here is my tower of Christmas treats… it is beautiful…
I am eating my way through them, one piece at a time…
I have such wonderful friends;-)…
tower…
13 Wednesday Jan 2021
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Category Archives: health
contemplating…
12 Tuesday Jan 2021
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
artwork, big girl pants, blessed, cards, contemplating, moments, purple, reflect, widow
this morning I started a new activity…
for each of the next 24 days I am going to read and think on one of the cards that I received last year for Advent…
I really enjoyed the process then and am looking forward to this time of reflection each day…
I am going to start each day with a time of looking at the artwork and contemplating the quote on the back…
today I was thinking about how much sunshine can affect my mood and feeling of well-being… when the sun is shining everything seems more upbeat and positive…
where I live, we used to have a lot more sunny days… they are particularly helpful during the cold winter months, as even the cold seems more bearable in sunlight and blue skies…
I was reading some data which showed we averaged 51% sunny days between 1981 and 2010… for the past few years we have noticed that there is less sunshine that’s there used to be…
this morning, as I look out the window, the sky is blue… gonna be a good day😊…
dining…
08 Friday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dining, flowers, garden, moments, music, orchid, photos, plants, pleasant, purple, trimmed, widow
spent a lovely hour in the dining room garden recently…
trimmed up, and cut back, the mandevilla and fuchsia… they have both lost most of their leaves but are still alive…
I am hopeful that they will both perk up… the mandevilla looks lovely now…
listened to music and felt such happiness… before you know it, spring will be here…
today I took some photos of the garden, including the blooming orchid…
threshold…
05 Tuesday Jan 2021
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, doorway, family, first footing, friends, moments, New Year's Day, surprise, threshold, treat, widow
on New Year’s morning I was walking on the treadmill and happened to turn on the front camera to see if any birds were at the feeder…
there was a man standing there, so I ran upstairs to see what was going on…
it was a young friend with a gift in his hand… he said he was looking for coal… I had him step back, and put out a gift bag I had put coal and a scone into… anticipating that my middle grandson was coming over…
then he stepped over the threshold and put down the gift and gift bag and stepped back outside…
my daughter had sent a number of items to her friends and they had packaged them up and delivered them to my door…
for years we have done first-footing… this was by far the fanciest package, lol…
there was tea, charcoal shampoo, chocolate covered fruit, a Christmas cracker, little bottles of alcohol, sourdough chocolate, a delicious fresh banana chocolate chip muffin, an adorable tin with a cute gingerbread person in it and a fresh orange… and of course the chunk of coal;-)…
what a wonderful surprise… truly, I am blessed…
kick-off…
03 Sunday Jan 2021
Tags
barbecue, big girl pants, blessed, bunny, celebrate, garden, kick-off, lobster, moments, snow, steak, treat, widow, wine
on New Year’s Day, I barbecued steak and lobster for my dinner…
the weather was lovely which made standing around in the garage comfortable, lol…
as I came and went, I would visit with the bunny that was hanging around at the back of the garden…
was pleased with how both the steak and lobster turned out, particularly as I so rarely use the barbecue…
and there were mushrooms, a baked potato and melted butter… and a tiny glass of wine…
a great way to kick-off the new year…
joy…
31 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, camera, daughter, flowers, garden, home, Instagram, joy, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, orchid, photos, plants, pond, purple, remembering, walk, widow
last evening I spent time on Instagram… people tend to put up their nine most liked photos of the year, but I decided to put up my nine favourite ones…
I was thinking they would be flowers, with maybe a bird or piece of chocolate included…
once I finished, there were seven with flowers, one bird and a monarch butterfly…
looking through the pictures reminded me of some wonderful times over this past year…
my orchids, which provide such joy for me all year long…
planting, growing and enjoying morning glories, datura and dahlias…
time spent, with and without cameras, viewing the birds in the garden…
a rose along the sidewalk on one of the walks I took this year, with my daughter in my ear;-)…
the amazing time I spent over the summer with eggs, caterpillars and butterflies… and the day my grandson and I watched the butterflies appear…
time with hearts and flower bouquets…
the water lily flowers that erupted in the pond… had the most blooms ever this summer… and I hope to overwinter them in the aquarium…
lovely reminders of a crazy, but wonderfully special year…
charcuterie…
30 Wednesday Dec 2020
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, Photography, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, charcuterie, chocolate, Christmas, duck, family, food, memories, moments, Ottawa, pictures, plate, treats, vacation, widow
this photo was taken last year on this day when I was in Ottawa… we made a few plates with veggies, crackers, fruit, cheese, duck, and chocolate…
I think we were ahead of the current charcuterie craze, lol…
today, after I saw this picture, I made my own fancy plate…
it was fun to enjoy the items and remember our delicious lunch a year ago…
so blessed to have had that holiday… looking forward to the day we can do it again…
macadamia…
29 Tuesday Dec 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, daughter, dishes, family, gift, macadamia, Maui, memories, moments, treat, widow
yesterday I had one of the chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters that were part of my Christmas present from the kids in Ottawa…
for fun, I went and found one of the little dishes that we took to Hawaii when we went in April of 2019… it looked very cute with the nut cluster on it…
so happy that we were able to go, and have such wonderful memories from our time there…
as I ate the chocolate I spent time remembering the same chocolates that we enjoyed throughout our trip;-)…
salt…
28 Monday Dec 2020
Posted in business, food, health, life, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, broken, food, pepper mill, purple, salt, seasoning, widow
so happy that my salt mill has been replaced… it stopped working a few weeks ago and I took it apart to see if I could fix it… wasn’t possible…
a bit difficult because I only have coarse salt so seasoning was troublesome…
eventually, I emptied the pepper mill and filled it with salt… for a few days it produced salt and pepper together, lol…
of course, then I couldn’t use pepper…
finally my grandson was able to pick up a replacement for me…
so happy to have salt and pepper available now;-)…
relaxed…
27 Sunday Dec 2020
Posted in food, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, camera, Christmas, friends, gift, moments, nature, orchids, pictures, purple, quiet, relaxed, supper, treat, widow
had a quiet day yesterday… spent time taking photos of ornaments on the tree and the orchids…
a friend dropped off the fixings for turkey dinner which I warmed up at supper time… it was a lovely treat and made for a relaxed and enjoyable meal… ended the day with hot lemonade in my new mug and gifted shortbread…
just another reminder of how blessed I truly am…
