I Love a Coffee Shop that’s Nauti

Posted on December 12, 2019 by dfolstad58

I occasionally visit the big coffee establishments, there are really just two in Canada and both are international.  But they don’t have the warm of an independent coffee shop.

Without being negative about the “giants” I want to share my observations about an independent coffee cafe in Penticton.

effectsIf you visited my city Penticton, on my tour

I would take you to Nauti Dog Cafe which is located at the boat marina on Skaha Lake; perched beachside, a beautiful view west looking across the shimmering lake.

So,  it’s a wonderful location, right?  

It also has “fresh baking“, the owner Fergy is a chef in her own right,  and the kitchen is right there six feet behind the espresso maker,  the scent of fresh baking is amazing !!

View, delicious food of all kinds, (not frozen and reheated like the big franchises), that’s great, right? 

It is and whether you sit outside or inside, the space is large, warm and friendly – I will add some of my own pictures. 

Every week or so, my son and I go and  just relax with Americanos, and enjoyed the view and space and appreciated the manner that Sam made us feel welcome.

So I like it, and I like it because Fergy,

has made it a special place, she is investing her time, skill, and abilities to make this a place where regulars are recognized by name; customers come to relax all seasons!

So if you mosey through the valley, swing by the Nauti Dog Cafe – and say Hi to Fergy and Sam and see and taste what you think. 🙂

By the way, my last visit I had banana bread french toast, it was yum. 

 

This duck seems interested.

Thanks for the visit to my blog,  and taking the time. Comments and suggestions always appreciated. 🙂 Dave

 

Posted in South Okanagan Restaurants and Other Jewels, Thinking Out loud | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

P and C go together

Posted on November 28, 2019 by dfolstad58

P and C go together

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Praise and Criticism go together, like sweet and sour, if you believe in one, then you believe in the other.

The trouble is we like praise, even if we feel like we don’t deserve it.

Ironically we can feel identically about Criticism, without the “like” part of course ☺: we tend to believe we don’t deserve it either. 

However Praise and Criticism are two sides of the same coin.

Since they can both help us,  we should expect and embrace both. 

Praise is the personal coach that helps us to improve or keep doing whatever earned that praise; as in doing four more planks !

Criticism is the personal coach that helps to improve our “form” so we improve rather than hurt ourselves.

But neither Praise or Criticism should “stick” for long.

Praise is sweet, but meant to be savoured, and enjoyed in the moment – life quickly moves ahead though, and that candy left behind, after being enjoyed.

Criticism may at first leave a bad taste in our mouths, seem negative to us even, but of the two types of feedback, it is really the most helpful despite the initial sour taste.

Criticism is the most helpful because usually we know what we our strong abilities are, but we can be oblivious to how we can improve, it’s really the so-called criticism feedback which we initially consider negative that is really the more helpful.

I also suspect that most criticism is actually of the type you could call a Point for Improvement comment, as in “you might want to try ….”

I try to consider criticism carefully, was it provided to me with the intent of helpfulness? If so, I am grateful for their insight and try to see if I can apply that feedback to a positive result.  If I consider it and I don’t agree, then I can easily let it go in the moment – let life move forward, and simply set it aside. A difference of opinion, neither of us in the “wrong”.

Regardless of whether I accept the criticism or point for improvement,

I believe it is best if I always encourage and give thanks for “criticism” “point for improvement” feedback, just as I do for “praise” since it is always up to me whether I accept it! 

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Me and 2015 Champion Mohammed Qahtani

If you would like to hear Mohammed’s champion speech – click here, I hope you will enjoy his humour and message.

Thank you for following my blog and visiting. I look forward to your  comments! What do you think about this post?

 

Posted in Just being creative, Thinking Out loud | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Stormy days and Sunny Days

Posted on November 26, 2019 by dfolstad58
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A channel connects two lakes here, and it’s a perfect place to bicycle.

I live in a beautiful valley, it stretches north to south for hundreds of miles with different lakes lying in a row north to south. Beautiful to see and drive along no matter the season.

A valley is basically  a corridor and so winds travelling north or south is pretty much a daily occurence, the only variables are the direction (which can change from morning to evening) and the speed of the wind, from almost nothing to robust, blustery storms.

