14 Tuesday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, everywhere, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, purple, volunteer, widow
well, this is funny… I planted morning glories everywhere around the garden…
Sunday evening I spotted a blossom on one of the volunteer plants that had grown in the planters around the deck…
this is the first one to show up🤣…
13 Monday Jul 2026
Posted in food, garden, life, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, nature, netting, ripening, strawberries, weather, widow
I’ve been watching the strawberries, which have been under netting so that I get the berries, not the birds or squirrels, lol…
on Sunday I took the netting off and collected the dozen berries that were ripe, although two weren’t completely finished…
I did remove them and have them in the window to finish ripening…
took off the stems and added some whipped cream to them for a tasty dessert after supper…
the plant has a number of flowers on it so that’s why the netting needed to come off, so that insects could pollinate them…
delicious… I haven’t had that many at once since I started growing them a few years ago…
I think they are enjoying the spot they are in this year😊…
12 Sunday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
spent time in the garden fairly early as the temperature was going to 37°C before adding in the humidex…
only put out the cushion I was sitting on, lol… with the huge humidity yesterday, stepping into the garden fairly early, even in the evening, was like hitting a wall…
made sure to water all the plants, and if it doesn’t rain today, I will also water the new grass tomorrow…
sat out on the back deck until close to noon and then moved into the house…
had a monarch visit for a while, just before I went in, but still have no eggs or caterpillars;-(…
came back out just after supper for a short while…
still crazy hot 🥵…
11 Saturday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
air conditioner, big girl pants, garden, hot, humidity, moments, nature, outside, Technology, weather, widow
it was hot and humid out there today…
I didn’t spend much time in the garden, although when I first got up and ran the irrigation system, I did put out the cushions, but didn’t sit out for too long…
even at 7 when it is usually quite pleasant, with the humidity, it felt like 42°C, sigh…
may have to leave the air conditioner on all night…
10 Friday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cushions, deck, decorative, garden, groupings, happy, moments, move, nature, pond, widow
even though I am alone in the garden, it makes me happy to put out all of the outdoor chair cushions as well as the decorative ones…
recently, I walked around the space and took photos of the various seating options…
there are lots of places to sit and many are little groupings…
during the day I tend to move from area to area depending on the weather…
this last one is probably the most used in the late afternoon and evening as it is in the shade by then…
I also spend a great deal of the morning by the pond as it is shady in that location in the earlier part of the day and a great spot to watch the fish😊…
09 Thursday Jul 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, continuous, family, garden, leak, moments, pond, waterfall, widow
last year on July 8th, the upper pond and waterfall were being taken apart to fix the continuous leak we’d had for a few years…
when I think about it now, it was a miserable summer as the repair took a number of weeks to complete…
and I came across this photo from July 2013 when the pond was being built…
as I sat out there yesterday morning I was so happy to have everything working and no leaks…
what a different summer it will be…
08 Wednesday Jul 2026
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
best, big girl pants, blessed, exercises, health, knee, L1, moments, physiotherapist, widow
saw my physiotherapist recently as I’ve been having trouble with my knee…
I hadn’t seen him for a number of years, but he had helped me a few times previously…
he had me walk and discovered that my hips are currently not even, which had been part of the problem the last time I was there…
the best news was that the issue isn’t my knee, it is my L1…
once he knew the problem he was able to improve the situation by manipulating (as in, pressing down really hard) the appropriate spots on my butt…
I also mentioned that I’ve felt as though my balance was off, which apparently is connected to the whole L1 thing…
now I have exercises to do before I see him again in a week… and my butt is really sore lol…
07 Tuesday Jul 2026
Posted in family, garden, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, family, forget, garden, hoses, label maker, moments, reminder, soaker, Technology, weather, widow
my housemate recently demonstrated how to change the label maker cartridge and then I got to work…
each of the four hoses connected to the water supply outside now have labels noting what they are for, lol…
I often forget which one is the soaker hose, so this should help me remember 🤪…
06 Monday Jul 2026
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
I use my immersion blender all the time, particularly when I make smoothies… I have had it for a very long time…
I’ve noticed recently that the blades seem dull and when it finishes, there are still bits of whatever is being blended left…
a few years ago I purchased a new immersion blender, because the old one was making rather odd noises… but it continued working so I put the new one on the shelf…
recently, I dug it out of its box and the cute measuring cup that came with it…
then, sadly, I disposed of the old one…
now I have to see how well I like the way it works🤔…
05 Sunday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, Hilda, Hilda the Gardener, moments, tidy, widow
always such a treat to have Hilda the Gardener in to tidy up the garden;-)…
everything looks neat and tidy when she’s done…
we were laughing about how the gardens looked when she first came… and how she kept taking before and after pictures of her work..
such a huge and delightful difference now…
herbiggirlpants 