Author Archives: sulis303

visitors…

14 Sunday Jul 2013

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had breakfast with some bird friends this morning…

the goldfinch couple are regulars and often announce themselves with some lovely singing…

goldfinch having breakfast...

goldfinch having breakfast…

they have come to accept me as long as I move around the garden slowly, otherwise they fly away, but they always return later when it is quieter in the garden…

the purple finch couple have been coming quite regularly as well, but they are much more shy, and if I move more than quietly picking up the camera, they are gone and it takes a while for them to return…

purple finch couple...

purple finch couple…

the blue jays fly through the garden but don’t stop and the crows fly past now and again… haven’t heard any geese for a while…

got a shot of the waterfall today with the Olympus and notice that it shows the water a bit differently…

waterfall taken with the Olympus...

waterfall taken with the Olympus…

a neighbour stopped by with some degreaser to see if it would lift the oil what was spilled on the deck over the winter… will see what it looks like tomorrow…

did some weeding, and quite a bit of reading, today…

beautiful day…

13 Saturday Jul 2013

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had a wonderful day in the garden…

the weather was hot but a breeze blew for most of the day, making it comfortable…

weeded along the driveway and finally planted the two tomato plants… one of them has fruit that is heart shaped…

continued with planting some purple and white coneflowers that I picked up yesterday…

watered the sod and dug up quite a few dandelions which were trying to take over the yard during the construction… consulted with a neighbour about how to raise the level where the sod has been put down as it is a little low and I keep tripping when I walk over it, lol…

in amongst all that, I finished book 3 and started on book 4 of Game of Thrones…

had a nap and a lovely dinner of Goldeye and Caprese salad with my fresh basil…

lots of time remembering fun in the garden with my beloved, particularly when I was trimming the Virginia creeper by the hot tub:-)…

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parsley…

12 Friday Jul 2013

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I buy parsley to plant every year in the garden… and I buy two or three plants of it… but, it’s not for me or my family to eat… I plant it for the caterpillars… particularly swallowtails…

this one turned up about a week ago and the boys were busy watching it… it was very small when they were here that day…

yesterday it was crawling around the top of the pot and had grown by leaps and bounds… and the parsley has been decimated… so I put another pot with some in it right beside the empty one, lol…

caterpillar crawling around the parsley pot...

caterpillar crawling around the parsley pot…

this morning, I thought it was going into its cocoon, but when I got home later it was gone so I’m not sure what the deal is… will keep watching…

caterpillar hanging from the step this morning...

caterpillar hanging from the step this morning…

fish family…

11 Thursday Jul 2013

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stopped on my way home and picked up a bunch of feeder fish, as well as two lovely shubunkins…

once home fifty went into the big pond along with the two shubunkins… that pond how has fifty-six fish in it…

spent some time with the pond next to the garage and got it filled and put another ten feeder fish into it…

then spent the rest of the evening beside the big pond, enjoying the sound, watching the fish and reading…

waterfall running...

waterfall running…

funny thing is that it looks like there might be a dozen fish in it, lol…

 

spectacular day…

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

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the day started with an early morning hot tub while one of the neighbourhood squirrels yelled at something in the lane for about ten minutes…  made me think of George…

pond this morning...

pond this morning…

he and a particular squirrel had quite the relationship… the squirrel had taken up residence in the garage and George couldn’t get him out of there no matter what he tried… it got so that whenever George walked out into the backyard, the squirrel would start chattering at him… not a problem if I was out there, but the minute that George stepped out of the back door or out of the garage the squirrel would start yelling…

eventually we caught him and drove him out to the Silver Heights forest and let him go there… we hoped he wouldn’t be able to find his way back… and we don’t think he did, lol…

after the hot tub I got ready and headed to the office… it was our staff appreciation day, so we were starting late…  as I drove down the little lane next to our building I was pleased to discover that the GIANT potholes had been repaired, at last… wonderful…

then we were treated to breakfast and had some training on new technology, followed by gifts for everyone and lunch out on the patio at The Met… very well appreciated we were…

gifts and boxes with appreciation notes...

gifts and boxes with appreciation notes…

we left early and when I got home my pond was done… there were a few tiny things that needed to be adjusted, but the guys stopped by shortly after I arrived and fixed everything up…  I am very happy with the whole thing…

pond at 2 pm...

pond at 2 pm…

the kids came over and we ran out and did a bit of shopping and came home for Chinese food to celebrate the lovely backyard…

I hung baskets and planted a few things that I had waiting… Jeff and the little boys went out in search of feeder fish, but only found a couple of shubunkins which they added to the pond and they also brought out the two fish from their winter condo…

pond at 9 pm...

pond at 9 pm…

what a wonderful day…

yoga…

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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usually I take part in yoga on Friday… we have a yoga instructor come to the office and use our lunch hour for our class… we are very lucky as our workplace subsidizes this as part of our Health and Wellness program…

