Category Archives: health

finished…

24 Sunday May 2015

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up way too early and had a five am hot tub … put out all the cushions so the garden would be ready when I got home from the Diabetes Walk that some of my colleagues and I were taking part in…

 
walked over to the Park and met our group… three were doing the 10 km walk, two of us did the five km one, and one did about three kilometres before getting a bit lost…

It was a beautiful day for a walk and about three hundred people participated in a number of options… we had a great time and saw a few friends doing some of the more strenuous runs… 

this is what we saw ahead of us as we began…

 
the Park is so beautiful at this time of year and we got to walk around the Formal Gardens with their wonderful canopy of trees… had to get a shot of these beauties as we walked by…

  
once we all finished we headed out for brunch and had fun… great to spend time with these amazing folks outside of the office…

got home and rested my weary feet in the garden… sadly I have a few blisters… finally finished book five of Game of Thrones as I sat out there…

kids came for dinner and we ate outside for the second day in a row… still no bugs…

finished planting all the flowers that we picked up yesterday, except for one iris which I haven’t quite figured out where to put, lol…

  
enjoying a few quiet minutes by the pond before heading in… think a hot tub is in the plans for a bit later…

gardening…

23 Saturday May 2015

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what a wonderful day…

up early, had breakfast and headed into the garden… set out the cushions and cleaned all the tables… took out all the plants from the dining room and set them beside the pond…

  
got all the water plants into the pond and then took a little break…

  
still looks a bit empty…

  
before long the water hyacinth will multiply and the water lilies will pop up to the surface and fill in with green lily pads…

the kids came over and my grandson and his friend worked away in the side garden cleaning up two years worth of weeds… looking very nice… I am so happy that we got this done as last year I just pretended there wasn’t anything there, lol…

my daughter and I went to a couple of garden centres and got most of the plants I will need…

the little boys picked up twigs and swept the decks while we were gone… had pizza for supper and they headed home…

filled the planters around the deck, made three baskets, and planted about seven pots before I finally came in tonight…

took a few breaks to read and watch the goldfinches at the feeder…

all around, an excellent day…

plodding…

22 Friday May 2015

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laying in my swing by the pond enjoying the sound of the water running down and over the rocks…  

  
beautiful out… looks like it made it to 27 and it is still 20 right now… gonna put out those plants tomorrow:-)…

early this morning a very chatty bird was at the front feeder… didn’t get a good shot because it was dancing from perch to perch… think it might have been some type of small woodpecker…

  
nice shot of the orchid as it gets ready to bloom again… rather slow process but fun to watch day by day…

 

there’s a robin singing in the tree above me as the solar lights come on around the pond… 
  
spent some time today thinking of friends who are struggling with various problems… wishing there was more to do than sending good vibes their way to support them in these difficult days… remembering back to similar difficulties in my life and how dark the days were as I plodded one step after the other… and wishing them the kind of peace I have since received, further down the road…

amazing what a person can get through and how life really does get better…

fancy…

21 Thursday May 2015

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what a wonderful afternoon and evening…

left work at 2:30 as I’d put in a couple of extra hours since yesterday…

  
had a bit of fun at the mall… got some fancy tea, fancy soap, fancy underwear and a pair of fancy shorts (or culottes)…

got home and booked a flight to Ottawa… sat out in the garden for a short time and then headed out for a BS birthday dinner in a convertible…

  
enjoyed a delicious dinner, lots of laughs and good conversation… two hours flew by…

  
fabulous group of women… we have been through a lifetime together… 

I couldn’t have better friends…

frost…

20 Wednesday May 2015

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as the weather is supposed to be back to normal here, I moved a basket of flowers outside this morning, to one of the planters at the front… looked beautiful…

  
took a few minutes to put out the solar lights that I picked up yesterday… 

 

the creek is very high from all that rain on the weekend… was rather surprised how full it was…

once I got home from work I stuck the lights into the ground around the pond… looking forward to seeing how they look after dark…

gorgeous day so I ate my dinner on the deck… yay spring…

still a chance of frost, so I have brought the flowers back in, lol… 

one of these days I’m sure they will be able to go out and stay… preferably before they die from being in the house…

