for Christmas I gave friends a visit to The Leaf to see Voyage by Fleurs de Villes… it was fun because they got the card at Christmas, and then we got to spend time and have fun together during some very cold days in the city…
I was so excited when I saw that it was coming as I had gone to a similar show with my daughter in a mall in Ottawa and had been blown away with the amazing creations the florists had produced…
this was my favourite, but all the florists did a wonderful job…
I attended three times over the last week and every time I was there it was filled with many people (although I didn’t feel stressed) and the place was bustling… besides being a great exhibition, it looks as though it brought many new people to visit the space…
I had conversations with folk who had never been to The Leaf, members who had been many times, and others who had heard from friends and family about the show and decided to come for this special event…
seeing it in the biomes was much lovelier than in the centre of a mall, lol…
spending time in this wonderful oasis is like a little vacation in southern climes… well, for an hour or so, lol…
my membership, to both The Leaf and the Zoo, has been worth every penny and the cost of a membership for a senior is very reasonable and means I can visit as often as I wish all year round…
it was a wonderful treat and I enjoyed each visit… I had considered going for one last time this evening as I hadn’t been at night, but the tickets were sold out…
way to go Winnipeg… hope we get more shows like this;-)…
Monday I had another wonderful visit to see Voyages by Fleurs de Ville at The Leaf…
it was a treat to share this special place with friends, some of whom hadn’t been before…
every time I am there I see something different or learn something from the gardeners or volunteers… we had searched all over for the name of this flower/plant…
this trip I learned that this gorgeous flower is a heliconia, thanks to one of the gardeners;-)…
we wandered through the Tropical Biome and then enjoyed the Voyages exhibit in the Mediterranean Biome…
seeing the displays in person is so very different than looking at photos…
this time I chose a different favourite display, lol… I loved the sweetgrass hair and the birch bark bodice…
it was nice to see so many people enjoying the exhibition and learning about The Leaf…
from there we moved into Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar for a lovely lunch to celebrate a birthday…
what a wonderful way to enjoy a freezing cold day… it is always a treat to spend time together and make memories;-)…
many people start their New Year’s Day with a cold plunge;-)…
I like to start with a hot tub… it was beautiful out, the sun was shining, there wasn’t much wind, and the chickadees were busy at the feeders…
a lovely way to begin the year…
I took out the fancy selfie stick and set it up to get a photo of me in the tub, even though Google told me it felt like -20° Celsius… which it didn’t, lol…
I did look at the plunge tub for a hot second as I walked past it, lol… if my housemate had been home I might have gone in…
all of the garden work has now been completed for the winter… yay…
about a week ago I finished cleaning and putting away the last pond pump…
Saturday I finally got around to the dahlias… after watching a few videos, I used a knife to clean out the bits of dirt that were still on the tubers and then cut them to separate those with eyes, which should produce next year…
after doing a bit of research, I left a few (after cleaning them), to see if I will be able to separate them more easily in the spring when they start to sprout…
packaged them in paper bags, put them back in the pot, which went into a box in the coolest area of the basement… and wrote on the box to remember that is where they are, lol…
we will see what shape they are come spring… sometimes when the bags are open, there is nothing but shrivelled up bits of nothing;-(…
yesterday was a beautiful day… the sun shone and the temperature made it to 6° Celsius…
took the opportunity to top up the water in the hot tub…
now that the hose is hooked up in the basement it is a bit of a process…
the hose comes upstairs and just reaches to the outside of the door… then it has to be turned on with pliers at the tap at which point it expands so I can reach the hot tub…
takes a while to fill it to above the top hole on the filter, then I run downstairs and close the tap, again with the pliers… and run back up as the hose starts to contract before it yanks out of the tub… and finally taking the hose downstairs and hanging it up for the next time…