19 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, coleus, garden, hopeful, moments, morning glories, nature, planting, plants, sticks, widow
on November 22nd I transplanted the coleus that had been rooting in water… and for a while they grew… then, they all died off…
yesterday I used the soil from one of the containers to plant some morning glory seeds…
also added three sticks so that when they grow there will be a place to climb…
hopefully they will do better than the coleus did…
16 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, happy, hot tub, moments, nature, orchid, photos, purple, sweater, Technology, widow
had some fun with my bouquet… it is changing… the orchid stalk was removed and now the carnations are getting ready to come out…
used the table from the hot tub, a purple sweater, and the purple wall to get a few shots…
it was fun to gather up the items and set up for the shoot…
and the photos came out quite well…
05 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bathroom, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cavalry, family, happy, lightbulb, loss, moments, proud, Technology, widow
for the first time since my beloved left me, I was able to change a lightbulb in the bathroom…
doesn’t sound like much, but I have tried numerous times without success and had to call in the cavalry to fix the problem…
but, I did it;-)…
felt like one of those big girl pants moments…
03 Monday Jan 2022
Posted in business, family, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fish, fish tank, goldfish, grandson, light, moments, nature, pump, sucked, tank, Technology, water, widow
very happy that the pump on the small fish tank is working once again…
had to have it replaced as it just stopped a week or so ago…
I was able to use the old (and rather large) pump while waiting for the replacement…
happily, no fish were sucked up into the much larger and stronger system…
they are happy and enjoying the better light, as the big pump blocked a lot…
and I can see them much better;-)…
01 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
Baileys, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, coal, cookies, dinner, family, first-foot, flowers, friends, lobster, memories, moments, movies, New Year's, purple, remembering, Rose Parade, steak, widow
had a lovely New Year’s day…
I watched the Rose Parade which was something we’ve done with my parents for years…
dear friends stopped by to first-foot me… and brought the usual coal, orange, cookies, alcohol, with a beautiful card… and a gorgeous bouquet of orchids and allium… my bouquet from last week is just on its last legs so the timing was perfect…
orchids are one of my favourites and allium was one of my beloved’s…
after that, I made a delicious steak and lobster meal for my lunch… it is usually the meal for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day dinner…
I decided on lunch so the day would be easier… and to broil instead of barbecue as it was so cold out…
it turned out delicious and then I spent the day watching movies…
and carrying the flowers from room to room, lol…
25 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, family, food, garage, gifts, happy, joy, memories, moments, remembering, sadness, sleigh, vacillating, weather, widow
today I’ve been vacillating between joy and sadness…
joy at spending time this morning online with the kids in Ottawa as we opened our gifts;-)… they were in the sleigh, lol…
sadness that I am here alone, even if at my own choice…
joy, at spending time with my grandson and his girlfriend in the garage around the fire pit exchanging presents…
sadness that my beloved isn’t here…
joy, that my dinner was delicious… my favourite roast chicken, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and turnip…
it looked a little beige, but tasted delicious…
sadness that I wasn’t able to see the rest of my Winnipeg family…
and back to joy as I remember I am home safe and healthy on this Christmas Day…
yup, up and down…
23 Thursday Dec 2021
Posted in life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, fairy, garage, garden, grandson, hose, hot tub, moments, nature, neighbour, shovel, snow, snowblower, Technology, treat, water, weather, widow
it snowed quite a bit overnight and when I looked out the bedroom window this morning I thought I had best get out and clear the sidewalk… particularly after my learning earlier about not leaving the snow to get stuck, lol…
when I arrived in the living room the sidewalk was clear;-)… obviously the snow clearing fairy had come by…
that was nice and I sent a text to my neighbour, who may have been that fairy…
later I went and shovelled the deck and hot tub area as the tub needed water… I hadn’t realized how much snow had fallen…
I am so pleased with my extendible hose as it makes adding water much easier…now the hose runs up the stairs and out the back door, instead of through a vent in the wall…
then, while the tub was filling, I shovelled as far back as the garbage can…
a bit later, while I was eating lunch, I heard a snowblower going and thought it was the neighbour behind doing his driveway, but when I checked my garage camera discovered it was the snow clearing fairy cleaning my driveway…
what a generous gift;-)… the driveway is long and this will save my grandson’s back when he stops by for a short garage visit in a few days…
what a kind Christmas gift…
19 Sunday Dec 2021
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, COVID, dinner, family, food, friends, grandson, health, lockdown, moments, time, widow
yesterday I made the decision to go into my own personal lockdown…
it was a very hard decision at this time of year, but I have been struggling with the worry of getting sick after all these months of taking such care…
so, my Monday/Tuesday group will meet by Skype tomorrow for our Christmas celebration… I’d ordered a charcuterie board and I will divide it up with some veggies… two of my friends will pick up gifts and then drop off the snack packages before our call…
lunch and goodies via Skype… just like we’ve done before, lol…
and I won’t be having my grandson over for lunch on Christmas Day, although possibly he will stop by for a short visit in the garage… or go to my daughter’s for Christmas dinner…
presents will be picked up, phone and video calls made…
I have all the things I need in the freezer (I think) to make a lovely chicken dinner on Saturday…
another solo Christmas, and although I will miss everyone, I feel I will be safe…
and at this point that seems the most important thing;-)…
15 Wednesday Dec 2021
Posted in life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Advent, big girl pants, birds, blessed, Christmas, fortunate, happy, living room, moments, nature, reading, weather, widow
I’ve been thinking a lot about how blessed and fortunate I am… and I’ve been taking time to focus on gratitude…
yesterday I spent a few minutes enjoying this sunrise from the bedroom window…
it was so pretty and the fact that I had the time to enjoy it is such a gift…
today I spent a good portion of the day sitting in the living room, beside the Christmas tree, reading a book by one of my favourite authors, and watching the various birds come and go from the feeders… even though it was foggy outside it was a lovely way to spend time…
I took this photo this evening…
most presents are wrapped, nearly all cards are written, and advent treats have been opened for the day…
now it is off to bed I go;-)…
08 Wednesday Dec 2021
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
the other day, four trucks took over the street…
I went to look out the window to see what was going on and discovered they were cutting down one of the elm trees on the boulevard…
I watched most of the process…
they had a bucket and the person in it cut down the small branches at the top and they moved it down bit by bit… between cuts, people on the ground gathered up the pieces and put them through the chipper…
finally they put a rope around what was left and there were a number of final cuts as they tried to pull the last 20 feet of it over…
it took quite a few tries to get it to topple over and the ground shook when it landed…
another hole in the sky…
herbiggirlpants 