23 Friday Apr 2021
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
A1C, appointment, big girl pants, blood, bloodwork, drawn, handy, moments, preparation, widow
I had blood drawn for my doctor’s appointment next week…
they came to the house as I still don’t have the car and it means I don’t have to go to the clinic twice… such a handy option…
my technician did a great job and was only here for minutes…
just had the tiniest mark on my arm;-)…
21 Wednesday Apr 2021
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Callia Flowers, flowers, friends, happy, moments, Technology, time, treat, video display, widow, zoom
this morning I participated in my first Zoom call… it was with an April birthday friend… we usually meet for lunch between our birthdays, but seeing each other’s face was a nice treat…
shortly after that, a box of Callia flowers arrived with a bouquet called Magnificent;-)… they are just beautiful…
I had a call with the giver of the flowers and it was wonderful to catch up…
much as I don’t mind being home, I do miss visiting with such special people…
I finally got a new set of photos on my digital display and chose the ones from our Maui vacation two years ago this month… that really was a once-in-a-lifetime trip which brought me great joy and wonderful memories…
lovely day…
18 Sunday Apr 2021
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, dinner, family, flowers, friends, fun, grateful, moments, nature, orchids, purple, seventy, surprises, Technology, weather, widow
today I turned seventy…
I have spent the last month planning how I would mark this special event, so there were, and will be, a few surprises for others…
I’ve been hearing about birthday weeks, so to start that off, on Monday I ordered Chinese food… it was lovely as I haven’t had any for a long time and I had leftovers for the next two days, which was a wonderful treat…
a number of parcels and envelopes arrived in the mail, which had to be set aside until today… this morning there were sparklers and singing;-)…
had a lovely gift opening time with the kids and received some delightful presents… paintbrushes, paint, a cool pad to make art pictures with, and a gorgeous window bird feeder;-)… my daughter is encouraging me to find a hobby… maybe it will be bird watching and then painting pictures of them… not likely, lol…
looking forward to trying all of the goodies… will need to wait for warmer weather to attach the feeder to the front window…
made poached eggs on potato patties, with bacon and asparagus… and I had it on my confetti plate… ended breakfast with half of a delicious pistachio cupcake which a friend dropped off for me yesterday…. nice start to the day…
texts, posts and phone calls have made the day extra fun… watched a cooking competition marathon…
lunch was cold shrimp with cocktail sauce… as I peeled them I was remembering fun times on the lanai in Florida, many years ago, with a dear friend…
moved orchids and flowers to set up the den for my video call with my BS friends and we had a great time… there was singing, tea, snacks, toasts, and lots of laughter… what a wonderful group of women…
there were more phone calls as the snow began to fall again… decided to order beef bones instead of barbecuing, as it was cold and windy…
that worked very nicely, it was delicious, and there will be enough for tomorrow’s supper…
what a ride these seventy years have been… truly, I am blessed and look forward to a year focussed on gratitude and living in the moment;-)…
16 Friday Apr 2021
Posted in business, family, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, camera, charger, family, moments, photos, pictures, shopping, Technology, widow
I’ve been spending a bit of time with my Olympus camera, getting to know it again…
it had been sitting on the shelf for a long time because I had misplaced the charger…
my son-in-law was able to find one online for me and I recently received it…
I dug out the manual, read through it and have started to take more pictures… I never thought it worked as well as my Nikon, but maybe I didn’t give it a chance, lol…
we shall see…
13 Tuesday Apr 2021
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cacao tree, chocolate, flowers, jacaranda, lavender, Maui, memories, moments, nature, purple, vacation, widow
I’ve been looking back at photos from our trip to Maui two years ago… enjoying it a lot…
lovely to have reminders of that special time…
on this day, we visited a lavender farm where we walked through a garden filled wth beautiful flowers, many of which we couldn’t name…
we spent time at Maui Chocolate Coffee tours where we chatted with the farm owners, got to see cacao growing on trees, and tasted a chocolate drink…
and we saw jacaranda trees in bloom… they are purple;-)…
12 Monday Apr 2021
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
it has been snowing off and on since early this morning… very depressing… I had to open the window to get this shot because all the windows were covered in water drops…
and then this box arrived in the mail…
the dahlias I ordered…
that perked me up;-)…
09 Friday Apr 2021
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fish, garden, grandson, gunk, leaves, moments, nature, pond, sump pump, weather, widow
even though it was chilly and overcast my grandson arrived this morning to clean up the pond… it was filled with a ton of decaying leaves…
our time didn’t start very well… the pump that worked perfectly in the fall when it came out of the water would not work… felt like we tried everything, but no luck… so, he had to run to the store to replace it, sigh…
eventually, after getting most of the water pumped out, he used the shopvac to suck up the majority of leaves from the bottom…
this technique worked well, but took quite some time, and was very smelly… then we rinsed it, and I filled it back up… he plans to come back, we will drain it again, and finish sucking up the gunk…
then we will fill it and get the waterfall flowing… I don’t think the fish will go in for another few weeks, when the chorine has dissipated and the water temperature has warmed up a bit;-)…
happy with our progress and looking forward to sitting and enjoying the beautiful sound…
07 Wednesday Apr 2021
Posted in business, life, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, colourful, Facebook, learning, live feed, moments, nature, optik, Swarovski Optik, Technology, treat, widow
spent a wonderful hour this morning watching live bird feeds from Sri Lanka, India, Africa, and Latin America on Facebook via Swarovski Optik Birding…
what a treat…
came across this by accident and not sure how often they do these live feeds…
it appears they sell some very upscale binoculars and likely providing the feeds brings them customers, but it was lovely to watch…
02 Friday Apr 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, brackets, chairs, comfortable, garden, happy, moments, nature, reclining, weather, widow
the adjustable brackets have arrived, the adjustable brackets have arrived;-)…
we’ve had our garden reclining lawn chairs for longer than I can remember…
they are just right in the space and have the ability to recline… a great place for an afternoon nap in the shade…
over the last few years I’ve replaced the cushions, but the brackets have been wearing out and breaking… I had no idea what to call them so wasn’t able to find replacement parts…
I even looked for new chairs, but there don’t seem to be any that recline nowadays…
I mentioned it to my son-in-law and he found the parts online… I ordered them from a business in the States, hoping they would work and they arrived yesterday…
today, I went out to the garage to see if they would be just a simple screw into the tube or whether we will have to drill some holes…
they fit;-)… one hole is in the wrong place, but I think only using the other two holes will be perfect…
I am so happy… now to clean off the deck and wait for some nice weather…
31 Wednesday Mar 2021
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
A1C, big girl pants, blessed, diabetes, Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers, health, moments, Patreon, soothe, support, surprise, Technology, treat, widow
anyone who follows me knows that I am trying to keep my diabetes in check with diet and exercise only…
when I started I absolutely gave up any type of sugar… that was hard, and also included potatoes, one of my favourite foods, lol…
over the years I have loosened up my diet to include some of the things that had been removed… always done in consultation with my doctor, so that my life was less focussed on the fear of my A1C number…
at my last appointment, my number had gone up to the edge of needing meds…
so, I cut back all sugar once again, which meant that I wasn’t having any chocolate;-(…
I was excited a few days ago to learn about Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers (through Patreon)… it is a monthly subscription that will send me an envelope of goodies each month… all chocolate-themed, but no actual chocolate…
a great way to soothe my chocolate craving, without any of the sugar content, and provide support for an artist…
there is even an app for Patreon so I can see any items going up about Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers (also on Instagram @happymailforchocolatelovers).
looking forward to see what will be in my first envelope;-)…
herbiggirlpants 