At last!!!.....

After waiting for so long the tomato turned purple or as close to the picture on the tag when I bought it. I guess the hot weather all week helped in the process.

I had it for salad with the golden and red cherry tomatoes. So sweet and fresh tasting. I picked it an hour before I was going to eat it.

Just before I picked it.

After I picked it. The cherry tomatoes get ripened every few days or so. I just pick what I can eat for that meal.

The inside is not what I expected but so sweet. I will wait awhile before picking the rest as the inside might be different.

Roast pork which I had with the tomato salad. Just put mango chipotle dressing and it was good.

I will cut some up and make fried rice with it for tomorrow. I gave half of it to a friend of mine in the building.









A milestone.......would have been....

Thirty years ago today, in the late afternoon I got a call from my sister telling me that they will be dropping off my niece, Alysia at my place. She was going to the hospital as she thought it was time and the baby will come soon.

Three or four hours later I again got a call and she said she had the baby and it was a boy. I thought she was joking so I said why are you the one calling. She said she was being wheeled to her room and passed by the nursing station so she asked if she could use the phone. Gosh, no cell phone then!!!

I asked her what she named him....Gino Aldin. I remembered we drove to the hospital just to see Gino. We brought his big sister with us.

From then on, I helped with babysitting after my sister went back to work. I enjoyed it but three years later they had moved to Whitehorse. Once or twice I visited and babysat the kids when the parents went on a holiday to Hawaii. I was only staying for 3 weeks and ended up staying 3 months and on my way back to Yellowknife, I brought with me Gino and Alysia to visit grandparents.

When they moved to Toronto, we did not see a lot of each other although we got a chance to visit a few times. I think I have missed his teenage years, which is also the time of the break up of his parents marriage. I believe that was also the lost years in a sort of way with his relationship with his sister.

I have not seen such a very close relationship between siblings. When they became adults, they were closer than ever. I have been lucky to have spent such a close relationship with him when I stayed with them 5r years ago. A Christmas and New Year that was memorable. And I also have the honor of having been asked if I wanted to go with him on a holiday to the UK but had to decline because of my health at that time. This has been a big regret of mine.

Today, he would have been 30 years old and I wonder what could have been. I guess we would always wonder. His sister had posted stuff of what he would have been or what he liked or get, with all the technology now.  What musical group he would like? Would he be in a relationship? Would he be thinking of marriage and children? Would he have kept his business? I guess there would be lots of questions but we all know, there would be no answers.

Being 30 is a big milestone and he was gone too soon. Although we miss him a lot, I am quite happy that I have wonderful memories of his laughter, his jokes, his off key singing, his cooking sometimes and some of quirky things about him.

Wherever you are, please know that you have been loved by your family, relatives and friends.

Happy Birthday, Gino!!

My favorite picture of him

He grew up to be a really good and decent human being. This is how I would always remember him.

This was one of three songs played at his funeral service.

My driving list....

Just to shock a friend.....I do listen to all kinds of music.



Lazy weekend....

The weather is nice but I am feeling a bit lazy today. I am on the second day off the diet and wondering what to eat. I watered my plants and there were ripe tomatoes. So I picked them and had it with my salad. They were so sweet.

The hot air balloons are back but only two this afternoon. I was planning to go to the market but I am on this strict diet and don't need any fruit or vegetable.

I read my book out on the balcony to try and get a bit of a tan. I took some pictures. I did not want to go out as I did not want to sabotage my diet.

So it has been a boring day, watched tv and play games online.

Hope you had more exciting day than I had.

The yummy bread and butter pickles

One of three pepper plants, there must be 9 peppers on this plant alone.

Still have not turned purple though I think it is close.



Diet final update.....

Here goes.... as I have posted before I am not expecting to lose 10 pounds. First day I lost 2.5 lbs, second day was 1.5 and last day was 2 lbs----a total of 6 lbs which to me is  realistic. Today I am on my regular eating day but will watch it very carefully.


I had 1 toast for breakfast with peanut butter and half a mango and a cup of tea. I had 6 peanuts for snack. I am having half a ham sandwich for lunch and a plum. I am not sure what to have for dinner, I think I will have the steak as a celebration. The other lady who is on the same diet lost .2lbs on her second day, so she is a bit disappointed. Maybe she will make up for it today.


I will be back on the diet after 4 days but will only post after the final day. 


Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Diet update 2.....

Last day of the of the 3 day diet and happy to say I lost pounds and will have a final update tomorrow. I don't know if I will make the 10 pounds loss but I hope to be close to it.

At lunch, it was 5 crackers and hard boiled egg and tea. Tonight is tuna which I now hate and cauliflower and beets which I also do not like. But looking forward to cantaloupe and 1/2 cup of ice cream....yummy!!!

The lady who is dieting with me lost 3.2 lbs after the first day so she did well. It is nice dieting with somebody and the whole staff knows and very supportive and we have lots of fun. 

I don't know how long I will be on it but for sure will do it one more time as I have all the food I need and do not want to waste it.

Tomorrow night, I will enjoy steak (small one) tomatoes from my garden and pickles I got from a co-worker's mom who makes them every summer. It was so yummy that one lady ate a whole jar for breakfast this morning...yes a medium jar.

Maybe, just maybe, mango for dessert. Hope the results tomorrow is good.

Diet update.....

Well, the first day is over and I survived it. I enjoyed the 1 cup of ice cream and hated the beets last night.
One of my co-workers is on her first day and we are having fun hating the food we have to eat.


Good news is I have lost though I won't say until I finish the 3 days of dieting. I know now why this diet works,. the food I have to eat are crappy and so I can't eat the amount they recommended so I lose the weight. Anyway, it is only for 3 days and I will just have to watch what I put into my mouth the next four days until I go back to 3 days of more dieting.


One lesson I learned is to weigh myself every morning so I know if I have gained and know that I have to be careful of what I eat. 


Now I am looking forward to two hot dogs for tonight's dinner and 1/2 cup of ice cream plus the veggies.
At least there is something to look forward too. I did not realize, two hot dogs would excite me. 


So until the next update.....I am hoping for really good results.