03 Wednesday Jun 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterfly, dragonfly, frog, garden, moments, nature, rust-coloured, widow
today, I spotted a small black butterfly with rust along the bottom third… it flew away before I got a picture, lol…
not long after, a tiny little wood frog hopped across the deck by the pond…
not much bigger than a thumbnail…
and finally, a beautiful rust-coloured dragonfly…
such fun to see so much nature;-)…
30 Saturday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, everywhere, family, flowers, garden, moments, morning glory, parcel, plants, seeds, tea towel, widow
got a parcel in the mail from my daughter in Ottawa…
it contained eight packets of a variety of morning glory seeds and an adorable tea towel covered in flowers…
a wonderful treat, and it means I can plant morning glories everywhere 🤪…
and I am going to…
29 Friday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, family, garden, grandson, hardening, houseplants, moments, nature, outside, plants, weather, widow
Tuesday afternoon the majority of the larger house plants made it outside…
they have just made it onto the deck and a few will be moved elsewhere soon…
the smaller ones will come out in the next few days as space is made for them in the garden…
I’m being wild and crazy this year and not hardening any of them off…
this is also the first year in quite a while that I didn’t start any plants in the house…
we will see how they adapt to the rather warm weather and bright sun… 🤞
28 Thursday May 2026
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buddies, clothes, fit, friends, garden, in the garden, moments, shopping, success, widow
recently I went clothes shopping with one of my buddies…
it started in the garden when our group gathered for our first outdoor visit of the season…
she had purchased some items and had taken them home to try on and discovered they didn’t fit… I fell in love with a top and pants, tried them on, and bought them from her on the spot…
then I went with her to the store so she could return others and we both had a lovely time…
she found a few things she’d been searching for, and I picked up two pairs of shorts and two very nice summer tops…
excellent day;-)…
23 Saturday May 2026
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, friend, greenery, happy, items, moments, Park Cafe, update, widow
walked to and from the Park for lunch on Thursday…
happy to see the new design and menu items and so pleased to meet up with a wonderful friend and spend some quality time together;-)…
the place looks great, with more greenery and comfortable chairs that move much easier… the space seems more open… didn’t even realize that the kitchen was no longer visible…
the menu looked much classier than the previous version and my falafel plate was excellent, as always…
my friend had the eggs Benedict which was also tasty…
the fried potatoes with onions was not a favourite…
we watched adult geese wander the paths with their numerous babies as we enjoyed our meal…
I took this photo as I was crossing the bridge;-)…
lovely…
22 Friday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, double, family, garden, jobs, moments, nature, warm, water, weather, widow
got more done in the garden on Wednesday… thankfully the weather cooperated and the sun was out for most of the day and the temperature was in the double digits…
we figured out how to make the planters fit better around the deck and even used up some wood that we had saved from a bed;-)…
another piece of the bench got replaced which made me happy…
planters were moved and others brought out of the shed as I work on where to put them this year…
a few plants went into the ground and the rhubarb got moved to a much better location…
looking forward to some rhubarb crisp;-)…
18 Monday May 2026
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, healthy, hospital, mango, memories, moments, sick, wanted, widow
lately I’ve been using frozen mango in my morning yogurt rather than my usual raspberries…
it has reminded me of the six weeks I spent in St. Boniface hospital over fifteen years ago…
for five of those weeks I was unable to eat, or drink anything… feeding tubes and IVs…
finally, towards the very end of my stay I was allowed to drink something…
and, for whatever reason, I wanted mango juice… my family searched high and low, but were unable to find any…
finally, after I returned home, some was produced, lol…
so my yogurt with frozen mango in it has been a reminder of that time in my life…
these reminders make me realize how blessed I am…
17 Sunday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blocks, family, garden, moments, nature, pond, running, sparrows, waterfall, weather, widow
I can’t explain how happy I am…
Wednesday, after hours of work in and around the pond we got it cleaned, filled with water and the waterfall and second pump going;-)…
a hose was dug into the dirt and blocks tidied up from last year’s construction…
there were a dozen various sparrows snacking on the grass and clover seed that went down last Saturday, lol…
they have also been enjoying the water with baths and drinks…
the back deck is not quite set up, but I managed to get a cushion on one of the chairs and sat out enjoying the wonderful sound of the water cascading from the waterfall and over the rock…
and while we were working on the pond, Hilda the Gardener was tidying up all the flower beds, in the hope that someday we will be able to plant, lol…
16 Saturday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, circulating, family, garden, moments, music, pond, prep, pumps, widow, working
started work on the pond…
first step was to empty out the water… that was done last Saturday…
on Wednesday, after using the wet-vac and vacuuming the leaves and other crud out of the bottom, the pumps were set in place…
then the water flowed in and the pumps started circulating… which also means the waterfall began making wonderful music…
what a treat…
15 Friday May 2026
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
arches, beans, big girl pants, blessed, cucumbers, family, garden, light, planter, plants, weather, widow, wire
next part of the project was to install two arches where I am hoping to grow cucumbers and beans and morning glories;-)…
they will be located between the pond and the deck…
I’m hopeful that the light will help grow more veggies and brighten up that section of the garden;-)…
now the arches are in, two planters from other areas of the garden will be placed under them to hold the plants, once the grass/clover comes through the dirt/compost/sand… fingers crossed…
we picked up some wire and fastened it to the arches using zip ties…
it will be interesting to see how long it takes to cover the arches with greenery…
