11 Tuesday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
took a drive outside the city for lunch today…
landed at the Summit Cafe in Stony Mountain…
cute little place with a penny covered floor…
we were the first to arrive and they had set up a table for 12… gave us a bit of extra time with the menu…
I chose the Spicy Shrimp Grilled Cheese…
oh my, it was delicious… had half of it and brought the remainder home for dinner tomorrow…
got a great shot of the group…
wonderful day with some really special people…
10 Monday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, feet, garden, memories, obsessed, pictures, pond, runners, shoes, waiting, widow
a few weeks ago I was stopped at a light on my way to work and someone crossed in front of me with the most amazing green runners… it was too late to get out my phone to take a picture… a few days later I was waiting by Polo Park and a ton of people were rushing to make the light and many of them had cool shoes… again, no time to take any photos…
since then I’ve been obsessed with shoes…
wherever I’ve been walking, if I see some interesting shoes l stop and take a picture, after asking if it is okay…
people seem to feel special and always say yes…
here’s what I’ve come up with so far…
when my oldest was a pre-teen, she went through a stage where she always wore two different coloured runners… lasted for a few years and still now, if I spot someone with two different shoes on it reminds me of those days…
on my Facebook page I often put up pictures of my feet as I am relaxing by the pond… it has become a bit of a ritual to do foot pictures in various places now… getting pedicures, waiting for appointments, on vacation…
this one from March is of my son-in-law and I in Mazatlan as we were waiting for a strike on the fishing lines, which never did happen…
took this one yesterday as I was drinking tea and waiting for my hair to dry…
09 Sunday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, camping, clematis, family, flowers, George, grandsons, memories, moments, Palomino, pop-up, purple, trailer, widow
we’ve been searching for a trailer for camping for the last while… looked at a few options but they weren’t just what we were wanting…
on Friday I went with my son-in-law and the younger grandsons to look at a pop-up trailer just outside the city…
we found the place rather easily, lol…
there was the most beautiful clematis in the driveway, and I had to take some pictures…
we had a look at the trailer which was set up in the garage…
although it is bigger, it reminded me of the trailer that we had for many years and the great camping trips we enjoyed with it…
we decided to buy it… it was a bit of a process, but between my credit union and the one in the town, we managed to get the funds so we wouldn’t have to make another trip to pick up the trailer…
when we got back to the house where it was, I was chatting with the woman who was selling it, as her dad and my son-in-law were taking it down…
she was talking about how her dad was such a support for her and I said something about my husband being the same for my daughters… then I mentioned he had died five years ago… she looked at me oddly and said George… at which point we realized that she had worked with my beloved… she had thought I looked familiar but was confused when my son-in-law had the same name, lol…
makes the trailer even more special…
the final giggle for me was the brand name on it… anyone who knows my son-in-law will see the connection…
he worked at the Palomino Club for years… we didn’t even notice this until we got it home…
looking forward to family fun and memories with this new addition….
clearly this was meant to be… serendipity…
08 Saturday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, credit card, garden, grandsons, Kenora, Lac du Bonnet, memories, moments, one-on-one, purple, Red Lobster, widow
yesterday I had the great opportunity to spend one-on-one time with each of my grandsons… doesn’t happen that often, and rarely on the same day… great moments to savour…
first was with the youngest at the Fishing Hole where we talked all about a recent fishing trip and how he and daddy had caught a catfish… we also checked out the lures, looking for a nice purple one, lol…
after he and his parents had headed off to Lac du Bonnet for the weekend, spent time with the middle one as the two of us waited for him to be picked up to go to Kenora with a friend… we talked about bike riding, bunnies and watering the garden… we also discussed all the things he’s planning to do at his friend’s cottage… soon he’ll be able to come over on the bus for visits and to help me in the garden…
supper out with the oldest as he drove me home… he stayed in town as he is working over the weekend… we talked about rowing and car accidents and people who are difficult to deal with…
hard to believe that he is so grown up now… we had dinner at Red Lobster and enjoyed the treat…
I was a bit nervous because I only had cash on me to pay for the meal so wanted to be sure we didn’t spend more than we had, lol…
I will be glad when I get the replacement credit card…
ended the day in the garden and took this shot as the solar lights were starting to twinkle on, one by one…
07 Friday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunny, critters, dragonflies, fish, flowers, friends, garden, grandson, ladybug, light, moments, peaceful, pond, widow, wings
seemed like there were lots of critters around and about today…
many with wings..
