Category Archives: life

purpled…

28 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

up early so I’d be ready when my son-in-law arrived after he got off work… he did exactly what I had done with the pump, but when he did it, it worked, lol… apparently I should have shaken the float…

had an appointment to get my hair purpled… it had come to the point that there was barely any colour left in it… need to get my photo taken for my licence so wanted to have it lovely and bright…

my hairdresser had a little girl in April and I was able to hold her for a few minutes… what a sweetie… 

  
you can also see the new cover on my phone… picture of an orchid at work… came out pretty good…

tonight I made cauliflower rice for supper… it was easy and tasty… might try feeding it to my grandkids one day…

  
strange weather… poured like gangbusters just as my son-in-law left… then was overcast off and on, and humid for the remainder of the day… lovely wind came up which has cooled it down very nicely…

  
mandevilla blossoms today…

natural…

27 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by in life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

  
the pond tonight… waterfall is not running, not sure why, but my son-in-law is coming tomorrow morning to see if he can figure it out…

bad start to the day… looked outside first thing to see that the waterfall wasn’t running and the water was very low… ran out to turn the hose on… the gazing ball was in a strange place and the bubbler was at an odd angle…

  
and then I spotted the fish carcasses all over the deck and the bridge…

I think a family of raccoons must have come by after the storm last night and had a sushi buffet…

all of the big fish are gone and I could only count about six small ones still swimming…

looked like a crime scene with fish corpses and plants ripped out of the pond…

miserable job to clean it up… had to use a shovel and disposable gloves to pick everything up, and then hose it down… still fish scales left on the deck, even after spraying it twice…

  
tomorrow I will pick them up by hand…

I am usually thrilled with all creatures that wander through the garden… maybe not so much for ones who destroy the natural setting…

drenched…

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

up early and headed to the Gimli area… lots of waves rolling in as we were waiting for the boat to get launched…

  
bit of a sign about the trip along the lake to get to the beach where we met friends…

soaking wet and bounced all the way across… yikes… thought we were going to lose the dog and smallest person a couple of times…

boys tubed while we sat on the beach… a dragonfly sat on my leg for at least a minute…

  
oldest grandson got a bad rope burn on the back of his leg so we had a bit of drama but he is doing much better now…

lunch on the beach and then my daughter and I went out on the tube… what fun:-)…

  
the boys had a wonderful time playing in, on, and around the boat…

  
took the boat back to the launch and got drenched again… daughter laughed most of the way as my face was soaked time and again with spray…  she thought it was hilarious considering how I dislike getting my face wet… 

supper with friends, walk for ice cream and we are heading home after a great day…

  
hoping we beat the storm and don’t get drenched again…

new…

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by in life, nature, technology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

put out the cushions, watered the plants, filled the pond, and then finally sat in the garden…

  
just about then a large bird flew through the garden and landed on the trellis behind the waterfall… the sparrows flew away very quickly… from my bird app I think it was a hawk… that was new, as I’ve never seen one in the garden…

shortly after that the kids picked me up and we went lounge chair shopping…

  
got this one and then a cushion from another store… not sure whether to keep the cushion… 

  
picked up this umbrella for the kids and when they put it up the crank stopped working and we had to take it back, but we got a new one which seems okay…

  
they got a new lounger and cushion and someone is very happy with it…

  
and now we are sitting on their deck swatting mosquitoes…

sleeping over and going to spend the day boating in Gimli… great start to my holidays…

I am just about ready for bed, cause there was no nap today…

art…

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

had to get out of the car and take a picture of the side of the house this morning…

looks like someone or something ran up the side… kind of artistic…

  
too funny…

yesterday there was a note from Hydro saying I needed to read the meter again… they are rather finicky about when you read it, lol… took a picture today and will email it to them tomorrow…

  
hope this works because getting the numbers right seems to be an art…

going in search of a lounger tomorrow…

problems…

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

this morning I watered everything in the garden and finished filling the pond… it has been very warm and was going to continue that way today… all the plants were parched… had wondered why it had taken so long to fill yesterday and realized that both taps were open so it was trying to send the water down two hoses at the same time…

  
as I was watering, the pond stopped running again… big problem… waited for it to fill up but it didn’t start even with lots of water in it… lifted the float and nothing happened… uh oh… thought I was going to have to call my son-in-law to come and figure it out, sigh…

then I realized that the second pump had stopped as well, so I ran downstairs and checked the fuses… they were all fine… took out the plugs and tried to reset the power box… didn’t work… tried one more time and success… felt very big girl pant ish and rather proud of myself for figuring it out… still going when I got home… yay me…

  
also spotted two frogs in the bathtub pond beside the garage… very exciting to see them, but worried that they might not be able to get out… now I like frogs but I have no plan to pick them up, lol… think tomorrow I will search out a board I can put into the pond that will offer a path for them to use to get out… I’d love them to stay but don’t want them to be trapped…

the mandevilla is enjoying the heat…

  
took the hot peppers to the office so someone would use them, lol…

  
lots going on in the garden…

yikes…

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature, technology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

the pond wasn’t running when I got up this morning… not good… the water had gone down so low that the float stopped the pump…

took more than twenty minutes to get it to the level that it started to flow again… and I didn’t have any more time to finish filling it…

meanwhile I was running around the house searching for my medical card… which I didn’t find… still have quite a few items to put away as I pulled them out looking for the darn thing… when I went to Ottawa I only took things I felt I would need and left the rest in two places… thought I took it, but it is nowhere to be found…

I needed it because I had a meet and greet appointment with a new general practitioner… 

to top off the trio of issues, the printer wouldn’t spit out an outline of some of my medical history which I wanted to take with me… yikes… emailed it to the office and did it there…

thankfully was able to go and pick up a new card while I was downtown…

took this picture of a spot I used to walk to every day after work to meet my friend and driving buddy…

  
I do like water, lol so it was lovely to see it… felt like 30°C out there…

met the doctor and he was prepared to accept me as a patient, which was great news… he is a recent grad and very personable… and is part of a good-sized clinic much closer to home…

looking forward to getting to know him better…

  
haven’t seen any monarchs snacking on this yet…

fresh…

21 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

checked out Vic’s Fruit Market today… what a lovely place… lots of different and interesting items… also got in a visit with someone I haven’t seen much of lately…

collected a great bagful of goodies…

  
the fruit and veggies were beautifully displayed and in excellent condition, much fresher than most places I shop…

the tiny baby potatoes were adorable… usually I have to pick through to find the smallest ones, but they had them already bagged…

brought everything home and made a delicious dinner with some steamed shrimp… enjoyed each mouthful…

 

had my dessert first with a bowl of raspberries and cream… yum… 
  
this water canna is quite spectacular… can’t even count the number of blossoms it is going to have… looks like it will be blooming for days… woohoo…

have I mentioned how much I love summer…

nervous…

20 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

yesterday was three years since my cancer surgery…

today I had my regular six-month check-up… which I will have until five years have gone by… the chances of the cancer reoccurring are basically nil as the doctor pointed out today, but I was still nervous…

  
usually my daughter comes with me but she wasn’t able to today… didn’t even want to be in the building so soon after my friends’ deaths… and it isn’t CancerCare’s fault… they did everything they possibly could…

everything went well and I am fine… back to the office in record time…

  
combined the homemade pesto with whole wheat pita bread and Brie for a great pizza, with a veggie salad for my supper… doing much better with whole wheat items, particularly if there are strong flavours with them…

I had a few pieces of Lindt Orange Intense Dark Chocolate as a treat… don’t tell my BS friends… this was supposed to be their treat from my Ottawa trip, lol… I’m sure I can save the rest of it…

healthy…

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

three years ago today I had surgery to remove a cancerous uterus and repair a large hernia…

 and here I sit, feeling great after a busy day where I walked to and from the grocery store, went plant shopping with my daughter, made supper for my kids, cleaned up after they left and am spending time enjoying the garden, not even tired…

just the other day someone commented on how quickly I had walked from one location to another…

 
so much has changed in just over three years… the devastating loss of my husband… cancer, surgery and slow recovery… diabetes diagnosis with lifestyle changes and forty pound weight loss…

I am one of the lucky ones… free of cancer and healthy…

  
and life goes on…