the hardest hole out of the 18 holes.  As there are no gimmes and no mulligans, so the scores are real.  Because we play almost 4 days a week, we don't really keep score each time, but sometimes I do it just to see how my average is.  Last year we played a different game where he gives me a few strokes and we have to give a quarter for every stroke I am over his score.  As we go along, he started giving me less and less stroke, as I improve my game sometimes.  We are very lucky that we are able to get back into golf a little earlier than most of the area in British Columbia.  In addition to that, we are able to play just as a two some and do not have to play with other people.  Our course is like a big family of golfers, mostly members and regulars, so almost everybody knows each other.  I am very lucky to have joined this course and have met some some friendly golfers.  Not to forget the maintenance team truly takes care of the course.  My home course is Hillview Golf Course.

Thriving Thursday - Update on my plants

As promised from my last post about my new plants which I started last week, here's this weeks update.  They are still alive and some even have flowers.  I also noticed the iris that I got from my neighbor last fall, have started showing some buds which means maybe next week it will have some flowers.  Anyway, the other three plants that I can't even remember what they were, they look exactly the same as the day I planted them.  But at least they did not die. I tried to take the same photos from the last time so hopefully, you'll see the difference. Although it is not a big deal if you remember what I post, the fact that you are reading this one is good enough for me.  Thank you for stopping by. 

Petunia

Iris

Lupens

Marigold

Yellow marigold

More iris

Begonia

Tomato plants in the backyard.

Multiples Monday - Many Masks

One of my BFF from Ontario suggested that I sell the masks that I have been sewing. After I had made many masks for family and friends both in Canada and USA, she was convincing me that I should really try and sell them.  I had to really think about this because that means I will have to make more, many more sewing hours but at least I get a little bit of money from the materials and my labor of love. LOL.  For the past couple of weeks, I had a few small orders, sometimes 3, 4 or 6.  This weekend, my massage therapist asked if I was sewing home made reusable masks.  So I say yes but didn't know how many she would need. Yesterday, she told me they need 80 masks.  OMG, I need to hustle.  So if I don't post anything for a week, you will understand.  Since I don't have my MIL, who use to be my assistant for cutting fabrics, which she was so great at it, I have to do everything.  Not complaining, but they need the masks before the end of the month.  In the meantime, these are the latest collection which I thought were cute. 

Tulips Thursday - Amazing colors

This is the second part of my post from Monday.  Although this time it will be all about tulips and other flowers.  While we were at the nursery last weekend, I was able to take photos of some of the flowers they had on their front parking lot.  Some of the other photos were taken from our golf course and there's one of the very nice color tulips that is from our front yard.  In addition, I took another photo of the turtles and the mother duck and her ducklings. 

Managing Monday - One more try

As I have told you before in my other post about plants, I do not have a green thumb and I am surprised that the plants I added to our garden last year have survived the winter and some are actually doing well.  I tried to clean up a lot of the pots that were left from last winter and one big one broke into pieces.  I guess there were a lot of water left inside the pot and when it froze, it expanded and it broke.  Anyway, there were a couple of still good pots that I thought I would keep and all the other plastic and non ceramic, I recycled them.  Yesterday, although it was mother's day and I normally don't do anything, we decided to head out to one of the local nursery and get a few flowering plants.  I really don't know which one would look good for my two big red pots. But since they were busy, there was not time to be picky.  I bought 4 different types and my hubby bought two cedar trees to replace the two that did not survive the winter.  So if you are a master gardener, I am sure you can tell me all these plants that I got.  I took photos of all of them and so I can check in a couple of weeks if they are actually growing.

Stitching Saturday - Single or Double

Today is our 12th year anniversary.  But since I don't get a gift for 12th year, I am not going to make a big deal about it.  Instead I will talk about my finished crochet bed scarf for our guest room.  A couple of years ago, my sister started it for me but she had to leave so I had to finish it.  It was half way so I thought that I could just pick up where she left off.  Well, it sat there for a couple of years because, I couldn't figure it out.  A friend of mine showed me how, then I didn't continue so I forgot again.  Anyway, now that I have used up all my yarns and don't have anymore project, I decided to pick it up again.  After many rows of the type of stitch, I realized it was growing too wide, so I untangled (unravel) it to where my sister left off.  That's when I realized that I was using the wrong crochet hook so it was creating a bigger stitch even though I was doing the right combination.  So after I figured it out, I was able to finish the bed scarf leaving only 6 inches of yarn.  I thought that was perfect.  Now I need an edging. Of course I had to call my sister for direction, ideas and a tutorial.  We did a short video chat and then I continued with crocheting.  Now it's complete and ready to be displayed when we have visitor staying in the guest room.  It will be perfect with our red flowery comforter set.  Thanks to my sister's expertise in crochet, I have a pretty bed scarf.

Trending Thursday - I had to try it

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend from California sent me a photo of special coffee that was suppose to be trending. Everyone was making it and she thought that I might want to try making it for myself.  Although I have my coffee everyday for breakfast (from our Keurig), that's about it,  my one cup a day. My hubby makes it for me with some half and half and one of my favorite flavors.  The sad part is that some of the stores where we buy our Keurig cups are currently all closed.  So we had to buy it from wherever it's available.  Anyway, this weekend I decided to make this coffee, I think it's called Dalgona.  Just reading the recipe, I knew it was going to be overly sweet.  Two tablespoons of sugar is a lot specially for diabetics.  But I thought I need to follow the recipe to make sure it comes out the way it is on the photo.  So I made it and it came out great, I tasted it and OMG it was obscenely sweet.  I kept adding ice and more milk.  After I finished drinking it, it was time to take a nap.  It knocked me out for about an hour.  Anyway, after all the hype about it, I guess you have to be a real sweet coffee drinker to love it.  I love my Tim Horton's coffee and I am sticking to it. Everyone has their own favorite, whether you are a Starbucks, Peet's, Tim Horton's, Seattle's Best, or whether you love espresso, cappucino or macchiato, they are just different coffee.