This week has included all of the above, but fortunately the wind has mainly been from the south (warmer), and of course with the wind we are the happy recipients of blue skies, and nights filled with twinkly stars despite the slight drop in temperatures. (minus 3 today when I woke up)

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overlooking Okanagan lake

Two days ago when I was walking around the neighbourhood, I enjoyed watching the straw coloured tall grasses (4 feet to 7 feet tall) whip and bend in the gusts of wind. The grasses seemed to dance and yet returned to upright undamaged over and over.

Reading some posts lately, some bloggers reminded me of these grasses, bending in the wind, they are survivors of tempestuous times.

These bloggers, myself and possibly you reader have had some storms in which you survived by bending and not being rigid.  Life’s weather is overpowering.

That has been the case for myself, I can’t help the irrepressible weather I have had in my life.

When life’s winds blow, we all must bend because we can’t fight the wind, so have no choice except to bend or break. Thankfully most of us will stand again, straight, tall and undamaged after the wind stops.  But first we must weather the storm.

I am very grateful to be enjoying the blessing of receiving my kidney transplant in April of this year. Looking back a year ago,  I had the hope, and the love and support of family and friends to weather the storm,  though sometimes it felt like the storm wouldn’t end. 

It did though, and I hope if you or someone you care for is dealing with a storm right now, hang in there, and let the people who love you support you until it’s over.

Sunny days ahead I hope for you and yesterday I enjoyed a calm sunny day here.  Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Posted in health, Thinking Out loud | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Lumière At English Bay

Posted on November 24, 2019 by dfolstad58

This quirky blogger also lives in Beautiful BC, she took some beautiful pictures in Vancouver of lighting that I thought my readers would love. English Bay is on the west side of downtown Vancouver, beautiful spot to walk if you visit.

Posted in Just being creative | 10 Comments

Taciturn Tuesday Morning

Posted on November 19, 2019 by dfolstad58

It rained last night, and the streets were wet when I peeked out the front window curtains before dawn arrived.

Today the sides of the valley are wearing scarves of cloud, and I can see snow is now visible up there.

Snow shovels are poised for action but first I have more leaves to rake outside, but soon that chore will be done for 2019.

A doe and her twins has been visiting regularly,  in both the front and back yard, nibbling on the soft grasses and the bright cactus my son planted.

I hope they have a dry spot somewhere to lie down today.  Such placid calm visitors, they saunter the neighbourhood, sampling as they go.

(I didn’t get a picture of the deer today, so I used ones from earlier this year)

Posted in okanagan related | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Farmers Wisdom I can use

Posted on November 17, 2019 by dfolstad58

Farmers are independent workers.  They are working on large sections of land, miles from nowhere usually.

Farmers need to plough (or plow) their fields before they can plant seeds and grow crops. Ploughing is when a tractor pulls a blade through a field creating furrows,  and the purpose is to turn and break up soil, to bury crop residues, and to help control weeds.

tractor beside grass field

Photo by Nicolas Veithen on Pexels.com

You can probably envision a tractor driving long straight lines, back and forth, trying to keep the lines straight and be efficient since there is a lot of land to be ploughed.

Occasionally the farmer comes across an obstacle, like an old tree stump.  Maybe it is something the farmer can remove, but if he does it could take the rest of the day so he will lose hours or a whole day to remove an obstacle that he could just detour around and then resume his ploughing.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

That happens with me also. I sometimes come across something unexpected that is blocking my path, something I can’t change.

I sometimes have my day all planned, my orderly mind has the day all mapped out,  then something changes.  Now my plans must change,  I can’t do exactly what I had planned,  and maybe it changes the whole rest of my day.

I could get frustrated, or I could accept that sometimes there’s a stump in the way, I can look at it as an obstacle or an opportunity.

I am getting better at ploughing around the stump. Maybe there is something else I am meant to”discover”, or accomplish if I just open my mind, and forget about the stump.

Maybe even I will later look back on the stump “obstacle” and be glad it changed the course of my day.

Regardless, the stump is there, and the farmer’s wisdom is right, instead of letting it throw the farmer off, he simply moves forward with just a quick detour.

The obstacle is quickly forgotten, if you let it,  as you move forward.

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Just thinking out loud, and hoping you will have a wonderful day. 

This post was inspired by a friend. I had coffee with this friend the other day and frustration with something uncontrollable was causing my friend stress and it reminded me of farmer’s wisdom.

Posted in Thinking Out loud | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments