Category Archives: life

full…

10 Wednesday Sep 2014

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this morning I got a couple of shots of the moon… it was full last night but cloudy here, so I was happy to see it this morning…

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IMG_8155.JPGweather has been very cool and the plants in the garden are shivering…

brought in the Japanese Maple because I don’t want it to lose all its leaves again…

enjoyed the beauty of the clouds in the sky as I drove to the office, the sound of the geese flying over and also my lovely ornament hanging from the rear view mirror…

IMG_8162.JPGit is a sterling Christmas ornament that spells out JOY… it is hanging there to help me find my car, lol… but it also reminds me to see the joy in everything…

maybe…

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

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the other day when I was cleaning out that difficult drawer, I came across this key…

IMG_8148.JPGthought it looked like the one for the safety deposit box they showed me at the credit union …

very excited and hopeful, I stopped in on my way home tonight to see…

the person I showed it to thought it was theirs as well… she found another
staff person and we went into the vault and they tried it in two boxes, both with the same number…

it didn’t fit either… we’ve had that
safety deposit box for probably forty years… think they moved it when the credit union moved to its new location, lol… haven’t been in it since 2005… and I’m fairly sure it is empty…

they can have a locksmith come in and drill it open for about $150, so if I can’t find the key I may have to do that…

currently I pay around $50 per year for it… used to be about $15 which didn’t seem too expensive…

tonight a few flowers were still blooming, even though the temperature has been very chilly for the last few days…

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maybe the right key will turn up…

technology…

08 Monday Sep 2014

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was pleased to discover some interesting use of technology while in Ottawa…

the Mosaika light show on the Central Block of the Parliament buildings was amazing… even the littlest person thought it had only taken ten minutes, although it was a thirty minute presentation…

IMG_8133.JPGthe use of the building as the backdrop for the light and sound show was clever and the music and slides used interesting techniques… especially liked the 3D effect toward the end of the show…

IMG_8134.JPGwe went to Zak’s twice for breakfast… the first time the server used a napkin to take down our order because the app on his phone wasn’t working…

IMG_8137-1.JPGthe second time the server’s app worked perfectly and she ordered and calculated the cost at the same time… while there I had wonderful spinach eggs Benedict on a hash brown patty, delicious…

IMG_8136.JPGthe pilot of our balloon was using an app on his phone which gave him flight information and which he used to record the flight…

IMG_8135.JPGhis pursuit team also had an app which helped them be the first (of seven teams) to arrive at our touchdown spot…

always interesting what technology you can find if you keep your eyes open…

ahhhhh…

07 Sunday Sep 2014

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finally have my feet up after a very full day…

kids called to see if I’d like to go to the zoo… said yes and made spinach dip while I waited for them to pick me up…

we had a great time… one of the bears was swimming, one was by the open space where they can connect with people – I’m guessing that was Hudson – and one wandered in the area by the Tundra Grill so we got to watch for quite a while as we had a bite to eat… took very few pictures as I wanted to just watch…

IMG_8111.JPGgot a pic with all my grandkids…

we spent time in the butterfly garden and I took this photo…

IMG_8112.JPGthen we went outside and found this butterfly, too funny…

IMG_8113.JPGwhen we got home we prepped for a shower for our friend and her twins… we worked right up to, and during the shower…

my reward…

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steps…

06 Saturday Sep 2014

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was going to try to put the shoe storage units on the wall this morning, but I didn’t have any screws… a bit humorous because somewhere in the garage I expect there are hundreds of them…

then I moved to organizing a drawer and in the process had to destroy some items of my beloved’s… still amazingly difficult…

I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items and when I got home discovered that the pond was nearly out of water… turned it off and filled it up again…

listened to geese flying over as I was filling the pond… I do love that sound…

the moon is gorgeous tonight…

IMG_8073.JPGlittle steps as I continue to wear those big girl pants…

little…

05 Friday Sep 2014

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yesterday I spent some glorious time with two little persons, had to retake one of the photos today because one didn’t turn out, lol…

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IMG_8034.JPGgot to spend time holding each of them while they had a lovely nap… we had a wonderful lunch and then everyone went home and I had a nap…

