03 Tuesday Jan 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, hoarfrost, hot tub, land, moments, nature, new year, snow, trees, water, weather, widow
started the year off with a lovely hot tub…
the trees were covered in hoarfrost and looked so nice…
I finally got a photo of the icicles hanging along the edge of the house…
I think they are there because of where the hot tub is located and I no longer sit at that end because I don’t want one to land on my head…
01 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
blessed, coal, dark, definition, family, first footing, garden, her big girl pants, home, loss, memories, moments, remembering, tradition, widow
we have done first-footing since I was a little girl… for us, it meant that just before midnight on New Year’s Eve my dad, who had dark hair, would jump in the car and drive around to all our aunts and uncles and grandparents’ houses and take them an offering – it always included coal, bread and sometimes oranges and a little drink of something… I also remember how my dad would have to search out new coal every year because no one ever kept it from year to year, lol…
from Dalhousie Castle:
“Stemming back to the time of the invading Vikings in the 8th and 9thcentury, it is believed that the first person to enter a house, the “first foot”, can bring luck – or misfortune – for the year ahead. In Scottish tradition good luck comes in the form of a tall, dark-haired man being the first footer.” Dec 7, 2020
I spent time this morning looking back at some of the different ways it has happened for me…
my daughter being the first female to cross the threshold first when she was here in 2017…
my middle grandson taking home a bag and making sure to bring it and be the first one to cross my threshold…
my daughter arranging for friends to come by with a box of items she had sent to them…
while visiting the kids in Ottawa, having a diamond necklace in the bag because there wasn’t any coal, lol… and I did have to give it back🤪…
this morning I went out the back door in my housecoat, walked around to the front door, and first-footed myself…
those big girl pants 😂…
31 Saturday Dec 2022
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beginnings, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, endings, enjoy, friends, Life, memories, moments, remember, struggles, widow
been thinking of those in my circle who are struggling… sometimes it is hard to remember that not everyone finds joy at this time of year…
holidays are often a time filled with grief and pain for many… and often it comes out of the blue…
maybe the rush to get everything done and perfect adds to the stress that then can bring on ill health or sad memories…
as one year is ending and another beginning let’s all sit in the moments and enjoy as many as we can;-)…
blessings to all…
27 Tuesday Dec 2022
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunnies, garden, memories, moments, nature, paths, photos, snow, weather, widow
what a treat this morning…
as I was heading downstairs I spotted not one but two bunnies in the garden…
this could explain the numerous paths through the snow;-)…
it always amazes me how those special moments happen… how I just happen to look out the window at that moment…
life is good 😊…
25 Sunday Dec 2022
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
banging, banging pots, big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Day, dinner, early start, family, food, friends, gifts, grandson, kids, moments, purple, reading, relaxing, special day, Technology, treats, tree, visits, widow
I wasn’t expecting to get up early, but apparently my body remembers previous Christmas mornings, lol… although it was 6:47 am when I woke up, for many years it was often around 4… and I would eventually start banging pots in the kitchen to encourage all of the sleepers to wake up…
around 7:30 I got up, made breakfast and then read for a while in the living room enjoying the tree lights…
there were matching pyjamas, calls, texts, visits and naps throughout the day… the naps may have had something to do with the 6:47 wake-up, lol…
spaced amongst all of that were relaxing dinner preparations… beautiful mashed potatoes, delicious stuffing and tasty gravy went perfectly with chicken, turnip, ham, and previously homemade cranberry sauce…
I was absolutely spoiled with a myriad of wonderful gifts…
a lovely day… amazingly blessed, as always…
23 Friday Dec 2022
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
aquasize, big girl pants, blessed, Captain's Table, Christmas music, cold, fabulous, Falafel Place, food, friends, gifts, lunch out, moments, nature, special people, time, treat, visit, weather, widow
had a busy day yesterday… makes me laugh, because usually my days are quietly spent at home reading and watching tv…
started with our aquasize class in the morning… even though it was very cold outside… lots of fun as the session was filled with holiday music that many sang along to…
from there we were off for lunch at the Falafel Place… perfect timing as most people were nearly done as we arrived… had falafel with hummus and salad… it was yummy…
home to spend time listening to Christmas music and reading…
then, a dear friend came by with fish and chips for our dinner… and brought Christmas presents;-)…
I was so excited to spend time with them that I completely forgot to take a photo of my meal, lol…
after we finished our dinner we had cookies and a wonderful visit…
I am so blessed with fabulous friends 🥹…
20 Tuesday Dec 2022
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chihuly, food, friends, garage, garden, gathering, group, happy, home, longtime, meeting, moments, pandemic, treats, weather, widow
Monday afternoons our longtime group meets…
we used to meet in the evening when we all worked, lol… since we are all retired now, we’ve moved to the afternoon… for some of the pandemic we met online and since the spring we’ve been meeting in the garden… then we moved into the garage for a while…
we moved into the house in the fall… for a number of weeks, I left the front and back doors slightly open and we wore our masks until everyone was sitting down…
now, the doors are closed and we no longer wear masks, but I still bring the coffee into the living room, where we gather;-)…
everyone drinks decaf, except me and my tea…
we often have pistachios and sometimes folks bring other treats… a great time of conversation and sharing…
what a gift these women have been for me…
19 Monday Dec 2022
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, exercise, hard work, memories, moments, nature, path, shovelling, snow, weather, widow, yards
hadn’t shovelled for a few days so went out on Saturday morning to do the sidewalk so people knew I was alive, lol…
wow… a lot of snow had come down…
besides doing the front sidewalk and a space towards each of the neighbours’ yards for the mail carrier, I also shovel a single path along the driveway to get to the vents for the furnace…
I want to be sure they aren’t plugged with snow, which stops the furnace… not a good look😳…
16 Friday Dec 2022
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dessert, dinner, family, food, garden, gather, grandson, lounge, meal, moments, nature, photos, pork tenderloin, restaurant, risotto, tasty, Technology, The Leaf, treat, widow
once we left The Leaf biomes, we checked out the gift shop and then were able to get a table in the lounge portion of Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar…
the space looks fresh and has some very cool lights…
we were happy to get in because online it appeared there weren’t any spots available until January 😳…
the food was good as was the service… I had pork tenderloin and my grandson had the risotto…
they were both tasty, although I found the pickled carrot purée a bit spicy, lol… the risotto was very tasty…
we ended the meal with two desserts which we shared, lol… I chose the flour-less chocolate fudge cake and my grandson the chocolate mille-feuille…
in the end we liked what the other person ordered best😂…
had a great time and enjoyed the entire evening… can’t wait to go back again…
12 Monday Dec 2022
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chicken soup, delicious, dumplings, food, gummy, homemade, moments, relaxing, time, widow
felt a bit like I was getting a cold, so I dug in the freezer for some chicken and made chicken soup…
just the making of the soup is always relaxing… you can’t really do it quickly… slow and steady;-)…
I also decided on Mom’s dumplings to go with it… that reminded me of the time I took chicken soup with dumplings for my colleagues… a few hadn’t had dumplings, so I made very small ones which I thought would work well… NOT… they were gummy and yucky, sigh… clearly not the way to serve them… so funny, lol…
six o’clock came and I enjoyed a bowl filled with delicious broth, veggies and dumplings…
felt way better🤗…
and then there were a couple of meals ready in the fridge…
herbiggirlpants 