Category Archives: family

monarchs…

26 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

yesterday morning my youngest grandson was dropped off at ten by his two older brothers who were heading off to a two-day Pokémon event…

about fifteen minutes after they left he spotted the first of our monarchs as it emerged from the lily of the valley where they had gone to turn into their chrysalis stage… I had been watching this chrysalis for a number of days as it was the only one we could find…

perfect timing, and he spotted three more as they came out to dry their wings…

the first one had a wasp attached to its wing and it took me quite a while to get it off… not sure if that hurt it or whether the wasp had already injured it…

the others eventually flew off after their wings dried out, but this little male spent most of the day with us… finally it was gone, so we are hoping that it was able to fly…

what a wonderful experience to share together;-)…

burger…

24 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

yesterday my son-in-law came by and we had a lovely visit and cup of tea on the deck… it was quite cool at that time…

he fixed the chairs I’ve been trying to redo, without any problem, lol… I did learn how to cut through plastic using the clamp on the counter in the garage…

it got really hot and muggy as he cleaned up some bits of carpet that had been dissolving alongside of the garage… after he finished, we walked over to pick up burgers from The Burger Place…

we had lunch in the garden and he headed out to his next activity…

what a treat;-)…

check-in…

23 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, health, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

been walking with my daughter the last few weeks… on the phone, lol…

this is encouraging me to get up and out for a stroll… everyday I have gone a bit further and have enjoyed our time together….

it is nice to have a companion and there is no worry about physical distancing…

here are a few photos I’ve taken as we walked…

got this shot of the elementary school that the girls went to many years ago, lol…

great way to start the day – exercise and check-in;-)…

yesterday we walked a bit longer and I went as far as the Park… the English Garden doesn’t open until 9 now, due to Covid-19, and we walk at about 7:15, so that’s too bad, lol… it felt good to get to the Park as I hadn’t been there yet this year and I sure do miss it…

I am finding that I am less nervous the more that I get out and walk, although I am very careful to step to the side if someone is coming towards me…

lightening…

17 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, food, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

busy day…

my middle grandson was dropped off to mow the grass and do a few other pieces of work for me…

he mowed, whipper snipped, pulled weeds, moved furniture and the new umbrella, filled bird/squirrel feeders, and cleaned up patio stones…

it was a hot day for digging around the stones, but it looks so much better… still have more to do the next time he is here… he is a lovely young man and I enjoy the time we have together;-)…

the front yard and garden look tidy and fresh… I sat out for a while after he left but then came in as rain appeared to be on the way and arrived with thunder and lightning…

a most amazing woman brought Captain’s Table fish and chips over (one of my favourites) for supper and we ate inside… the downpour had finally stopped, but it was cool outside… eventually we were able to take a tour of the garden and visit on the deck…

I am so blessed with all the special people who are, and have been, in my life…

umbrella…

10 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

yay, the new umbrella is finally up…

last night my grandson arrived with the four base pieces so we could put it together…

one of the crosspieces on the bottom didn’t fit correctly so he had to take that piece back to the store and have it replaced… happily they had one available…

back home he finished putting it all together and I think it is going to be perfect…

now I will be able to have visitors to the garden at any time of the day… really looking forward to more garden visits…

after supper I tried opening and closing it a few times before he left, lol… let us hope I can remember exactly what to do;-)…

and I did remember this morning;-)… yay…

pinching…

08 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by in business, family, garden, nature, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

so, I signed up for a 3-part video course on flowers in the garden… it is from @floretflower on Instagram… they are located in Washington State and have a flower farm and seed business…

yesterday I finally got around to watching the first of the two that I have received so far…

it was all about pinching the plants… this morning I decided to give it a try and it was difficult, because it does feel counter-productive to trim back a plant that is growing nicely… but I did it, and I also removed the flowers on the dahlias and put them into a vase…

it will be interesting to see if it really does double the number of blooms produced…

I will watch and see…

stronger…

07 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

another busy day…

up early, put out all the cushions and had my breakfast in the garden… lots of visits from the house finch couple and the chickadees…

went into the pond to clean the pump and filled half a pail with string algae… waterfall is looking better now and the flow is much stronger…

then a good friend came over for a garden visit and we had a lovely time… the garden is looking nice and there are still five or six caterpillars to search out on the milkweed…

she had just left when the lawn mowing service (the middle grandson) arrived… we had a visit before he started and just as he was done the chauffeur (oldest grandson) arrived with a new umbrella which will provide shade in the afternoon sun… we couldn’t put it up as we are waiting for the base to arrive…

then, before I knew it, they were all gone and I was back in the peace and quiet;-)…

lots of reading and nature watching for the rest of the day…

siding…

03 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

my grandson and one of his friends came over yesterday afternoon…

they were here to finish trimming the Virginia creeper and put the piece of siding back up…

it was quite the process as a door was put onto the hot tub, then a ladder on top of the door and then one would climb up and remove bits and pieces of the vine… then they worked from the driveway side to finish… once the vines were removed, they had to do some fancy work to get the siding back up and properly attached…

eventually it was all done and the area cleaned up…

we had a laugh as this particular friend had also helped with landscaping work in the front yard a number of years ago;-)… nice to have him back and helping…

it looks much tidier and more spacious now… after they left I finished cleaning the hot tub and filled it with fresh water… it takes an hour to get it to the top…

it took until around noon to heat it up, although I’ve set the temperature at 99℃ to see if that might be a nice temp for cooling down in this very hot spell we are dealing with…

creeper…

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by in family, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

my grandson came by today for lunch and to do some trimming of the Virginia creeper for me…

I had emptied the hot tub as we had planned to move it out of the way so that a ladder could go up next to the house…

unfortunately, it wasn’t being cooperative so he ended up climbing onto the tub and reaching as high as he could…

it was a stretch but he was able to remove most of the overgrowth… it already looks much better…

I think the plan is for he and Jeff to come by on Friday to move the tub, make a few repairs to the deck and finish the trimming…

the light is already much brighter in the main floor tv room…

one of the things they will do on Friday will be to put that piece of siding back where it belongs, lol…

guess I won’t be refilling the tub for a few days, lol…

tradition…

27 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by in family, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

many years ago, when the girls were little, I started the tradition of singing happy birthday to them, the number of times as they were old… so if you were ten, you would get happy birthday sung to you ten times…

might have been a mistake, because they still expect that even when they are turning big numbers, lol… and they still ask for it…

last night I set an alarm for this morning so I could sing before the birthday boy headed to work, lol…

this past year, I have sent emails and texts with pictures and just a few calls…

might not have been my most brilliant idea, lol… but it has been fun…