11 Monday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
spent time in the garden Saturday morning…
the job was to level out the ground as much as possible…
soil, compost and sand were mixed by the wheelbarrow full and then dumped and levelled across the grass using a handmade levelling rake…
it took quite awhile but eventually the space seems much flatter…
next, a mix of grass and clover seed was spread over the entire area and then gently raked in…
finally, the entire area was watered…
now to wait for it to grow…
08 Friday May 2026
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
last week I bought a lovely scarf at The Leaf…
today, while I was working my shift at the Mediterranean Biome exit spot, I watched a woman unfold a purple t-shirt in the Gift shop which is just outside the exit and perfectly in my view, lol…
so at the end of my day, I went and found one for me…
it is lovely and I know I will enjoy wearing it this summer;-)…
I may have to stop looking through those doors, lol…
a bit later, after I got home, a friend stopped by with a delicious piece of cake… we’d talked earlier in the week about this exact dessert… a lovely treat and visit…
I did share it with my housemate;-)…
pretty fine day…
03 Sunday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, grandson, grass, moments, planters, pump, raking, reading, tarp, weather, widow
spent time in the garden on a lovely day…
used the pond pump to empty the water on top of the tarp and then took the tarp off the pond…
took a few minutes to lay it out on the grass to dry out…
we moved a few planters to new places and will see if they stay in those spots…
did a little bit of raking of leaves, but there is still a lot to do…
and also spent some time reading in one of the chairs which recently came out of the shed…
30 Thursday Apr 2026
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
appear, big girl pants, blessed, bonsai, family, grandson, Japanese Maple, moments, nature, plants, slow process, widow, wire
had fun watching my grandson start to work on his Japanese Maple bonsai…
we picked up the Japanese Maple last spring and it lived in the garden for the summer and moved into the living room in the fall…
over the winter it lost all of its leaves, but new ones have just started to appear;-)…
lots of bits were trimmed off and quite a few types of wire were used to begin the process of bending branches to new spots…
this is the second try as the first one he worked on didn’t make it…
kind of exciting to see how it will turn out, although it is a very slow process…
29 Wednesday Apr 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
last night was my first in the hot tub for a really long time…
a screw had come loose on the left side cover and it took quite a while before we were able to screw it back in… then it needed to be filled and it took me ages to get that done…
looking for photos of it, I found this note about the day the hot tub arrived —- April 29, 2009…
and this one from my first hot tub on Mother’s Day, 2009…
the area around the tub has changed a lot since its arrival…
these photos reminded me when the right hand cover came off and was repaired…
these photos were taken on April 28, 2023…
apparently, the end of April has been an important period for the hot tub…
next up will be emptying the tub and figuring out if we can make the right side more stable for opening and closing…
23 Thursday Apr 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, garden, lawn furniture, moments, nature, rain barrel, reading, shed, Spring, weather, widow
had a great day in the garden yesterday… at last it was nice enough to put the cushions back on the deck…
sat on the top deck reading in the sun for ages… eventually I had to move to the lower deck to sit in the shade because it was so hot…
I tried to open the shed to bring out the rest of the lawn furniture, with no success…
but, I turned over the water barrel and yard waste bin, and emptied pots into the yard waste bin…
then there was sitting, lunch, and reading for the remainder of the afternoon…
once my housemate arrived home, he got the shed open and brought out some of the furniture…
summer is coming 😊…
21 Tuesday Apr 2026
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birthday treat, blessed, blizzard, chilled, Dairy Queen, delicious, family, food, gloves, grandson, moments, weather, widow
was treated to a blizzard to celebrate my birthday…
was kind of funny, because I was cold after getting chilled in an air conditioned restaurant…
so I sat there eating the blizzard in my winter coat, with the seat warmer going, and gloves on…
but it was a wonderful treat… and half of it did go into the freezer for another day, lol…
20 Monday Apr 2026
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beef tartare, big girl pants, birthday eve dinner, blessed, brioche, delicious, dinner, family, food, Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar, happy, moments, new menu, The Leaf, widow
had dinner at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar on Friday after my volunteer shift to celebrate my birthday eve…
the new menu looks great and we enjoyed everything we had…
we shared the brioche with butter and honey… the bread was warm and the butter soft… delicious… the look on my grandson’s face reminded me of the cartoon dog Snuffles, that rose into the air after eating something tasty…
then we had the potato paillassons, which were also delicious… yum…
I had the beef tartare… really enjoyed it with the bread…
my grandson had the grilled octopus, with paella rice, saffron aioli, and chervil, and noted how nicely it was cooked…
every bite was delightful… and I am looking forward to the next visit to try some of the other items…
19 Sunday Apr 2026
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
75, barbecue, big girl pants, birthday, blessed, family, flowers, Glowy, happy, moments, steak and lobster, treats, widow
yesterday I turned 75… amazing, lol…
there were phone calls, texts, cards, singing, plants, and hugs…
I was treated to lunch out and enjoyed our last PTE play of the season…
when I arrived home after the play, the groceries had been purchased, put away, and supper was underway…
we had steak and lobster, with potatoes, mushrooms, and onions in foil… all done on Glowy…
my birthday present from my family…
I am blessed…
18 Saturday Apr 2026
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
barbecue, Barbie, big girl pants, birthday request, blessed, BTU, family, Glowy, hot enough, rusted, smallish, widow
for my birthday, I requested a new barbecue…
my housemate began doing research to find something smallish that would fit in the garage and have enough BTU to sear a steak…
we drove out to Selkirk to the Home Hardware where we saw the barbecue in the store…
it was perfect and exactly what we wanted… with the help of store staff, and a borrowed screwdriver, it got taken apart, which involved taking off the side tables, and separating the legs from the burner portion…
then it was time to move it into the car, and with a little finagling all the bits fit…
once we got home, the pieces were reunited;-)… her name is Glowy… she is a Dyna Glo…
and she is a gift from my family;-)…
Barbie has been in the family since 2017… not really that long, considering she lived in the garage except when she was working;-)… the back had rusted or burnt out completely…
she made it out to the lane where someone will be sure to pick her up for scrap…
herbiggirlpants 