Category Archives: loss

Ottawa day 4…

04 Sunday Sep 2016

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really going to need to have a vacation when I get home…

today we were up and out of the house by 5 am… decided we would see if we could get a hot air balloon flight… if it didn’t work this morning then that was a sign that we weren’t meant to go…

by 6:30 we had a flight booked and were heading to the Gatineau Airport for lift off…

although the expectation was that we would go straight up and come right back down as the air was very still, we were up for an hour and a half and went to 3000 feet…


spectacular… this time when we got back to the Park, we all had Apple Cider together and got pictures with Annie, one of the pilots of La Magie de L’Air… what a great team they are… maybe next time we will take in the International Balloon Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu;-)… 

then we headed to the Farmers Market at Landsdowne… lots of people there, most of whom seemed to be lined up for the bread…

we stopped at the Lindt store and Whole Foods for dinner supplies and headed home for a well deserved nap…

later we took a long list to IKEA and as we were leaving saw the balloons on their evening flight… 

once home, we even saw a few as they floated through the air close by…


ended the day with a stunning light show…

Ottawa day 3…

03 Saturday Sep 2016

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another fun-filled day…

slept in, and when we finally got up went for sushi for a late breakfast… 168 Sushi is a buffet where they use iPads for ordering… options include sushi, dim sum, Thai and Chinese… was thinking the little boys would love ordering at this place because everyone could get what they wanted:-)…

iPad ordering system…

so far every time we have eaten we have cheered;-)… green tea and 7 Up this time…

beautiful and delicious eggplant…

we stopped at the gas station next door and the very kind attendant filled the car with gas for us as neither my daughter or I can stand the smell… then it was back toward Gatineau on our way to see the Formal Gardens at the Mackenzie King Estate…

here they are…

I had envisioned something on a slightly larger scale, lol… we did take a nice hike to a waterfall, which was more like a trickle… but we had fun…

some very cute mushroom parents with their babies…

not sure what these glossy red berries were, but I did enjoy taking a few photos…

my daughter took a couple too…

the dappled light along the path was reminiscent of the forests close to her home in Courtenay, BC, when she lived there…

had a bit more fun in the tunnel under the highway…

the high point of the visit was afternoon tea at the Mackenzie King Tea Room where we enjoyed finger sandwiches, scones with Devonshire cream and fresh raspberry jam and petit fours… 

the owner was a lovely young woman who brightened our afternoon… 

yummy… I skipped the petit fours and focussed on the scones…

decided to take the scenic route home and came across Pink Lake, which is actually green… but beautiful…

as we were crossing into Ottawa we remembered the rock people we’d read about and stopped to have a peek… we parked and walked about three kilometres there and back…

 they are quite amazing… some of the people who built them sit there daily to keep people from touching them…

here are a couple of builders focussed on their work…

just as we were heading back, the balloons lifted off from the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival across the river… 

we watched at least fifteen rise up and float over the trees… so beautiful…

stopped at Farm Boy and picked up a few things for our supper…

been a full day… now to bed:-)…

Ottawa day 2…

02 Friday Sep 2016

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busy day… picked up a rental car… had breakfast at Zak’s in Byward Market…

then for dessert we shared a beaver tail…

walked through the Market and had to take a picture of the beautiful flower bouquets…

then, it was off to Nordik for a spa day…

it was delightful…

Ottawa day 1…

01 Thursday Sep 2016

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early this morning I took this picture of the gorgeous sunrise as I was running up and down the stairs finishing my packing…

my flight was at a very civilized 9:35 am which meant I even had time for a smoothie before I left home…

bags packed and ready to go…


after a good flight, landed in Ottawa and got this shot of a cool sculpture as I was heading toward the baggage carousel… one side was quite boring but this view was gorgeous with the light shining through…
when I got to the bottom of the escalator took a pic of the water wall while waiting for my bag…

was thinking how far I have come over the last number of years… flying is old hat for me now, which is good and bad I guess… and travelling on my own is very manageable… happily took a cab to my daughter’s house and then walked to the mall to pick up a few things for lunch… 

view from my bed for the next few days…

just last week when the boys were over we used the twin of this comforter for their sleepover…

once my daughter arrived home from work we walked down the street and had mani/pedis…

as we made our way home I stopped to get this picture of the gorgeous sunset…

woke up in one province to a beautiful sky and heading to bed in another under the an equally beautiful one…

fluid…

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

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yesterday I took a few photos before I turned off the pump in the pond…

the waterfall is not flowing very well and I am going to be away for a few days, so I turned it off… I don’t want the pump to burn out if too much fluid evaporates…


this begonia has just been growing like crazy… apparently it has enjoyed the rain and heat…

first thing tomorrow I will water everything before I leave…

wonder how the garden will look when I get home…

lucky…

30 Tuesday Aug 2016

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this morning I had a memory on Facebook of my youngest grandson, as a baby, swinging in a park close by… there was also a picture of he, his older brother and my beloved on the back deck that same day…

just last Friday, when the boys were here, we talked about swinging in that very park…

today, the kids came downtown, spent a few minutes playing Pokemon Go at the Millennium Library Park, and then picked me up for lunch…

