28 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, foggy, halloween, leaves, misty, moments, nature, trees, walk, weather, widow
it was kind of spooky this morning when I went for my walk… very Halloween-y as the air was foggy and misty…
unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a good picture…
the leaves have fallen from most trees, but many of those left are quite lovely colours…
the mist dissipated as I walked and before the day was over the sun came out…
23 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
. soup, big girl pants, blessed, cooking, meals, moments, neighbours, sauce, tomatoes, weather, widow
I didn’t leave the house today and spent most of the day reading… I was enjoying a favourite author’s story and had trouble putting the book down, lol…
when I wasn’t reading I was making soup and meat sauce…
the soup is delicious… I used half of a roasted butternut squash, onion, celery and coconut milk… there is enough for two meals which is great… as we adjust to this colder weather I think soup will be a welcome treat…
the meat sauce used tomatoes from my neighbours, onion, oregano and ground beef… it made a lot and I will probably freeze a bit and use the rest with spaghetti…
it is always nice to have a few meals prepared and ready ahead of time;-)…
18 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
aftermath, big girl pants, blessed, friends, garden, moments, nature, sky, sunset, time together, treats, weather, widow
what a beautiful day…
our group met on the deck around the firepit in the late afternoon…
there were cheezies, shortbread cookies and pistachios to go along with the coffee and tea…
once the coffee was made, I set out blankets and cushions before everyone arrived…
this is the aftermath of our time together, lol…
it was so beautiful out that we didn’t use the blankets;-)… even at 8 pm, it was 17° Celsius…
on October 18!
and as a final treat, the sky did this;-)…
15 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
acclimatized, big girl pants, blessed, bugs, deck, garden, moments, moving, nature, plants, widow
recently brought in two of my plants which had been on the deck for the last while…
the hibiscus spent the entire summer on the deck and when it came in it sat just inside the door as it acclimatized to the temperature and hopefully dropped any bugs… it took up a fair bit of room, lol… it was moved yesterday to the corner of the dining room and today has a bloom;-)…
the mandevilla had lived right in the garden and only recently started blooming… it was covered with a plastic bag and sat in the bathtub to suffocate any non-invited guests before moving into the dining room this morning…
it will stay there for a little while, but this may not be its final resting place…
we will see…
13 Wednesday Oct 2021
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, firepit, friends, garden, moments, nature, Technology, time together, warm, weather, widow
brought the firepit onto the deck and have used it a couple of times already…
on Monday we sat around it before and after our dinner… even the dog enjoyed it…
Tuesday, my regular group sat around it in the afternoon as we met on the deck… we also had blankets if required as the temperature was around plus 10 Celsius… but it warmed us up a little and made us feel cozy… I enjoyed it as I awaited their arrival…
I’ve left it on the deck and think I might use it more there… will see how it goes when the rain stops, lol…
12 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in business, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, cookbooks, family, food, happy, memories, moments, shopping, supper, Technology, terrine, widow
decided to make a vegetable terrine for our dinner…
I thought I had the recipe in my cookbook, but not so much…
it had come from an old Company’s Coming cookbook… I am sure I photographed the recipe before giving the cookbooks away… unfortunately, I didn’t mark them as recipes and had no idea when I gave them away, lol…
I had looked online at various recipes, but none of them were even close…
I checked the computer, contacted my sister-in-law and even called the Company’s Coming company…
the person on the other end of the phone was very helpful… I was wanting to know which book the recipe was in so that I could order it online… once she knew what I was looking for she hung up and started searching… she called back within a few hours to let me know which book it was in, but that the book was no longer sold, and that the recipe wasn’t in any of the new books…
finally my sister-in-law sent me a text with a photo of a handwritten copy of the recipe…
yay, made it and enjoyed it with dinner… lots of memories…
11 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, happy, hibiscus, mandevilla, naked, nature, plants, transplanted, widow
Hilda the Gardener came by this afternoon and cleaned up the garden… there were still flowers blooming, so I was happy that she was dumping them and I didn’t have to, lol…
she emptied all of the planters and transplanted the two butterfly bushes… the plan is to try and overwinter them in the basement… we will see if they make it…
the only plants left are the dahlias which I will remove when they die back…
it looks rather naked in the garden… and the pots in the front yard are empty now… will have to decide what to put in the one on the steps for the winter…
the mandevilla and hibiscus are still on the deck but they will likely come in tomorrow…
I’m going to cover each of them with a garbage bag and leave them for a few days… hope that deals with any bugs, lol…
08 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
05 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in business, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, busy, celebrate, Feast Bistro, food, friends, garden, happy, moments, nature, reminisce, special people, sun, time, treat, weather, widow, wind, women
well, I must say I am tired… but what a delightful day it has been…
got up early and set about preparing for the day… moved 14 bags of mulch, a wheelbarrow and compost can, used the leaf blower to clean the garage floor, set up a table with a tablecloth in case it was too windy to sit outside, put out cushions and rearranged lawn furniture, prepped some fruit and whipped cream… cleaned leaves out of the pond, set out dishes, made coffee and sun tea, wrapped a gift and wrote two cards…
sat and read in the garden for half an hour and then welcomed four of the most wonderful women into the space…
visited, ate some delicious food from Feast Bistro, enjoyed the nature around us, laughed, shared stories and celebrated one another with some delicious options…
nearly lost one umbrella to the gusts of wind, but the weather was quite amazing for early October…
when they left, I finished tidying up and got ready for dinner with another wonderful woman…
when she arrived we had fish and chips (which I love), more stories and laughter… what a great visit…
it is dark now and I just finished a bowl of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream as I sit on the deck (quite comfortable in shorts and a sleeveless shirt) and reminisce about all the great parts of the day…
hope you had a good day as well…
04 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, hip, moments, pain, slow, Technology, treadmill, walk, widow
recently I’ve got back on the treadmill…
I had stopped walking on it because every time I was on it my knee and hip would end up sore…
so for a long time figure eights around the living and dining rooms were how I got my steps in… recently I began taking walks outside with my daughter on the phone (in my ear)…
as I have reintroduced walking on the treadmill, I am using a much slower speed… that seems to be working well…
I am also only walking for a short period because I don’t want to hurt myself again…
I am careful that I don’t get so engrossed in the show I’m watching that I stay on it for too long, lol…
