Kiva

If I remember correctly, long ago I promised to devote a post to Kiva. I just finished re-investing the loan re-payments and I noticed a nice blurb that I could just drop into this blog post.

I also highly recommend a gift certificate as a Christmas present for all those people who just don't need anymore "stuff" for Christmas. Choosing the loan recipients is a wonderful experience!

Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in Liberia using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Tenneh Saah in Liberia.
She is a widow supporting her 4 children with her very small business. She still need another $750.00 to complete her loan request of $1,000.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Tenneh Saah too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=146600

(I expect that by the time you read this she will have received all the money she needs, but many other have requested loans, so just go to Kiva.org or click the banner on the right side of this blog.)

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

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What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'
-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'
-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'
-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'
-- Entrepreneur Magazine

Clematis and Siberian Iris

The clematis was the one I thought I moved a few years ago, and was supposed to be purple and white....a real beauty. No complaints about his one, especially when I saw it next to the purple Siberian Iris!

Magnificent Magnolia Tree

There are quite a few magnolia trees in Kelowna BC. Most years I seem to be there at the right time to witness their magnificence.




It was very difficult to find a single flower to photograph, and even more difficult to be able to set it off on its own, like this one.

Recipe for Hand Cream, or Lotion

Years ago a thoughtful quilter gave me a small container of homemade hand lotion, along with the recipe to make more of my own. I can't remember her name, but I know she lived at the time, in Penticton, BC. If she happens to read this, I want to thank her many times over!

Since the only time of the year that I need a hand lotion is in the spring and is to do with gardening, it occurred to me that there may be others who would like this recipe. It is also free of scented ingredients, which has been a real hit with people with allergies, and since my husband discovered it, he uses it more than I do!

The ingredients are available at a pharmacy, and in Canada I have to get most of them directly from the pharmacist. Only the glycerine is likely to be out on the shelves. In our very small town the pharmacist had to order in some of the ingredients for me, but this recipe is now so popular here that he keeps them in stock. The cost is about $15-20 for the 1.5 litres (or quarts) that this recipe makes.

Gardener's Hand Cream

15 gm Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
120 gm Cetyl Alcohol
2 - 100ml bottle Glycerine
15 gm Lanolin Anhydrous
4 cups boiling water

Melt first four ingredients in a double boiler. The sulphate does not melt, but will later, when added to the water.

Add to boiling water in a large bowl. Beat on medium speed until thick and creamy (this takes about 10 minutes). You can add a few tablespoons of aloe vera gel if you wish. Also, some of your favourite essential oil if you prefer it to be scented.

Makes about 1.5 litres or quarts.

I hope you enjoy it.

I Have Planted My Roses

Sort of. In early March I received a phone call from Rachel at Palatine Roses. I had placed an order last fall and had asked for shipping in mid April. Last year they arrived with lots of long new growth that needs to be removed because the bare roots can't supply that growth with water. So when Rachel asked if she could ship earlier I was torn but her reasoning was good. She wanted to ship all the rose orders to BC in a cold storage truck and then have them distributed by Canada Post from a single point in BC. I explained that I was not in the part of BC that (usually) receives no snow or cold weather. But she was able to convince me that I could simply heel them in, paying attention to placing them horizontally and covering them with dirt.


So as the anticipated arrival day approached I looked out at out yard and shook my head. No dirt was showing. So I finally decided that the huge piles of snow might do. So I dug a hole in a pile that I know will melt late because its in the shade, and I laid the incredibly big and healthy (with no new growth) group of plants in the snow and carefully settled loose snow in between all the roots and around the rest of the plants. Logic tells me this should work, because they can't possibly dry out. And when you think about it, this isn't much different from what Mother Nature does to them. And while it is cold in their den, its not freezing. Okay, I think I have convinced myself. They will be just fine.

The Pictures Tell the Sad Tale

The release of pent-up snow on our metal roof is a pretty significant event. It can fall off the upper roof, onto the main one with a house-shaking thud. Just such a thud was heard but my husband said "I hope that wasn't the chimney. It is leaning." Such a comment definitely piqued my interest!! So out we dashed to view the roof. The chimney was still where it was supposed to be, but it was definitely leaning.


No matter what angle you viewed it from, it was definitely leaning.


So back in we went and in less than 5 minutes. We heard another crash. DH says "That has to be the chimney."



He went up to survey the damage. Its hard to tell from this picture that he is on a roof, but he is many feet above the ground.


So he determined that since it is too cold for mortar to set, we will have to do without the use of our woodstove for the rest of the winter. I sure hope we are done with the coldest part of the winter and will just coast out the rest of it. Dare I hope?

The Snow Kept Coming!

We are one hundred miles north of Spokane, Washington and I know that if someone there reads this post they will scoff. They had 62" of snow in December, and we had less than half of that. But it was still very beautiful!! Usually when we get snow it starts to melt down in a few days, so it rarely lasts very long on the trees. But this time we had fluffy snow piling up for 3 full weeks. It was a true winter wonderland.

I put this ruler in the snow on our deck. It was fully covered after the next snowfall. What made it so interesting was to check how much snow had accumulated right after it finished snowing, then look at the ruler 24 and 48 hours later. The snow would settle as much as 2", without any melting temperatures!


It started to melt about 4 days ago, but here are some pics I took a few hours before it started to melt.