we went for dimsum at Kum Koon Garden, our favourite…

they have a stunning salt water fish tank and my grandson took a few pictures for me…

he had my phone because we share a Pokemon Go account so whenever we’re together he is checking out the game, lol…

the point of this story is how lucky I am to have the opportunity to spend time with my kids and grandkids… and how lucky we both were to be able to make memories with our grandchildren…

cuties…

29 Monday Aug 2016

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this morning I discovered a squirrel on the feeder in the front yard… I was surprised because I didn’t think they could get to it…

but apparently they can jump rather high… certainly explains why this feeder seems to be empty all the time…

over the last few days I’ve come across a few cuties…

this bunny was in the neighbour’s yard and posed nicely for the picture…

very happy with this picture of a couple of geese as they were circling for a landing at the Duck Pond…

and this is my absolute favourite… when I got back from my doctor’s appointment on Friday morning, the boys and I headed out the front door to walk to the Assiniboine Hotel for breakfast…looked to the right as we stepped outside and spotted this hawk sitting on the side of the neighbour’s truck…   

held onto my youngest grandson and everyone stood still and whispered while I got out my camera and took a few pictures… the boys had just been telling me about the purple finches they have spotted at their house… makes me happy to know they are starting to look around and notice…


thinking that maybe the raccoons have been over… that bird feeder on the ground was beside the gray planter last night, lol…

fun to enjoy the special moments when the creatures turn up…

formal…

28 Sunday Aug 2016

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took long walks yesterday and today…

yesterday I walked a different path, through Bruce Park, on the way to the English and Leo Mol Gardens at Assiniboine Park… 

okay, okay… it was so I could collect Poke balls at PokeStops for the Pokemon Go game… we ran out of them on Friday… can’t really play the game without them…

the Gardens were fairly quiet and I got a few nice pictures…

this section of the Garden is very formal in nature and everything is blooming right now…

a different view of the wild pond… still a quieter place as the Pokemon Go hunters don’t seem to be as interested in this area, thankfully…

was waiting for some photographers to finish… they were taking pictures of some gorgeously dressed Indian women… and caught this hummingbird, sort of, lol…

couldn’t leave without getting a shot of the women as they waited their turns for pictures… they looked like exotic blossoms in the Garden…

this morning I drove over to the Formal Gardens at the far corner of the Park… again, it was to collect items from the PokeStops…

it was quiet and beautiful…

there are many busts of prominent people as you walk down one side…

this is Nellie McClung… every time I circled past them the light would be shining on them differently… very cool…

the archway of trees is so peaceful and relaxing… was able to get a nice shot of the canopy before too many cars filled up the area…

a band and catering company were setting up for what looked to be a wedding…

it was a nice change from the flowery Gardens… the only issue is having to drive there as it is too far to walk there, then around it, and back…

but nice to discover some other options for my morning exercise… who knew that Pokemon Go would help me find new walking paths, lol…

nervous…

27 Saturday Aug 2016

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last week I went and had blood work done for my doctor’s appointment yesterday…

people comment on how well I am staying on track with my diet and that I am looking great…

I am careful out of fear… fear that my sugars will go up and I will need drugs to manage my diabetes… I don’t want that and the fear makes me be good, lol… 

now, when I taste something I don’t like, I don’t finish it… I’d rather save the calories for something I enjoy… I have an app on my phone (MyFitnessPal) that connects with my Fitbit and helps me keep track of daily calorie intake… 

but I am always nervous about what the results will be when I attend the appointment…

excellent news yesterday… blood sugars are great… blood pressure is fine…

cholesterol has come down significantly with the very small dose of medication that I started on three months ago, and with no side effects… the doctor was surprised as he thought I would need double the dose to get this type of result…

early on he’d talked about my weight coming down by another 20 pounds from where I am now… yesterday he agreed that I should stay at my current weight… when you are 75, he says, it is nearly impossible to lose weight, so he doesn’t want me to gain anything over the next ten years…

this was a great relief because I’ve been stuck around 160 for ages and really don’t think my body had any plans to go any lower…

all in all, an excellent appointment…

done…

26 Friday Aug 2016

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finally… the front flower bed is done…

my grandson, and a friend of his, started work around 10:30… we had planned this for a while and set today as the day to get it done… the weather was cooperative as the sun came and went behind clouds and there was a very nice breeze…

they removed all the pots and the heavy bird bath… made me giggle a bit because it looked like they were wearing a uniform…

they took out the grass, removed all of the mulch, and then levelled the soil…

there were tools and equipment everywhere as they worked… they laid down landscaping cloth and shovelled the mulch back into the bed…

putting the bird bath back was hard work as it is really heavy and I wanted it in just the right spot…

then they placed the pots individually while I stood back and had them move an inch this way or that, lol…

finally they cleaned up the edges and made sure the landscaping cloth was all covered… we will need to pick up a few more bags of mulch to finish it off…

all the tools, containers and garbage were put away by 3… they are teenage boys, so this was rather amazing… it looks great…

once the trim and door are freshly painted it is going to look super, although we need to do a little work on the other side…

I am very happy…