over the last few days I’ve noticed tons of dragonflies around… this morning when I came out to the garden there was a tiny one by the back door and then when I was sitting by the pond this one stopped by…
and posed rather nicely for me…
later in the day I caught this ladybug on one of the peppers in my daughter’s garden…
just a few minutes later this four legged turned up…
pretty little and my middle grandson thinks there might be a nest of them under the bushes…
a friend came by for a visit in the garden this morning and it reminded me of why I love it out here… even when it isn’t perfect it is welcoming and has a special feeling of peacefulness…
for the last half hour or so I’ve been watching the fish swim around in the pond… they haven’t been out much when I’ve been in the garden today, so it is a lovely treat to see them…
as I sit writing this, the solar lights are coming on one by one as it gets a tiny bit darker around the garden…
but, the bad news…. just spotted the first mosquito of the season;-(… not the type of critter I am happy to see…
06 Thursday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, chocolate, daughter, outside, screen, serendipitous, trees, widow
tonight I enjoyed a delightful bit of chocolate… Brookside Dark Chocolate Tart Cherry Crisp with pomegranate flavour… might just take longer to say the name than it did to eat it, lol…
it has a very cool tree on it…
just minutes after that my daughter sent me a picture of some screen printing she did at a class tonight…
another tree… how cool is that…
the really funny thing is that this was the picture I had already prepared to post tonight…
it is of two of my colleagues sitting in the sun for a few minutes over lunch yesterday… we try to get outside for at least a few minutes on sunny days…
the whole serendipitous thing is amazing… great way to start my weekend;-)…
05 Wednesday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
about three weeks ago my credit card was compromised… someone tried to use it for a few things in the States…
the credit card company called and left a message… I called them back, using the number on the back of the card, instead of the one on the message in case it was a scam…
sadly it had been compromised so they cancelled the card and couriered a new one to me within a few days as this is the only card I have…
lucky for me I only have one monthly withdrawal so was able to call them with the necessary information once the new card arrived…
just last week, I went to pay the credit card bill and realized I hadn’t added the new card… wasn’t sure about one of the questions when I tried to add it to the payees so called the credit union and they were able to add it while we were on the phone… excellent…
so today, I get what I think is a similar phone call at the office, but didn’t hear the whole conversation so when I got home I checked for messages… and there it was another call from the Security department…
this is the situation my card is in now… compromised again…
the good news is that they are able to catch these activities quickly and be in touch…
the bad news is that I have to wait again for a new card… although now I am on top of all the things I have to do, lol…
practice makes perfect;-)…
I’m worried that I am doing something wrong at my end, but the agent assured me that wasn’t the case…
I am going to Ottawa in a few months and don’t want to have to go through this before, or during, my trip…
arghhhhhhhh…
04 Tuesday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, butterflies, dragonflies, garden, insecta, monarch, pond, Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden, water lilies, widow
I’ve noticed quite a few dragonflies flitting around the garden recently…
on Sunday, when I was taking pictures of the water lilies in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden, I caught a dragonfly on the lily pad…
and yesterday I spent a short time in the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden… it was sunny so the butterflies that were there were very active…
there weren’t many there but I got a few pictures…
butterflies and dragonflies are part of the family of insecta…
I might have a small collection of memorabilia, but no actual butterflies or dragonflies…
hoping for some monarchs in the garden…
03 Monday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, friends, geese, good times, peacock, walk, widow, zoo
had made a date to go for a walk in the Gardens at Assiniboine Park this afternoon, but we decided to visit the zoo instead…
a beautiful afternoon, an excellent walk and a good visit… couldn’t ask for more…
we saw a few peacocks as we wandered along the paths but none were prepared to show their finery…
at one point I was standing in the shade with the stroller and one of the peacocks walked right beside me and then into the sun… I was shocked but cleverly got this pic…
gorgeous colours even without flaunting its tail feathers…
not three minutes later a gaggle of geese shot past me and around a huge crowd of people who were lined up for ice cream, ignoring everyone as they moved along, clearly with a destination in mind…
so blessed to have opportunities to spend time with friends and enjoy such a fun location…
02 Sunday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, English Garden, exercise, fish, flowers, garbage, garden, littering, moments, pond, water lilies, widow
was a bit behind this morning but eventually headed over to the Park for my weekend visit…
spotted this flag on the sandbar in the river by the walking bridge to the Park…
there were likely thousands of people in the Park last night for the fireworks and during the day for all the Canada Day activities and they hadn’t yet got it cleaned up… garbage bags were piled around the garbage cans but there was also lots of trash along the paths… I should have taken a bag and collected as I walked because I am a bit crazy about not littering, just ask my kids, lol…
happy to see water lily flowers in the Arbour Pond…
the main lily pond is not doing nearly as well… only spotted one bud where usually by now there would be dozens of blooms…
once I got home I spent a few minutes admiring the clematis… it has exploded…
finally spent some time in the garden reading and watching the fish in the pond…
herbiggirlpants 