Friday yoga started out as restorative… since then it has also included yin and something else I can’t remember… the point is, it is more relaxed… I have been taking part for a few years and have gone through ups and downs regarding how much I have been able to do during that time with my various health issues…

for five weeks I will be having Fridays off and I decided to try Tuesday yoga to see if I might take that class so I get some exercise during the week…

Tuesday yoga is the real deal, so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but today I checked it out… I was worried but went anyway…

well, it is certainly more strenuous, lol… my classmates are amazing and when I see what they can do, I am hopeful that some day I might be more flexible… they did tell me that the class was much more difficult than usual…

at the end of the class I was in tears just thinking that last year, and even the year before, I couldn’t do downward dog for more than a second or two… today I held that pose while the others were doing something way more complicated… but the point was that I was able to hold the pose for quite a long period of time…

I have grown in strength and flexibility over these few years and look forward to more Tuesday classes… just hope they aren’t always so hard…

tonight while speaking with my daughter on the phone, I had to go see who was making all the noise in the back yard… Mr Goldfinch was singing to Mrs Goldfinch while she was having her dinner…

goldfinch singing away on a wire just outside the back door...

Goldfinch singing away on a wire just outside the back door…

feel a bit like I was singing myself… little steps on the journey… my beloved would be so proud of me…

today’s pond construction…

08 Monday Jul 2013

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today I got home and was excited to see that more sod had been put down… to deal with the grass that was destroyed by the construction…

some of the items in the yard have been cleaned up from all the rock dust and… the bridge has been put down…

I didn’t walk over it just yet… want to be sure it is ready…

more soil has been arranged and I am looking forward to the landscaping…

the one sad thing is that the water isn’t running and I am missing the beautiful sound…

we shall see what tomorrow brings…

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what a year…

07 Sunday Jul 2013

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this morning I continued working a bit in the side garden… slowly but surely I am getting it tidied up…last year at this time I wasn’t able to do much of anything due to my health… I was lucky to find a wonderful woman who came and tidied up the garden for me…

side garden after more weeding... 3/4 done...

side garden after more weeding… 3/4 done…

about this time last year I was getting my personal affairs in order, because I was expecting to die on the operating table when I had surgery in mid July…

was told on May 22nd, over the phone, that I had cancer of the uterus… I had been waiting for hernia surgery for some time and, after this diagnosis, worked with my doctors to ensure that the hernia surgery I needed would take place at the same time as the hysterectomy…

in my mind I was sure that I was going to die, and so I went about organizing all of my affairs… had a new will written, as well as power of attorney and a health directive… made sure that the money from George’s insurance policies was easily accessible… I wanted to be sure that the girls would have a simpler time with my estate because I didn’t want them to go through all the struggles I had with George’s…

it wasn’t until just the week before my surgery that I began to think I might live through it…

and here it is, nearly a year later… I am healthy, happy and enjoying life… putting on those big girl pants is not nearly as difficult as it was…

missing my beloved every day but moving forward on this journey…

laughter and lazing…

06 Saturday Jul 2013

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got up at eight with the boys… they had cereal on the deck and we discussed our plans for the morning… decided to see if Daddy wanted to meet us for breakfast at the “A”… then we watered the new sod and some plants before everyone but me got bored… cartoons for them and tea on the deck for me… we did spot a goldfinch and some squirrels in the garden…

before we knew it, it was time to head over for breakfast… as we walked down the back lane by the toboggan hills I thought of George walking along holding their hands just a few years ago and how excited they were to be with him…

they ran up the hill and rolled down on our way to breakfast… lots of laughter and even spotted a red-winged blackbird for me… if you move through the pictures fast enough you can almost see the motion… should have taken a video, lol…

running and rolling 1...

running and rolling 1…

running and rolling 2...

running and rolling 2…

running and rolling 3...

running and rolling 3…

running and rolling 4...

running and rolling 4…

running and rolling 5...

running and rolling 5…

after breakfast – Mommy came too – they headed home and I had a little lay down… then did some planting and rested for most of the day…

tested out not using the air conditioning and kept the house cool by closing windows when the sun was shining on them… worked very well…

had a lovely dinner of pickerel with fresh beets and greens and potato salad… again was thinking how much George loved beets…

I have wonderful memories of my beloved…

purple plus…

05 Friday Jul 2013

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had a lovely day off…

laid abed and watched a bit of tv, did some computer work and headed out for a pedicure – purple – then got my hair done to match…

water running in the pond...

waterfall running in the pond…

came home, had a short nap and then was surprised by the pond guys turning up…  they worked away, laying edging, stones and sod, and eventually they got the waterfall running… yay… it looks great… still a fair bit to do but they will be back on Monday…

bunny we spotted on our walk to get dinner...

bunny we spotted on our walk to get dinner…

Crystal and the little boys came over and she mowed the grass while the boys and I walked to Subway to pick up supper which we all enjoyed…

2 boys going up...

2 boys going up…

 

Crystal pulled some large weeds in the front flower bed and I got talked into two sleepover friends…

2 boys running down...

2 boys running down…

they are headed to bed, as am I… been a full day and I expect that we will be up early in the morning…