moments…

19 Tuesday May 2015

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spent a lovely hour sitting by the pond as I waited for my car to have an oil change and bath…

watched this family of geese…  

 

they are the only inhabitants at the moment… I have been there when there were many families but that must have been later in the season…

  
busy babies…

  
I was thinking the water must be cold as they paddled along for a short stint in the pond… it was a special moment…

spent the afternoon in the garden…

 
saw goldfinches…

  a black and white warbler… maybe a yellow warbler but it moved too quickly for me to get a photo… 

 
and this cute sparrow…

day filled with special moments… great to have the time to enjoy them…

broken…

18 Monday May 2015

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woke up to this…

  
part way through the night the wind finally died down… apparently it was gusting into the 90 km per hour range at the airport, which is close to where I live… the whole house shook for a good part of the evening… didn’t really sleep well until it slowed down…

cold with a bit of wind during the day, but eventually the sun came out and melted the majority of the snow…

my daughter and the little boys came over for supper and she helped me put the swing back on its feet… sadly one of the spokes on the umbrella part of it broke, so we will have to see about getting that repaired…

 
the ground is covered with elm seeds, leaves, twigs and small branches that have come down… good news is that the tree stayed right where it was supposed to…

didn’t get out today but had a good walk on the treadmill…

had a fun time taking a few shots of the lobelia… I do love the flowers and enjoy taking the pictures…

 

 

weeds…

16 Saturday May 2015

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a while ago I was weeding in the garden but couldn’t tell if this one plant was a weed… decided to leave it for a bit and see how it grew…

well, today I figured out that it was a weed, fast growing and with deep roots… deeper than dandelions… couldn’t get one out no matter what I did… 

spent some time reading in between the weeding… day turned out to be lovely… put my new gazing ball into the pond… will see how it does there…

  
the fish are quite skittish… hiding under the bridge most of the time and rushing back there if they are elsewhere and hear any noises… even a car driving down the lane… odd but we will see what happens as the weather warms up and they get used to the space…

  
thankfully the kids came by for supper and mowed the grass, whipper snipped and vacuumed some of the garden… and pulled out that weed…  looks great out there…

we ran out to Home Depot and I found some white wooly thyme which I hope to plant tomorrow if the weather holds…

  
best thing today was seeing a goldfinch fly through the garden in the afternoon… made sure to fill all the feeders so maybe next time it will stop for a snack…

burger…

14 Thursday May 2015

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food has become an important part of my existence as I work to keep my diabetes under control…

makes me think of my dad, who ate to live… food was just something he had to get into his body to give him energy… he had emphysema and eating used up a lot of his energy… if there was too much food on his plate he couldn’t eat anything… 

because of that I think I have always been empathetic of those who have trouble keeping their weight up…

for most of us the problem is trying to keep the weight off… and it is hard to understand the difficulty in struggling to maintain it… sadly I know many who deal with this…

tonight I had a burger… a veggie burger…

  
it was quite delicious… who knew that I would be eating, and enjoying, vegetarian food…

have been trying to eat meatless at least once a week… so far my favourite has been a “chick’n burger”…

looking forward to trying some of these on the barbecue…

interning the turns our lives take…

peace…

13 Wednesday May 2015

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yesterday I received a lovely Mother’s Day card in the mail…

  
lovely peaceFULL card… my daughter has used a peace sign as part of her signature since she was a teenager so this card holds lots of meaning for me…

had a miserable headache for a good part of the day yesterday, but it was gone when I woke up this morning…

made sure to water all the plants that we brought home from the greenhouses… they are looking good as they await their transfer into the garden… can hardly wait for the weather to warm up so that they can get out there… the garden is my refuge and I am eager to spend time in it…

 

stopped in for a haircut and then a few groceries on my way home from work tonight… this morning I had to search for something for breakfast as I had run out of early morning foods, lol… picked up a few kinds of cereal, yogurt and fresh veggies… for many years I didn’t eat breakfast and now I try to make sure that there are easy things to eat so that I can stay on track…

I think that knowing I am sticking to my diabetes plan makes me feel good about life in general…