20 Tuesday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
yesterday, the day began with tea on the top deck in the garden as everyone else in the house slept…
it ended with tea on a completely different deck with a view of the mouth of Lake Winnipeg…
very nice…
18 Sunday Jun 2023
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cushions, dad, dressed, family, fish, flowers, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, pond, remembering, water lilies, widow
spent a beautiful, quiet day in the garden…
I always start with putting all the cushions out so that the space feels dressed…
I watched baby house sparrows, at the pond for drinks, flutter as they learn to use their wings… one tried to have a dust bath on the table, lol…
a few nearly flew into me…
the fish are enjoying the shade of the water lily leaves and spent lots of time out and about the pond…
and the two water lily flowers opened slowly and looked so pretty…
yesterday I spotted another bud and this morning I found a fourth one…
heard the drums at the park as the marathoners went through and thought of my dad and my beloved…
it was a lovely day;-)…
17 Saturday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, cacao trees, chocolate, dinosaur trees, family, flowers, food, gather, grown, happy, happy place, magical time, moments, nature, plants, quiet, The Leaf, waterfall, widow
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent hours at The Leaf in Assiniboine Park…
things have grown and been added since I was last there…
there was mist rising from the ground and there are now three cacao trees…
it was very exciting to see them in flower and with pods on one…
Tuesday we were there in the morning and came across some school classes and quite a few other visitors… we had a delicious lunch at Gather and went back into the biomes for a last look before heading home…
on Wednesday we went in the evening… I had hoped the lights would be on but they weren’t until after we left, lol… there were few others in the space and ample opportunities to sit quietly and reflect on the beauty of nature…
thanks to a very knowledgeable volunteer, we found the sugar cane and the dinosaur trees…
we did enjoy dessert at Gather before a quick walk through the Diversity Gardens… one treat was sitting by a fire in the Indigenous Peoples Garden…
looking forward to another visit in a few weeks… cheers;-)…
15 Thursday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, busy, family, fencing, garden, grandsons, happy, helpers, moments, project, son-in-law, widow, working
the latest project around the house has taken a little while… we began discussing it in February, lol…
the actual work started on Thursday, June 8th, when my grandson and son-in-law took down the back fence as well as the small one in the front yard…
it involved hammering, using the car jack and a great deal of muscle… once it was down, all the pieces were loaded into a truck… then we moved soil, cleaned up the leaves from the cedars and Virginia creeper, and filled many bags of yardwaste…
midway through the day the lumber was dropped off, but had to be brought onto the driveway a few pieces at a time, and by the end of the day we were worn out, lol…
on Friday, my grandson met our handyperson at the hardware store where they rented an auger and picked up a big bag of screws and nails…
they used more muscle to get the old holes redug and finished the day with all posts installed…
Sunday, the oldest dug up excess dirt around the shed while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive, including one of his brothers…
they worked well together and got the back fence 99.9% finished, with a nice wide gate and the framework up for the front portion of fence…
on Wednesday and Thursday my oldest grandson put the finishing touches on the fencing and both sections look great…
so pleased with the final result as well as how smoothly the process went and what great help we had from everyone…
12 Monday Jun 2023
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, computers, daughter, dueling, family, fudge, garden, grandson, moments, Technology, time together, treats, widow, work
last night my daughter arrived from Ottawa… it was wonderful to see her in person…
the flight was early and my grandson picked her up at the airport and brought her home…
there were a number of thoughtful gifts which I will enjoy, including a delicious chocolate bar which reminds me of the amazing fudge that my dad used to make, a ceramic dragonfly, and the cutest little butterfly bowl which I will use to hold my pills…
I am looking forward to our time together over the next few weeks…
an evening in the garden ended with dueling computers… it was nice not to have to call her to discuss the piece of work we were doing, lol…
and then, an early night…
looking forward to many fun activities while she is here;-)…
10 Saturday Jun 2023
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chats, configuration, early, family, happy, memories, moments, neighbour, remembering, sound, widow
I woke up rather early and was laying in bed trying to decide whether to get up or try to go back to sleep…
as I lay there I heard my sixteen-month-old neighbour chatting with one (or both) of his parents… there weren’t distinct words, just the sound of his voice;-)…
I don’t usually hear anything from him so the windows and wind must have been in just the right configuration…
made me think of when the girls were that little and the early morning happy chats;-)…
09 Friday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
bedroom, big girl pants, blessed, family, friends, guestroom, health, memories, moments, pictures, quilt, remember, widow
yesterday, after getting the den turned into a guestroom, I put a quilt on the bed for when my Ottawa daughter arrives;-)…
today, this memory came up on my Facebook page… it was from eleven years ago when her friends came and redid my bedroom… it was a wonderful gift as shortly after that I had surgery and spent a lot of time in the bedroom…
too funny that I chose that particular quilt;-)… and a reminder of that wonderful gift…
07 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, crackers, dill pickle soup, family, food, friends, fun, memories, moments, Premium Plus Salt Topped Crackers, remembering, Taverna Rodos, treat, widow
today, as I was enjoying the dill pickle soup that I didn’t eat when we were at Taverna Rodos on Monday, I remembered a lovely story shared by a friend…
with the soup, they included some Premium Plus Salted Top Cracker look-alikes… because the box is pretty big I haven’t had them in a very long time, so it was a nice treat… my favourite way to eat them is as a little sandwich, with butter or margarine…
my friend and their family really enjoy food, so they had quite a variety of crackers in their home…
one day one of the kids came home and advised that they had just had the most delicious crackers and that the family should get some…
it took a while, but eventually they were able to name them as Premium Plus Crackers…
so funny that with all the fancy crackers they had, the kids had never had the Premium ones…
such a chuckle, particularly as in my home that was the only type of cracker we ever had;-)…
23 Tuesday May 2023
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, garage, garden, happy, moments, motorcycle, space, widow
the car was gone for the weekend and I think the motorcycle was kind of happy to have the garage to itself, lol…
it is usually stuck between the side door and the car;-)…
16 Tuesday May 2023
Posted in business, family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, connections, cushions, deck, family, fence, fish, food, friends, garden, meals, Merlin App, moments, most, nature, neighbours, pond, sound, sparrows, Technology, time, weather, widow
Sunday, spent the entire day in the garden… it was warm and sunny…
set out all the chair cushions and even brought out the decorative ones…
then, most of the fish came outside… a few just wouldn’t be caught, lol… apparently a project for another day…
tea, reading, and bird watching took up a good part of the day… I am loving the sound portion of my Merlin App… it has come in especially helpful for me to identify the many sparrows that come and go…
White-Crowned, White-Throated, Harris’s, Song, and Chipping Sparrows have all been around for the last week or so…
checked out the fence with the little person and his daddy on one side, as I contemplate the style of the new fence that is in the works, and had tea and snacks with the ones on the other side… they enjoy sitting by the pond and the sound of the running water…
ate all my meals on the deck, breakfast and lunch on the back, and supper on the upper…
phone calls, emails, in-person visits, and text messages came throughout the day…
truly, I am blessed;-)…
herbiggirlpants 