23 Sunday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
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art, big girl pants, birchbark, blessed, cottage, family, moments, nature, relaxing, stained glass, surroundings, widow
the cottage is filled with lovely art…
there are wonderful stained glass pieces, beautiful hanging blankets, original animal paintings, and even some birchbark biting pieces…
lovely surroundings for a relaxing time away…
19 Wednesday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butt, cacao, daughter, family, garden, happy, Hilda the Gardener, moments, nature, plants, reading, The Leaf, time, walk, widow
on Friday I put out all the cushions and pillows as it was supposed to be sunny all day…
it is a bit of a process, because I put one out at a time, which helps me get steps, particularly as I spend a lot of time in the garden on my butt, reading…
it looked beautiful… the poppies, which don’t match my colour scheme at all, were blooming and dancing in the breeze and many of the pots and planters had flowers smiling…
I was surprised when my daughter arrived for a visit… she has been staying with a friend who has a lovely guestroom, lol… we spent a lovely time in this beautiful space, talking about everything and nothing…
she left and shortly after Hilda the Gardener arrived for some maintenance… we visited as she tidied up all the beds and pathways… it looks so nice when she is done;-)…
later as I was enjoying the space my daughter called and suggested we go to The Leaf…
I walked over to the other side of the bridge and she picked me up and we headed to the biomes…
we had a fun time checking out all the growth since she was here last year and had a lovely visit with the three cacao trees;-)…
always wonderful to spend time with her;-)…
10 Monday Jun 2024
Posted in business, food, garden, health, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, chocolate, flowers, food, friends, garden, happy, lunch, moments, offerings, party, table, time, treat, umbrella, weather, widow
what a delightful day…
yesterday we moved the table on the deck to the middle of the space and this morning I put on the tablecloth and runner that I picked up on Saturday…
then my housemate put the umbrella back in its hole and we opened it up…
I folded silverware into napkins and brought out pretty, but unmatched, plates to put around… glasses and mugs followed… everything was upside down so they wouldn’t get dirty…
found bowls, covers, and spoons for the two salads – ham and German potato, as well as the coleslaw…
crackers went onto a wooden tray and the salt and pepper shaker made it onto the table, alongside some lily of the valley flowers from under the deck…
chair covers and cushions went out and umbrellas went up…
friends arrived with other food offerings… there were fresh veggies and hummus, devilled eggs, fresh fruit, whipped cream, chocolate, and custard…
there were flowers for the birthday woman…
we gathered at the table and enjoyed everyone’s delicious offerings… of course there was our usual coffee and tea to go with the fruit, custard and whipped cream, topped with a piece of chocolate and a pistachio, lol…
the bubble machine came out and was on until bubbles started to land on plates… the weather was beautiful as the sun shone with a slight breeze every now and then… conversations were free flowing and stories made us laugh…
we took a group photo, as we always do when we gather for special times;-)…
as everyone began to leave the clouds filled the sky and the temperature went down, but no rain fell…
I had a relaxing time as I cleaned up, filled the dishwasher, put away the cushions, and got the table back into its original location…
read my book as the last of the bubbles flew around the deck…
06 Thursday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Alaska, big girl pants, blessed, family, flowers, Free Spirit Spheres, gardens, happy, memories, moments, nature, Seattle, spirit, treehouse, Victoria, widow
this morning a memory came up from our night at Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island…
it was the cherry on top of our trip that took us on a cruise to Alaska; visiting Chihuly Gardens and Glass, and blowing glass in Seattle; tea and a carriage ride at the Empress Hotel in Victoria; and a morning taking photographs in Butchart Gardens in Brentwood, BC…
it was delightful and we enjoyed every minute… delightful times…
02 Sunday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, class, family, float, garden, glassblowing, happy, moments, purple, Seattle, water, widow
yesterday my memories reminded me that eleven years ago, we went on a cruise and ended up in Seattle where we took a glassblowing class… it was great fun…
we had to wear cotton, which explains my delightful outfit, lol…
I made a purple float for the pond and it came out very well…
later I took a photo of that same float in the pond… oddly, it sat lower in the water than the others, so I got it out and discovered it had water in it…
I couldn’t figure out where the water was getting in so brought it into the house and set it on a yogurt container on the counter, hoping it would drain out…
