27 Monday Feb 2023
Posted in business, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fun, iPhone, light, memories, moments, nature, Photography, pictures, red, shadows, sunshine, vase, widow
had some fun with shadow pictures… it reminded me of the great photography class I took with a colleague many years ago… we had so much fun…
the vase looks pretty cool in these photos…
enjoying the afternoon sunshine…
22 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, connecting, Google Home, grandson, internet, moments, Technology, tv, weather, widow, wires
my goodness, seemed like a very long day…
MTS came around noon and spent two hours outside (in the very cold weather)… going back and forth many times between a ladder up to wires in the back lane, through the snow, and up the side of the house… eventually, they made a connection which should double the speed of my internet….
then they spent over an hour in the house changing the router and the boxes for the TVs…
none of it seemed to go smoothly, lol…
after they left, we spent another hour updating all of the Google Home devices and we still have a few that are not cooperating…
06 Monday Feb 2023
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, decorating, grouped, happy, hearts, memories, moments, plants, shelf, widow
hearts are turning up all over the place…
hanging in the front window, and looking so nice when the sun shines through them…
on a shelf, grouped together…
next to a plant to enjoy in the bathroom…
even on a shelf in the kitchen…
they make me smile…
05 Sunday Feb 2023
Posted in business, family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, celebrate, decorating, donation, family, health, heart, Life, memories, moments, remember, stairway, virus, widow
been doing a little decorating for February…
it is Heart month and I dug out the hearts from various spots around the house and put them out…
the stairway came out quite nicely;-)…
every time I go up or down the stairs, I am reminded of my beloved…he dealt with a number of heart issues over his last few years…
he had been in good health, until a virus caused serious cardiomyopathy and later he had a quadruple bypass… all of that before he was finally taken with a heart attack… his father also died from a heart attack…
this month I will be making a donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation in celebration of our wonderful life together…
04 Saturday Feb 2023
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, decorating, drawers, February, living room table, love, moments, red, seasons, widow
emptied the living room table a few days ago…
today I brought the LOVE letters down and put them into the squares…
it looks okay, but I am not sure if I am happy with the result…
hmm, may need something else added in…
the orchids look quite nice on it although the O kind of gets lost, lol…
03 Friday Feb 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, fourteen, garden, grandson, hot tub, memories, moments, remembering, stress, time, trajectory, trauma, widow, work
my youngest grandson just turned fourteen…
brought back a number of memories as his birth changed the trajectory of my life…
because I refused to miss his birth, I ended up leaving a job I had been at for ten years, as the boss wasn’t pleased that I had taken away time from my position… a lot of trauma occurred over the next while and eventually I was walked out of the office…
one good thing that came out of that was the hot tub, as I was awarded a year’s salary due to my wrongful dismissal and purchased it with some of those funds…
there was huge stress and tension and the hot tub has helped with that for many years now;-)…
after a number of months I found the perfect position where I flourished for nearly ten years before my retirement…
lots of things to sift through…
this photo was taken in 2020, when I was still keeping my distance from everyone, but it does show him and the hot tub together, lol…
hard to believe it all began fourteen years ago…
22 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blurry, fish, garage cam, goldfish, in the garden, moments, nature, pond, raccoon, tail, Technology, weather, widow
I was surprised to see this on the garage cam yesterday morning…
it is a bit blurry, and at first I thought it was a cat, but then I recognized the tail…
thought these guys were gone for the winter, lol… although I don’t care if they come by when there aren’t any fish in the pond for them to eat;-)…
04 Wednesday Jan 2023
Posted in family, food, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dinner, dishwasher, escargot, family, food, home, lobster, memories, moments, New Year's, preparations, remembering, steak, time, treat, widow
for years we celebrated New Year’s Eve with steak and lobster… this started with friends before we had kids;-)…
at some point it moved to New Year’s Day as the kids wanted to participate but were off celebrating on the night before…
this year I enjoyed the preparation as I worked on getting escargot stuffed mushrooms, baked potatoes, fried mushrooms and sautéed Brussels sprouts ready…
the kids arrived, got the barbecue going and then grilled the steaks and lobster tails…
dinner was delicious and we had a great time…
on Monday, as I emptied the dishwasher and put away all of the pieces we used, I revisited the fun and special moments…
and the tradition continues…
01 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
blessed, coal, dark, definition, family, first footing, garden, her big girl pants, home, loss, memories, moments, remembering, tradition, widow
we have done first-footing since I was a little girl… for us, it meant that just before midnight on New Year’s Eve my dad, who had dark hair, would jump in the car and drive around to all our aunts and uncles and grandparents’ houses and take them an offering – it always included coal, bread and sometimes oranges and a little drink of something… I also remember how my dad would have to search out new coal every year because no one ever kept it from year to year, lol…
from Dalhousie Castle:
“Stemming back to the time of the invading Vikings in the 8th and 9thcentury, it is believed that the first person to enter a house, the “first foot”, can bring luck – or misfortune – for the year ahead. In Scottish tradition good luck comes in the form of a tall, dark-haired man being the first footer.” Dec 7, 2020
I spent time this morning looking back at some of the different ways it has happened for me…
my daughter being the first female to cross the threshold first when she was here in 2017…
my middle grandson taking home a bag and making sure to bring it and be the first one to cross my threshold…
my daughter arranging for friends to come by with a box of items she had sent to them…
while visiting the kids in Ottawa, having a diamond necklace in the bag because there wasn’t any coal, lol… and I did have to give it back🤪…
this morning I went out the back door in my housecoat, walked around to the front door, and first-footed myself…
those big girl pants 😂…
31 Saturday Dec 2022
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beginnings, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, endings, enjoy, friends, Life, memories, moments, remember, struggles, widow
been thinking of those in my circle who are struggling… sometimes it is hard to remember that not everyone finds joy at this time of year…
holidays are often a time filled with grief and pain for many… and often it comes out of the blue…
maybe the rush to get everything done and perfect adds to the stress that then can bring on ill health or sad memories…
as one year is ending and another beginning let’s all sit in the moments and enjoy as many as we can;-)…
blessings to all…
herbiggirlpants 