24 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blossoms, covered, flowers, garden, lilacs, moments, nature, scent, trees, walk, weather, widow
had a lovely walk on Tuesday;-)…
spotted lilacs everywhere I went, and enjoyed the scent…
and also saw a beautiful tree covered in white blossoms…
and finally spotted one of the mallard families;-)…
22 Monday May 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bridge, clean, fish, garden, goldfish, happy, moments, nature, pond, pump, water, widow
happy that the fish have finally decided to come out from under the bridge during the day;-)…
climbed into the pond as the pump that went into it last week was barely running…
after taking all the bits out, washed them in a pail, and then went back into the pond to return them…
when I turned it back on, it burbled just like when it first went in…
always careful when I go into the pond, but it also makes me happy;-)…
20 Saturday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bathtub, bathtub pond, big girl pants, blessed, cushions, garden, hammock chair, happy, moments, perfect, pump, screws, umbrella, weather, widow, working
Friday was a beautiful semi-warm and sunny day…
I spent some time reading on the upper deck and when it warmed up a bit I found the screws for the hammock, removed the umbrella, laid the whole thing down, and attached all four legs tightly… put everything back together and then added a couple of cushions to the hammock chair and it is now perfect;-)… I may have had a short nap in it while taking a break from reading…
I am very happy as the shape of this chair is much more comfortable than the previous one… I think it will get more use, but we shall see…
a little later, I used the fishnet in the bathtub pond to clean out all the dead water hyacinths from last year… then I brought out the wet-vac and sucked out the dead leaves and water… next I put together the pieces for the new pump and set it into the pond… after filling it up, turned on the pump and it worked… yay…
now it is burbling nicely…
feels like I got quite a bit done;-)…
19 Friday May 2023
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunny, burbling, garden, goldfinch, happy, home, moments, nature, pond, quiet, Technology, water, weather, widow
early Tuesday morning I was sitting on the back deck, listening to the burbling of the pond, as a bunny came right up next to me… we chatted, well I chatted and the bunny twitched its nose for a few minutes, before it hopped away… pleased that it felt comfortable as I sat there reading quietly… well, maybe it didn’t notice me, lol…
reminded me of how truly blessed I am… and what a wonderful life I lead…that I can sit in the sunshine and shade in my garden and enjoy the nature around me – the birds, and squirrels, and bunnies, and bees – every day that I want…
and while I was there, to hear about the ducklings that hatched yesterday, and today crossed a busy street with their momma, (protected by two different people families) in Ottawa to find a swimming pool to start the next portion of their journey…
later in the day I stood up from a chair on the upper deck and spotted a goldfinch at the feeder… it flitted about nervously for a few moments and then, when it felt safe, called its partner to come and eat… they were happy for a while, until a squirrel came and chased them away…
if I hadn’t stood up at just that moment I would have missed them… a lovely treat…
made chicken soup from the leftovers of Sunday’s dinner and tested out a few new purchases which arrived at the door…
nice…
17 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, friends, garden, gather, Lily Stone Cafe, memories, moments, nature, pond, reminisced, summer, sun-tea, Tea, together, widow
Monday was our group’s first gathering in the garden this year…
we started out by the pond and when it got too hot and sunny, we moved to the upper deck… I am going to put out a few more umbrellas next time…
there was sun-tea, snacks and lots of conversation… I didn’t take a single picture, not even of the garden, lol… I did find this one of the five of us after our fancy tea…
we reminisced about our fabulous High Tea at Lily Stone Cafe the week before and began considering where we might go next;-)…
one of the loveliest things that has happened over the last few years is that we have been able to meet throughout the summer… for many years, everyone would have places to go and things to do, so we wouldn’t gather from July until September… now it has worked out that we are able to be together for most weeks of summer…
what a treat these women are…
16 Tuesday May 2023
Posted in business, family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, connections, cushions, deck, family, fence, fish, food, friends, garden, meals, Merlin App, moments, most, nature, neighbours, pond, sound, sparrows, Technology, time, weather, widow
Sunday, spent the entire day in the garden… it was warm and sunny…
set out all the chair cushions and even brought out the decorative ones…
then, most of the fish came outside… a few just wouldn’t be caught, lol… apparently a project for another day…
tea, reading, and bird watching took up a good part of the day… I am loving the sound portion of my Merlin App… it has come in especially helpful for me to identify the many sparrows that come and go…
White-Crowned, White-Throated, Harris’s, Song, and Chipping Sparrows have all been around for the last week or so…
checked out the fence with the little person and his daddy on one side, as I contemplate the style of the new fence that is in the works, and had tea and snacks with the ones on the other side… they enjoy sitting by the pond and the sound of the running water…
ate all my meals on the deck, breakfast and lunch on the back, and supper on the upper…
phone calls, emails, in-person visits, and text messages came throughout the day…
truly, I am blessed;-)…
14 Sunday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean-up, condo, cushions, garden, goldfish, happy, Hilda the Gardener, moments, nature, pond, water lilies, widow, working
Friday was a great day in the garden…
first time this year I took the time to put out all the cushions… and then Hilda the Gardener arrived and began cleaning up the space… yay…
while she was working away, I climbed into the pond to reset the second pump and cover the cords…
next I brought out the water lilies from the tanks in the house and set them in the pond…
finally I caught and put three goldfish into the pond to see how they fared… maybe next week the rest will move out of the condo…
all in all a great day…
11 Thursday May 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
again, arms, big girl pants, blessed, bolt, chemicals, empty, fill, fourteen, garden, grandson, happy, hot tub, Krevco, memories, moments, Mother's Day, move, widow
early Monday morning I unplugged the hot tub again and put the pump in to empty it…
with the new hose it only takes about fifteen minutes… so much better than the old two hour procedure…
Mike from Krevco arrived later and moved the tub away from the wall… then he spent a good half hour trying to remove the bolt in the broken arm…
eventually both arms were attached and the lid was back on… yay…
once my grandson got home in the evening we were able to get the hot tub back into the correct spot… sounds easy, but if it isn’t in just the correct place, the lids won’t open… but we got it into place and then it took an hour and a half to fill…
a slow process, but done… then it was restarted and will take quite a while to come up to temperature as it is plugged into an outlet, not hardwired, lol…
tonight I have been adding the start-up chemicals, with twenty minutes between each addition, and am looking forward to a lovely late evening time in it;-)…
Sunday (well, Mother’s Day) will mark the fourteenth year since I had the first dip in it;-)…
I truly am blessed…
10 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, deck, garden, gloves, hard work, leaves, moments, nature, planter boxes, raking, twigs, widow, yardwaste
last week, after aquasize, lunch, and a nap, I got to work in the garden…
first up, all the planter boxes under the deck came out and went into their spots around the deck… will need to add some compost and additional soil in them before too long so they will be ready for plants…
after a break to do some reading, lol, it was on to raking up some of the leaves… wore my new Christmas gardening gloves… not only are they made from recycled material, they are purple and fit nicely…
filled a yardwaste bag with the dead cedar and elm leaves… looks better but will still need a bit of work…
05 Friday May 2023
Posted in business, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, early, easier, giveaway, hardest, health, landfill, moments, stuff, Technology, widow
I’ve been thinking about all of the stuff I’ve given away over the last six months…
it makes me so happy to be able to share with others and not add unnecessarily to the landfills…
it is also getting easier to let go of stuff… and the simple way to arrange a pickup by going online is also helpful…
currently the hardest part is to remember to get up early enough to get all of the boxes onto the front steps…
herbiggirlpants 