IMG_8009.JPGsnuggling babies can be exhausting…

this morning I got a few good shots of raindrops on the hibiscus…

IMG_8055.JPGalso a pic of blue and purple morning glories…

IMG_8054.JPGlovely way to spend the last of my vacation…

spiders…

04 Thursday Sep 2014

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can’t believe the number of spiders I have found in the house in the last few weeks…

yesterday they seemed to be everywhere… this one was under the fridge…

IMG_7990.JPGI wasn’t able to deal with it… and not ten minutes later I found this one in a pot on the stove…

IMG_7991.JPGI was able to take the pot outside and dump it over the deck…

today I was sorting through some baskets at the front door and found one in the brim of a hat and got it outside… another on a cupboard door and finally one on the back door…

enough already… I am still afraid of them, but I get the fly swatter or Kleenex or a shoe and do what needs to be done…

they’ve been in the bathroom and even the bedroom…

wearing those big girl pants a lot lately…

firsts…

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

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this morning I was able to spend some time remembering the girls’ first days of school… I was privileged to be home while they were young and can still remember the excitement of those special days…

my baby watched her first born get on his first school bus as he headed to a French-only high school in St. Boniface…

IMG_7989.JPGher baby starts kindergarten in the next few days and the middle one started grade 4 today…

hard to believe they are so grown up…

after that I spent a good part of the day with our photo albums because I knew there were some first day pics of them…

it was great fun as I wandered through our life in photos… was missing my
beloved as I went through them… found a few to give away in the process…

IMG_7987.JPGI think this is our oldest’s first day of kindergarten…

IMG_7986.JPGthis is probably the youngest’s first day of kindergarten and the oldest’s first day of grade 2…

two other firsts today… saw my first monarch of the summer as I was walking home from breakfast at the “A” with my daughter… not sure if I saw any the year before, which was very sad… I still remember how one year my vacation was at the same time as the caterpillars moved to butterflies and I got great pictures of the entire process… truly miraculous…

late in the afternoon I walked into the garden and spotted a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower… I was so excited because we haven’t seen any in the garden or even the neighbourhood for more than ten years… of course I didn’t have my phone or camera with me… I’ve been out a few times in the hope of seeing her again, but no luck…

to celebrate this day filled with firsts I baked lobster tails for dinner, a great treat…

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home…

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

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this morning I woke in my own bed… it was lovely… the bed I was in over the last week was fine, but there is something about being in your own…

last night I thought about having a hot tub but could hear the police helicopter flying over in circles… usually that means they are searching for someone so I don’t like to sit out there, lol… and I was rather tired…

this morning I went out for one… sigh… I do love my hot tub and miss it when I am away from home…

relaxed for the remainder of the day although I did wander through the garden a few times…

brought in two hydrangea flowers and put them in a vase…

IMG_7941.JPGalso got a nice pic of a hibiscus flower…

IMG_7940.JPGtomorrow I will have to unpack my suitcase, lol…

finally…

01 Monday Sep 2014

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this morning we arrived at the sign-in area for the balloon rides… there wasn’t much wind and we could see lots of stars… the energy seemed higher but we didn’t want to get over excited…

we were called up to the lines and then the pilots came over and got us… we went to the seven sections of the field which were each divided into five or six areas…

the teams started to get their equipment out… it was amazing to stand in a field with thirty plus balloons filling with air…

IMG_7801.JPGeach of the four times we had been, we took a photo in front of one of the trucks… this time we are in front of the balloon we will rise in…

IMG_7811.JPGafter filling the balloon with air, they start to heat it and the basket stands up gently…

IMG_7818.JPGand the next thing we are in the air… we were the third balloon off the ground… watching the other balloons rise from the field was truly an unforgettable event…

IMG_7837.JPGwe flew for 45 mind-expanding minutes and then floated down into a soccer field…

IMG_7857.JPGwe walked the balloon from one end of the field to the other and then everything happened in reverse order, although the balloon didn’t want to give up flying and it was difficult to get the air out…

IMG_7862.JPGthere were six balloons which landed in the field and everyone supported everyone else… great to see…

IMG_7874.JPGafter a great ride back in the pursuit van we got a picture of the Intuit team, captain Hal Cooper, his two sons and two volunteers from the Festival, as well as the four of us who rode in the balloon…

the twenty-five year wait was worth it… I wasn’t afraid for even one second… wow…