Author Archives: sulis303

gardening…

03 Saturday Aug 2013

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lots of work in the garden today…

planted alyssum around the pond…

adding alyssum to the landscape...

adding alyssum to the landscape…

spent a bit of time watching the fish flit around after I added water to the pond…

fish foraging for snacks...

fish foraging for snacks…

worked with Jeff to put the waterfall into the side garden… it went amazingly smoothly and hardly took any time at all… he is very talented with rock placing… I think he must have taken some lessons from George, who was amazing at getting the rocks into just the right spot…

waterfall looks spectacular... much better than the oak barrel did...

waterfall looks spectacular… much better than the oak barrel did…

moved a hosta and did a bit of weeding…

finally we worked on the tub pond, which was very entertaining as Jeff got soaked a couple of times… it is cleaned out and should be up and running on Tuesday…

vacuuming out the pond...

vacuuming out the pond…

got some work done in the house as well which is good as I only have tomorrow to finish up…

ready for bed…

02 Friday Aug 2013

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been quite a busy day… got up around 6:30 to put out the garbage, recycling and yard waste…had my neighbour help me move the new very heavy chair into position…  then worked on the to do today list…

went to Rona, Costco, and Family Foods, as well as having my hair cut… got home in time for a quick bite before Dan the Carpenter came by to put a door on my pantry… rather a fancy name for some shelves  by the back door… I’ve wanted a door for ages so am very happy, although every time I walk past it I think it looks strange but no doubt I will get used to it…

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got a number of things for the big party on Tuesday at Costco and when I got to the cash register couldn’t find the Costco card… lost it somewhere in the store while I was shopping… kind of freaked out wondering what was going to happen, but a staff person sent me off to find another person who provided me with my number and I was able to get my groceries… then I had to go and get a new card… I guess a Costco card is a good one to lose if you have to lose a card… think it was the first one I have ever lost…

have so much stuff in the freezer that I can’t squeeze another thing in there… don’t even think I can make any more of the pretty ice cubes I have been working on…

taking up the old disgusting boards...

taking up the old disgusting boards…

after Dan finished the door he fixed six deck boards which had oil spilled on them and they looked really awful… we’ve tried scrubbing with soap and water, putting on grease remover and nothing made a difference so I just decided to replace them and be done with it… looks great now…

beautiful new deck boards...

beautiful new deck boards…

he left, and just after that, Jeff arrived… he fixed one of the flower bed frames, got a pump going, moved many boxes into the basement closet, got the wii working, put together two tables and moved chairs from the main floor to the basement… then we had a hot tub, planned the next few days and he headed home…

I am ready for bed… there are still a few jobs to be done tomorrow, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming…

anniversary…

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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forty-three years ago today I married my beloved… it was an amazing day filled with emotion…

August 1, 1970...

August 1, 1970…

we worked for eight years before having our first child and made the decision that I would stay home with the children as long as we could manage… two years later along came our second child…

we had an idyllic life and I had the amazing privilege of being home with my girls throughout their years of school… George worked the whole time and we managed very well…

the girls left home and we enjoyed our slightly smaller nest… we got to do different things but also had lots of time with the kids… our grand kids came along and we had wonderful times with them…

since the girls left home we have had Sunday dinners together and the places around the table have grown and shrunk and grown depending on who was available on any particular Sunday night…

we got to visit the West Coast a number of times when Cyndi and Ron moved out there, and had lots of amazing time in our garden sanctuary…

we both went through some health issues and life wasn’t perfect, but it was our life…

these are the things I have been thinking about today…

August 1, 2011...

August 1, 2011…

a day doesn’t go by that I don’t remember the love of my life and think how proud he would be of me as I continue the steps along this new journey in my life…

today was filled with emotion as well, most of it happy, with a few tears…

I wonder what the protocol is for celebrating anniversaries once your spouse is no longer alive… do you forget them, ignore them, pretend they don’t happen… do you take off your wedding ring because you aren’t technically married… these are also things I’ve been pondering the last few days…

40 roses to celebrate 40 years...

