today I went out for a meal before my shift at The Leaf…

all
by
myself!!!
had the falafel breakfast, with tomatoes instead of hash browns…

it has become one of my favourites…
then it was off to The Leaf… way to go me;-)…
18 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
today I went out for a meal before my shift at The Leaf…

all
by
myself!!!
had the falafel breakfast, with tomatoes instead of hash browns…

it has become one of my favourites…
then it was off to The Leaf… way to go me;-)…
14 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
adventure buddy, big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, flowers, friends, gardens, heated, moments, nature, Park Cafe, roses, walk, water lilies, weather, widow
had breakfast with my adventure buddy at the Park Cafe on Friday… I hadn’t been for awhile, but it was lovely to be recognized by the waitstaff…

enjoyed the classic eggs Benedict with tomatoes instead of hash browns…
then we had a short walk through the English Gardens and a quick look at the water lily pond in the Leo Mol Garden…

the flowers were stunning and we were drawn to all the beautiful dahlias and and roses…

as always the water lilies were blooming in the heated pond…

the frogs do enjoy the warm water, lol…
lovely time;-)…
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…
10 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
applesauce, baked, big girl pants, blender, blessed, food, homemade, immersion, moments, nature, peel, pork, Technology, widow
made applesauce today…
tried a new recipe which I found online that baked the apples, with the peel on, in the oven…

the recipe suggested using a blender once they were completely soft, but I found the immersion blender worked perfectly…

measured out about a muffin cup scoop and bagged, flattened, and popped into the freezer…

I like to have applesauce when I’m eating pork;-)… and homemade is always a treat…
09 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, falling, fish, food, friend, friends, garden, happy, hibiscus, leaves, lunch, moments, nature, pond, soaking, wasps, water, weather, widow
another delightful day in the garden, especially after the last number of cool and overcast days…

spotted a hibiscus blossom, so that was a treat…

next, I went into the pond to clean out the pump… the leaves have been falling like crazy and there were a ton in the water… once the pump has been cleaned out, the waterfall always flows beautifully…
all the cushions went out and a dear friend arrived with lunch… we ate inside as the wasps are very busy in the garden…

we moved outside and had a lovely time by the pond catching up on life…
after she left, I read in the garden for the remainder of the day;-)…

soaking up every minute possible in this sanctuary…
03 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, differences, family, fun, grandson, hamburgers, le burger, moments, online, Technology, treat, widow
went out for le burger week…
started at Kristina’s on Corydon, where we had a Saginaki Lamb burger which we shared…

it was a mix of beef and lamb and was delicious… we ordered fries to go with it and they were also very tasty… the wait staff were efficient and friendly… we even got a piece of cake with our bill…
a lovely atmosphere… hadn’t been there for a long time but will try to get back there again soon…
next, we went to the edge of St. James to Original Joe’s where we shared the Big Pierogski which came with fries…

they brought it on two plates for us, so that was nice…
it was a good burger and we ate every bite, lol… the fries were fine and our server pleasant…
certainly a different vibe, and a bit dark… probably showing my age, 😂… interesting to see the difference between a privately owned restaurant and a chain on the same evening;-)…
we did spend quite some time online, deciding on which burgers we’d like to taste and where we wanted to go…
it was a fun outing and I thoroughly enjoyed it;-)…
29 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cucumbers, food, friends, garden, moments, nature, pickled, tomatoes, treat, widow
this afternoon a young friend dropped off freshly picked cucumbers and tomatoes from their grandmother’s garden…
what a treat…

made one of my favourite pickled salads – cucumber, onion, vinegar, and water… and then had some with my supper…

yum…

the tomatoes were delicious as well…
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;-)…
17 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, corn on the cob, family, garden, moments, sandwich, technique, tomato, widow
as a child when we had corn on the cob it was always with fresh tomatoes, lol…

yesterday I had some excellent corn with a bit of garlic sausage…

today I made a delicious toasted tomato sandwich with another tomato from the garden…

seems like my technique of bringing them in just as they start to turn from green and putting them on the shelf in the kitchen has been working…
16 Saturday Aug 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, famous, food, friend, garden, macaroni and cheese, moments, reading, treat, weather, widow, world famous
went to the grocery store first thing on Friday… good time to go as it wasn’t busy and I got my shopping done in less than thirty minutes…
once home and everything was put away, I set out the cushions and spent a lovely time reading…
received a call from a friend driving through and invited them for supper… then I spent the next while preparing my world famous, (well family and friends anyway), macaroni and cheese;-)…
once that was done, I went back to my book…
my company arrived, we had a short visit in the garden, ate the delicious mac and cheese, and off they went… all inside an hour;-)…

had a plan to take a photo of the finished pot, but forgot, lol… did remember to take a picture of my plate… packed up the leftovers for another day;-)…

tidied up and enjoyed the garden as I read outside until it got dark…
lovely treat;-)…