21 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, memory stones, moments, nature, Technology, wearing, weather, widow
when I went to the Park Cafe for brunch on Thursday, I stopped to check out the memory stones that the Ottawa kids had purchased for me;-)…
I’ve visited them enough that it is easy to find them…
sadly, much of the wording on the stones is wearing away…
13 Saturday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, bonsai, display, enchanted, forest, gardeners, grandson, moments, nature, plants, widow
spent time at The Leaf Thursday afternoon letting guests know that the biomes were closed until Friday…
happy to spot a gorgeous flower on the tall magnolia;-)…
there were two of us, so we had opportunities to take turns checking out how the work on the Enchanted Forest display was going… the gardeners were moving at warp speed to finish up…
I also had a lovely chat with one of the people from the Bonsai Winnipeg group as they waited to place their tree in the new display…
then, in the evening, my grandson and I attended a members-only viewing of the display… I was especially excited because I was able to bring a buddy… as everyone who knows me knows, I don’t like to do things on my own;-(…
what fun…
12 Friday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, carrots, dinner, family, food, Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar, gnocchi, moments, Technology, treat, waitstaff, widow
at last I ordered the carrots (roasted carrot, buttermilk dressing, grilled kale, salsa macha, fresh dill) at Gather…
they were very tasty, the sauce was delicious, and it took two of us to get them all eaten, lol… I’ve heard that this is one of the most popular items on the menu…
then I tried the saffron gnocchi, with white wine beurre blanc, asparagus, mint, hazelnut, lemon vinaigrette, rosemary oil, and added shrimp… also very tasty…
my grandson had the burger with some tasty regular fries…
it was busy and the waitstaff were all efficient and seemed happy going about their work;-)…
I also like that you can reserve a spot online, lol…
07 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cool, family, garden, goldfish, mistake, moments, pet store, pond, released, widow
went to a pet store today… big mistake, lol…
came home with three goldfish… a white one with a bright patch of red close to its tail and two gold with black dots all over them…
set them in the pond in their travel bag for nearby an hour… it is fairly cool in the pond with all this cold weather we’ve been having…
once they were released, I spotted this little one and got a quick photo… then they vanished under the bridge… since then, I’ve spotted the white one, but so far not the other two;-)…
31 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, friends, gate, gate door, helpers, moments, plywood, repaired, sticking, widow
when my beloved’s boyfriend repaired the side gate door, it stuck a bit when closing…
I didn’t mind as it was a way to keep the door open without needing a bungee cord to hold it open…
the other day, when he was helping us transport the plywood for the dining room dresser project, he noticed that it was sticking…
he arrived the next day with his tools, removed the door, and sawed off a little piece…
once he sanded the bottom he reinstalled it and it now opens and closes beautifully…
I am blessed with so many helpers…
26 Tuesday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean, cut, drawers, dressers, family, fishtanks, fixed, friends, moments, normal, open, paint, plywood, projects, repair, sort, widow
a big project over the last week was fixing the three dresser drawers along the inside wall so that they would open…
a while ago, a pump was leaking from one of the tanks and the water ran down the front of the drawers… the other problem was the weight of the tanks on the dresser…
we started by emptying the water in two tanks and then removing them… after that the three drawers were yanked out, lol…
a 2×6 went under the corner of the dresser to raise it up a bit, and then the edges of the three drawers were cut down a little which means they will open easily in the future…
while the drawers were out, I went through them one-by-one (as well as the three next to them) and made piles for saving, giving away, and garbage… then each of the six drawers was reorganized… that was like a whole different project, lol…
then we got help to pick up a piece of plywood to go on the top of the dressers, it was cut, after which the pieces were painted and put on top of the dressers…
after all that work, the fishtanks were cleaned, and then put back (another project, lol)… in the next few days, they will be filled with water and the pumps started to clean the water before the fish come in…
at last the living and dining room have been returned to normal;-)…
24 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blow, bunny, family, frog, garden, grass, liner, lush, moments, nature, pond, sunny, tidy, weather, widow
another lovely day…
spotted a baby bunny, snacking on poppy plants…
and a bigger bunny in the middle of the garden…
a bit later my housemate discovered the cutest little frog and popped them next to the pond…
I had an enjoyable time reading outside, although I did have a blanket on as it was a bit cool, but the garden looked tidy following a cut, trim and blow, lol…
everything is so lush following all the rain…
the waterfall area has had the last of the liner cut back now that we are sure it isn’t leaking, yay…
23 Saturday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cool weather, exploded, family, garden, moments, morning glory, nature, rain, self-sown, weather, widow
the self-sown morning glories in the front flowerbed have exploded with all this rain and cooler weather…
I took this first photo yesterday and the second one this morning;-)…
22 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, donor, English Garden, falafels, family, food, Leo Mol Garden, lilies, moments, muskrats, nature, Park Cafe, pond, rose, walk, widow
finally walked over to the Park this morning…
started with breakfast at the Park Cafe… I really enjoyed the falafels…
from there it was over to the English Garden which is just gorgeous right now…
I found a lovely rose, just after we saw a hummingbird, although it moved too fast for me to get a photo…
in the Leo Mol Arbor we spotted one of the muskrats;-)…
had some fun with water lilies and frogs at the lily pond…
the gardens were being prepped for the big donor event this week… pressure washers were cleaning up the concrete, while lights were being added to the trees throughout the space… it will look lovely in the evening;-)…
21 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blades, blessed, company, family, fans, fixed, help, list, moments, power post, projects, snaking, Technology, thermostat, widow
yesterday was a great day;-)…
my company magically touched the power box beside the pond and got it working…
we need a short extension as the pump in the pond has moved a little further away, and I will be very happy to remove the orange extension cord that has been snaking through the grass, lol…
I’d been hopeful that the photos which have been sent to my electronic frame could be copied before deleting from the frame, but it was clear that isn’t possible…
then, three rooms got new fan/light combinations to replace the thirty-year-old ones that were beginning to break down… my job was to join the blades to the connecting hardware;-)…
the thermostat, which since it was installed two years ago, hasn’t been able to run the fan continuously when the furnace was off was finally fixed, yay…
so happy to remove these items from the project list;-)…
herbiggirlpants 