40 roses to celebrate 40 years…

as I move forward in this new life I will continue to ponder these questions… maybe you have some answers…

roses the kids sent last year to remember...

roses the kids sent last year to remember…

busy night…

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

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stopped on my way home to pick up Subway for the little boys… Jeff had run out and picked up Clay Oven for the rest of us…

the kids had picked up my new chair and set it up in the garden, and Jeff had whipper snipped and mowed the front and back grass… looked very nice… was getting dark when I took the picture so it is a bit grainy, lol…

new chair for the garden...

new chair for the garden…

after supper Crystal and I went out to do some shopping so she could make some treats for the Champagne Bubble Party on Tuesday… we went to five stores and by the time we got home I was rather tired… got to sit in my new chair for a few minutes but the mosquitoes chased me into the house…

tired but very happy that we got all that done… wasn’t looking forward to doing it on my own and it was nice for the two of us to have some quality time…

digging…

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

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slept out under the stars and enjoyed watching the moon move through the sky as the night progressed…

bed for the night under the stars...

bed for the night under the stars…

then spent Sunday planting, reading and watching all the visitors who came by…

before I started planting...

before I started planting…

took a few shots of the landscape before making all the changes…

decided I liked where the plants were sitting and started to get them into the ground…

after planting...

after planting…

worked on one or two and then took a break, to read and watch the various flying friends who stopped by…

behind the waterfall...

behind the waterfall…

there were goldfinches and purple finches and lots of sparrows of various sorts… there were bees and wasps and a couple of butterflies and dragonflies…

once the planting was done I tidied up the bench which had been covered with pots during the construction…

then I took it easy… lots of work, but was very happy with the results… looks much better now…

English Garden…

29 Monday Jul 2013

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picked up by a friend as soon as I got home from work and we went to Sabai Thai for dinner… it was delicious… my favourite was the hottest one…

then we headed to the English Garden and had a lovely walk… got some great pictures…

beautiful pink flowers...

beautiful pink flowers…

headed home and met another friend and the three of us had a fun time in the hot tub, that ended when the rain really started to pour down on us…

lianthus, reminds me of a rose...

lianthus, reminds me of a rose…

wonderful evening…

purple-y thistle...

purple-y thistle…

sparrows…

28 Sunday Jul 2013

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this afternoon the sparrows took over the garden…

they were everywhere… a number came to the feeder… and if you watched you could see them taking their turn… some would sit in among the Virginia creeper while others took spaces on the garage roof and top of the hook that holds the feeder… eventually everyone had their turn…

sparrows taking turns at the feeder...

sparrows taking turns at the feeder…

they are also enjoying the pond… I still haven’t seen any having a bath like they used to with the old waterfall but they certainly stop by for a drink…

sparrows checking out the new view...

sparrows checking out the new view…

they were all over the waterfall stone and the bridge having little conversations as they had their drinks…

walking along the bridge...

walking along the bridge…

then they sat at the edge of the cedars… haven’t seen them do that for quite some time, but it also might have been where I was sitting as I could see the cedars very well from my spot beside the hot tub… when I am in the garden, I have to move from spot to spot as I follow the shade around…

sparrows sitting in the cedars...

sparrows sitting in the cedars…

it was lovely to spend time watching them as I was reading my book…

leaning in for a drink...

leaning in for a drink…

not sure if this little guy was drinking or wondering what the fish were doing, lol…

 

planting…

27 Saturday Jul 2013

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got up and headed to Shelmerdine’s to get there right after they opened…

wanted some baskets to set in pots to fill up some of the empty space around the new pond area…

after talking with a very helpful woman I bought a shrub and a number of smaller plants to fill in the area…

had a lot of fun… barely stuffed everything into the car… then I stopped at Paterson’s and bought two more baskets, lol…

got home and had to dig out the hydrangeas, which have been dying… likely because they don’t like full sun, sigh…

set the new plants in the garden and have left them until tomorrow to be sure they are in the right spots… don’t want to have to plant them more than once…

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remembering…

26 Friday Jul 2013

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last night I spent some time in the hot tub remembering…

last year at this time I was home but barely moving… getting in and out of the bed was very painful and I needed constant help… my nephew spent the first few days with me because they let me out of the hospital early and the friend who was coming hadn’t arrived yet…

he had to literally lift me to get out of bed… the pain was fairly high as I wasn’t taking any drugs… and even though I had stopped taking them within 12 hours of the surgery there were still residual effects which continued to make me feel sick…

it was months before I was able to get back into the hot tub…

so that’s what I was remembering…

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preparations…

25 Thursday Jul 2013

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very happy it is Thursday night… that means I have the day off from work tomorrow…

will need to do some jobs around the house to prep for the party on August 6… it seemed like it was a long way away, but now it is just over a week away…

lots of the work has been done but there is still lots to do… have to find some Christmas decorations and pick up some things from a couple of stores…

wasp nest starting in the garage...

wasp nest gone so everyone will be safe…

happily I don’t have to worry about the wasp next in the garage because Jeff dealt with it when they were here on Sunday… the boys were outside when we realized what he was doing so we called them in to watch some cartoons on TV while he was dismantling the nest… and he found another tiny one which he also removed…

I am excited about how lovely the garden will look once it is all decorated…  am hoping that the seemingly dead snowball hydrangea will come back to life in the next week…  need to get a few more plants for the pond and the area around it…

so much to do, so little time, but what fun…