Category Archives: family

thawing…

26 Tuesday Dec 2023

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I found out in the morning on Christmas Eve that we were going to have lunch on Christmas Day between trips my grandson was making between his various family clans;-)…

it was a quick trip to the freezer to pull out a beautiful chicken and get it thawing… I had been planning on a Cornish hen, with all the fixings, so it wasn’t a lot more to do to cook the chicken;-)…

a turnip was peeled, cut, boiled (so that the water would be available for the chicken gravy), and mashed…

mashed potatoes were also prepared and put into the fridge which helps with making a resistant starch…

stuffing was made and packaged, ready to go into the chicken…

took most of the day to thaw the chicken, lol, but it was ready for the oven in time…

everything turned out beautifully and we had a delicious Christmas lunch…

possibly a new tradition;-)…

rosemary…

24 Sunday Dec 2023

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the Mediterranean biome smelled of rosemary and there were many of the plants growing all over the area… the Celebration installation was bright and shiny, with tons of lights on the trees and I was struck by some of the snowflake and icicle ornaments, so cute…

the many holiday trees, poinsettias, and amaryllis were beautiful;-)… the succulent tree is eye catching and I took quite a few photos of it…

I always like to visit the wollemi pine, a very rare tree known as the dinosaur tree…

sadly, we didn’t spot any butterflies in the Shirley Richardson biome…

a lovely visit…

what a treat to have this amazing place here in the city… a great replacement for the old Conservatory;-)…

walkways…

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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nearly a year to the day, we went back to The Leaf in the evening…

we ate dinner at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar and then wandered through the biomes…

the restaurant was very busy, but we were seated by the window at a two-person table, so were quite a distance from the other diners…

we shared chorizo spiced seitan tacos, I had pork and veal meatballs, and my grandson had a fancy hamburger and everything was tasty… we decided to skip dessert and go for blizzards after our visit to the biomes…

as we wandered through the Tropical biome it was quite amazing to see how the plants have grown… the place is absolutely lush;-)… leaves fell over the walkways in a number of spots, lol…

looking down from the bridge on the third floor it was striking to see how much everything has grown…

it was the first time since that inaugural visit that I’ve been at night… unfortunately it was too dark for my Nikon so all my photos were with my iPhone… got to see some bananas, a pineapple, coffee beans and cacao pods…

it looks like the inside of the biomes have been wrapped with plastic, and the fans in the Tropical biome were blowing rather vigorously…

it was exciting to see that there were a great number of various-sized smaller koi in the pond… babies, maybe;-)…

the next post will be about the Mediterranean biome;-)…

worry…

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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last winter I was having trouble zipping up my boots… they still fit fine, but it was getting more and more difficult to zip them up… I tried running a candle up and down them and then being sure to zip them closed as soon as I took them off, but it was still a worry when I went to put them on…

I purchased these boots Dec 2, 2015, so they didn’t owe me anything, but I didn’t want to replace them…

not long ago, when we were at Rona, we found a spray (similar to WD40), and used it on the zippers…

they work perfectly now and I am very happy about that;-)…

wishlist…

21 Thursday Dec 2023

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one of the items on my Christmas wishlist was a visit from my grandsons, so I was excited on Sunday to prep for their visit…

had fun setting the table all fancy for our dinner…

I haven’t seen them since the summer so this was a great treat…

it was fun to watch them open their Christmas presents after dinner…

thanks to the oldest for making this happen;-)…

napkins…

18 Monday Dec 2023

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tried to make napkins shaped like trees;-)…

they would have been better with green fabric, but this was what I had to work with, lol…

the first one came out not too bad, but after that, each one was different;-)…

apparently I need to practice for a while with the video in front of me…

anticipation…

15 Friday Dec 2023

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the time is flying by and on Tuesday we were already halfway through Advent…

I have been enjoying all my treats and am looking forward with anticipation to the next ones;-)…

I took this photo of the calendar hanging on the living room wall that had the first two rows turned around to remind me that they have been opened…

and the stairway is looking rather bare, with the bottom steps cleared of their gift boxes…

both, a reminder of how quickly time passes and to make the most of each moment you have;-)…

revelling in the wonderful treats I have already received, as each day provides an opportunity to reflect on how blessed I truly am…

kaleidoscope…

12 Tuesday Dec 2023

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this morning in my Advent box I received a kaleidoscope of butterflies…

I love that name for a group of butterflies;-)…

some of them had broken free of their original home and had stuck themselves all over the inside of the box… it took a bit of time to get them all out, lol…

the glue on them is just down the centre of each one so their wings raise up a bit and they do look as though they are fluttering…

I put them on the bathroom mirror and they look very sweet there…

we will see if they stay or flutter to the ground as there isn’t much stickiness to them;-)…

if…

10 Sunday Dec 2023

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well, last Sunday I finally made it into the plunge tub…

didn’t get as deep as my neck… it was chilly, but I made it to two minutes…

maybe, if I do it again, I will try to get down to my neck, lol…

certainly did wake me up, but I was still shivering and my legs were cold half an hour later;-)…

fun😳🤪🤔…

foray…

06 Wednesday Dec 2023

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back at it in the garage… our last foray out there, a few weeks ago, involved dumping everything onto the floor to be sorted…

this time we went through and put items back up in the rafters that seemed like good things to keep… I let a lot go, although I know many people who might have wanted some of the bits, lol…

then we put the excess lumber (from the fence build) up there… it had been under a tarp along the edge of the driveway since June when the fence was finished…

everything else on the floor was loaded into the back of the truck and driven away…

there were still a number of items on the floor that needed to find homes…

we “finished” in the garage late Sunday afternoon…

the floor was finally cleared and vacuumed and there was a lot of dust from the wet-vac, lol…

the bench got slightly rearranged as we still need more work done there, lol… and then Indi made it into the space…

woohoo;-)…