somehow I moved and knocked it off the container… and it broke into many pieces…
🥺…
31 Friday May 2024
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cleaned up, garden, hiatus, house, Japanese Maple, mandevilla, moments, nature, plants, repotted, shade, weather, widow
this morning the mandevilla and Japanese Maple made their annual hiatus to the garden…
the mandevilla is probably four or five years old… it started out on the deck and has come in each fall and lived over the winter in the living room like any other houseplant… it has grown quite tall, but always loses a ton of leaves so I spent time pulling off many brown crispy dead bits, lol… it now has a very tall obelisk in the pot and most of the growth is at the top… looks good now that it is cleaned up…
the Japanese Maple travelled by car from Vancouver island about ten years ago, when it made the trip with the kids as they moved from Courtenay to Ottawa, with a short visit here on their way… it had done well over that time but hasn’t grown much… today I repotted it in a bigger container with some fresh soil… hope it likes it;-)…
they will be in the shade for a few days and then move to their summer locations…
30 Thursday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
admire, big girl pants, blessed, busy, flowers, garden, Hilda the Gardener, moments, mowed, nap, nature, planting, plants, purple, weather, widow
Wednesday, a ton of work took place in the garden…
Hilda, the Gardener, planted milkweed, beardstongue, and pansies in the garden…
weeds were dug out and she also planted up the pots at the front of the house so it looks great everywhere…
I am so blessed to have someone who can do the heavy lifting in the garden… she has made it look amazing over these last years;-)…
my grandson and I walked the irrigation line and fixed or replaced the tiny hoses that the bunnies find very tasty, lol…
we also worked on the pallet planter using landscape cloth to make bags for a few flowers to grow in…
clearly, I need to have company over to admire the space, lol…
and Wednesday is also the day that the grass gets mowed, whipper snipped, and blown clean…
busy day which meant there was no nap🤪…
27 Monday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, curtains, cushions, Debbie Travis, garden, happy, leafy, lounger, measurements, moments, money-saver, sewing, shopping, widow
on Saturday, we went to Giant Tiger as I’d seen an ad that had Debbie Travis bed sheets with a pattern I’d been looking for…
I have been searching for a particular leafy pattern without success…
the plan for the lounger was to combine two cushions, that I already have, into one, with a kind of slip-on pillowcase…
the store didn’t have the sheets but did have curtains with the same pattern, although the green is a bit darker than what I had in mind…we checked the measurements, which worked, so brought the curtains home… the fabric feels soft, but also strong…
got out the two cushions and laid them on the dining room table and got to work…
one curtain fit perfectly so I sewed the two sides together by hand and the fit looks nearly perfect…
it wasn’t quite as long as I’d hoped, so I couldn’t do a fold over to slip over the top of the lounger, but with two cushions inside it is a tight fit so it is just right…
I had been looking to have a custom cushion made, but, for less than $40 and a bit of sewing, I got something that was ten times less money and looks very nice in the garden;-)…
26 Sunday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cold, flowers, fundraiser, garden, moments, nature, newbie, plants, protecting, sheets, shopping, Technology, towels, weather, widow
Wednesday was a plant pickup from a friend’s church fundraiser…
there was alyssum, lobelia, petunias, and silver falls…
transplanted some in two planters that afternoon, hoping that they wouldn’t have a problem with the 4°C temperature that was expected that night…
in the end I covered all the newbie plants with sheets…
they all made it through the night;-)…
25 Saturday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean, empty, fill, garden, hot tub, late, moments, quicker, Technology, water, weather, widow
at 5:30 Tuesday night l started to change the water in the hot tub…
a bit late to start the process, but that was how the day had gone, and it really needed to be done…
turned it off, brought up the pump, connected it to the large hose and within twenty minutes it was almost empty… it is so much quicker with the larger hose…
next I had to climb in and scoop out the last of the water and give it a good wipe down… that part always takes time, usually half an hour or so…
finally, after putting in the new filter, the water started to go in…
forty-five minutes later it was full and ready to be turned back on…
plugged back in and by Thursday morning it was ready for chemicals… it takes about five different ones, which go in one every twenty minutes or so, to get it ready for jumping in;-)…
had a nice time in the hot tub that evening, especially after all the work that had gone on over the last week…
tonight I enjoyed another visit to the tub and although it was overcast, it wasn’t raining or windy, lol… yay…
herbiggirlpants 