Welcome to ‘Gaelyne’s Sanctuary’. If you’ve visited in the past (welcome back!) you probably noticed I’ve given my site a new name and look. I’ve spent several months working on this revamp – mostly trying to find the time to work on it. I chose the name ‘sanctuary’ because I found working on it has given me a sense of peace while the rest of my world seems to be falling apart. My husband was fighting lung cancer, so life was a little crazy then. It’s a place where I can come and make one small corner of the world a little brighter.
I have a variety of interests but they boil down to cooking, writing, taking photos and playing Bingo on Facebook. I hope you enjoy your visit and feel free to talk to me in comments or on the contact page.
What's in my Sanctuary?
My Blog
I had a few off-site blogs before deciding to have a blog on my own site. I don't blog very often, but when I have something I want to share, I'll write about it. The topics range from general, fitness, cancer, diabetes, vaping and maybe a rant here and there.
Recipes
I love cooking, sharing recipes and enjoying myself in the kitchen. Most are recipes I wanted to share with my kids or have available so I wouldn't lose them. I don't do fancy stuff, but I like challenging myself with learning to cook something I've never made before.
Photos
I enjoy taking photos with my camera and have a few projects I do such as Photo of the Day, and 12 of 12 days and a group on Flickr and Facebook called Challenge Friday. If I happen to cook something I'm pleased with, I'll often take a photo of it for my pic of the day. Mostly the photos I take are snapshots of my life, which is pretty mundane, I think. But my world is different from what my family in the USA experiences so sharing seems a nice thing to do.
Affiliate Links
Want to see some of the cool gadgets I use, or buy something that I've shown in my photos or videos? This page will give you all the links to things I've used myself and found worthy of sharing. Affiliate links earn me a little bit of money which helps me to continue hobbies like doing videos and taking photos, but it doesn't cost you anything extra when you buy from one of my links.
What's New?
Rowing, Home Automations and other Challenges
As I write this, I have a cat that’s reminding me it’s time to go to bed – and before I do, to feed her.
A Permanent Memorial for Rod
On Easter weekend a drunk driver hit a truck parked on the street, which lurched forward and knocked over my almost indestructible letterbox that Rod’s
Thoughts / Contemplations
24 March 2021 Some people live their entire lives without changes that affect the way they look at photos except with maybe age, moving to
Highlights for 02-27 May 2019
Finally, the rain has come! Thursday, May 02, 2019 We’ve been needing rain for months now and last night and today we finally have had
Random Instagram Pics
My Facebook Fitness Page
12Feb23 Two sunsets. The first photo represents how I saw the sunset between the trees. The second photo is what my camera 'saw' when I first went to take the photo. But I was seeing the stripes of the previous photo that was zoomed in a bit. Weird! #2023pad #sunset
19Feb22 Lentil patties with a quickly made garlic aioli and horseradish sauce for it. They turned out good, but it was quite a bit more work than I'd prefer. I still want to experiment with making other patties with lentils. I think they'd be ideal for lunches. I also liked the one lentil ball that I made from the same mixture. I think those were nice because it was just about two bites. Oh, and to keep me company there's my Mom (on the left) with my Aunt Viola on the right,...
I was 'in the neighbourhood' so stopped by the beach today. It was warm but slightly breezy. I wasn't up for a walk today (not enough spoons) so I rested my head in my arms that were folded on the railing and just watched the waves. I needed that. It was lovely. #2022pad #beach #notsunset #christiesbeach #clouds #waves
07Feb22 A New Years postcard from my youngest - "I mailed that a month ago!" Hey, I'm just happy it arrived! This is their artwork and they are most happiest hiking in the mountains. I love the colours on this! #2022pad #NewYear22 #latergram
09Feb22 A bit red and sweaty after a rowing session. I spent six consecutive days rowing in order to complete this year's Concept 2 Valentine's Day Challenge. And yes, I rowed more than 14,000 km and completed the challenge. #2022pad #rowing #darkhorserowing #homegymlife #keepmoving #iamadarkhorse #latergram #selfie #rowingselfie
12Sep22 Once upon a time I used to take 12 pictures on the 12th day of the month. Lately all I manage is one or two. Aside from the photo being crooked, I think my desk looks pretty nice these days. My monitor is right on the desk. I've found this is the most comfortable position for it, and I still have issues with neck pain and not seeing clearly but both those things, as much as they affect my working life and enjoyment of my computer, are not caused from the monitor or the height. ...
03Feb22 If I could put a thought bubble over Noble's head, it would say "Oh c'mon lady, get up and FEED me! Can't you see I'm just withering away! " or maybe "Food. Food. Food. Food. Food." #catsofinstagram #tripodkitty #threeleggedcatsofinstagram #2022pad #latergram
18Jan22 My shutters in the 'Ready Room' (the front bedroom) had quit working with a loud "thunk" sound on the weekend so I made a couple calls and was put onto this company. Ray and his workmate came and were able to work out that the last time the shutter had been repaired (I have no memory of it ever needing it while I've been here), they used curved bars instead of straight ones and that eventually caused the whole thing not to work. They had some straight ones they...
28Jan22 Finally a good combo for playing my favourite 16grid sudoku game. I have played this particular app on my original iPod Touch and my iPhone 4. I had better eyes then, but also that app allows you to zoom in so you can see one the grids clearly which helps. The iPad version doesn't have this feature sadly. However, between a pair of reading glasses or now with my new magnifying glass, I can get back to playing again. I'm no whizz kid at this game - it can take weeks to ...
28Jan22 Sometimes Neurmal has a hard time staying awake when she first wakes up and dozes off even with her head still up. Such a cutie. #catsofinstagram #sleepingkitty #latergram
05Feb23 Both Neurmal (on the left) and GaliLEO (on the right) on my bed at the same time. It didn't last long, but it's progress. I've had GaliLEO now for about a month at the time I took the photo, and the two cats are still learning to share their world with each other. Not the best of friends, or photos for that matter, but it's my photo of the day #catsofinstagram #2023pad #catsnotfighting
30Jan22 When I bought this bread, I just thought maybe there was garlic in the crust or something. Once I got it sliced, I realised that whole cloves of garlic were baked right into the loaf - see the small rectangular shaped hole? The facing slice of bread had a half clove there. This was so nice. And lucky for me it was half off - because I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay $6 for a loaf. But this would probably be worth it for a party or something. And apologies to my Coles Baker...
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