08 Tuesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
it was lovely out this morning and I stood outside waiting for my ride…
lots of melting yesterday…
on my walk from the corner tonight took a few shots of the creek which was filled with water… amazing because it was overcast all day, not a single ray of sunshine…
the solar lights in the garden are on tonight… very exciting that the sun is strong enough to light them up…
maybe spring is here…
07 Monday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, bright, busy, clean, cleaners, melting, puddles, snow, strong, sun, treat, widow
had to stop as I was backing out of the driveway this morning to take a picture of the glittering snow… so white, bright, shiny and clean looking…
lovely start to the day…
when I returned to the house I noticed two things… huge amounts of snow had melted throughout the day… here is the top of the deck just a few days ago…
this is the same spot tonight…
the sun shone with great strength all day… really noticed it on the drive home as there were many puddles and the snow banks had gone down a lot…
the final piece was in the bathroom… the cleaners come the first Monday of the month and they always fold the toilet paper like you are in a hotel…
I had prepared for them, but with the busyness of the day totally forgot they’d been here until I walked into the house and noticed how clean it was…
what a treat…
06 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, boat show, dimsum, errands, Grandpa, groceries, roast chicken, running, Spark, stuffing, widow
seems like it has been a crazy busy day, felt as though I was running from one thing to the next…
up early and headed out to do errands… went to three different stores and got home with groceries to put away…
made the stuffing for the chicken just in time to be picked up by the kids for a dimsum lunch… tasty…
the boys and I all fit into a picture, sort of…
then we went to the Mid-Canada Boat Show in the new portion of the RBC Convention Centre… the space is lovely… didn’t take a single picture…
there were many very big boats there… liked the look of a new model of seadoo called Spark… looks like it might be lots of fun… to drive one I would need a boating licence, hmmmm…
when we got home I stuffed the chicken and popped it into the oven… we visited and I prepped the rest of the food… eventually the chicken was cooked… had mashed potatoes with cauliflower; brussel sprouts with mushrooms and garlic; gravy, and cranberry jelly… and of course our usual Caesar salad, which all the boys love… topped dinner off with some apple pie to remember Grandpa… we talked about his favourite foods… he really liked roast pork, but always enjoyed a roast chicken dinner…
can’t really believe it has been four years since he left us and at the same time it feels like way longer that I’ve been on my own…
05 Saturday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, George, hoarfrost, memory, message, remembering, Simon & Garfunkel, trees, widow
woke up to hoarfrost everywhere…
it was beautiful…
the last thing that George and I did the day before he died was drive around the Park and take pictures of the beautiful trees covered in hoarfrost…
seeing the hoarfrost was such a reminder of him… felt like he was sending me a message…
spent the afternoon with my daughter wandering through the mall… had lunch and picked up a couple of pairs of shorts…
when I got home PBS had a special of Simon & Garfunkel‘s concert in Central Park, New York City in 1981…
he loved Simon & Garfunkel… I spent an hour watching the program, enjoying the music and remembering… the songs had all been played here… comforting…
in recent days I have been walking down memory lane looking at many pictures… it has been fun to remember all the great times we had in the forty-three years we were together…
what an amazing life I have had…
04 Friday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, butterfly, death, dye, jeans, orchid, widow
took a few pictures of the orchid this morning…
the blossoms are now falling each day…
still beautiful in their own way…
wore my new jeans today and everyone loved them…
some of the detail on the back…
all day I kept trying to figure out what was making my hands blue… must have washed them a dozen times to get the colour off…
finally mentioned it, only to learn that I should have washed the jeans with salt or vinegar before wearing them the first time… it was the dye that was rubbing off on my hands, lol… clear that I am not a jean connoisseur… good thing I learned this before sitting on my couch, lol…
been thinking of my beloved more than usual… tomorrow marks four years since his death… seems to me that the week or so before the anniversary is more difficult than the actual day…
looking through photos I decided on this one for my Facebook profile picture…
we had spent a lovely time at the zoo with our youngest grandson and just came out of the butterfly garden… he was tired and had a seat on the lovely bench while trying to convince the little guy to join him… doesn’t he look like an angel…
I miss him…
03 Thursday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
295 York, 65, beloved, big girl pants, death, family, health, March, moments, photographs, sadness, sickness
been thinking a lot about folks who have been dealing with health issues, either sick or injured…
so many people I know have struggled with miserable colds and flu… both of my girls were ill and got sent home on Monday… many friends are just beginning to get over various issues…
the beginning of March is a difficult time for me… can’t help but think back to the loss of my beloved… I’ve been inundated with Facebook memories of things we did in the days just before his death…
have also been working on a project where I’ve been looking through my photographs… am always surprised at how much I have forgotten and the pictures are great reminders of special moments…
came across this picture of a Chihuly glass fixture at 295 York… George and I had dinner there a few times when it was still the Lobby on York…
lost my parents when they were both just over 65… George’s dad died around that age and he didn’t make it to 65… for a while I have been wondering if I will make it to 65… looks like I will, lol…
I am feeling healthy and in better shape than I’ve been for years…
although there is sadness, life is good…
02 Wednesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, black, Coach, Elise Accessories, favourite, purses, walk
got to help open the box filled with all the purchases from our Elise Accessories show a couple of weeks ago…
I picked up the cute little black purse… it has lots of different compartments but is quite small… can also attach it to a belt, like a fanny pack… too funny as they are now becoming popular again…
think it will be very handy for walks… I always take my camera and my phone with me when I go for a walk… also like to take my credit card and some cash too…
wonder what I will fill up all the spaces with…
currently I use my black Coach purse… it is a medium size but also has a number of compartments so that things can be put away in their proper space… it is my most expensive purse… my daughter picked it up in a Coach warehouse store for a great price when she worked in Calgary…
I have a few larger bags that I use when I need to carry more, or bigger, stuff…
always find it interesting which will become my favourites… whether it is colour, ease of use, compartments… never know until I’ve used each one…
how will this new one fit…
01 Tuesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
aquasize, big girl pants, calendar, Chihuly, Chihuly Garden and Glass, fish, glass, pho, posed, treat
great fun to turn the page on my Chihuly calendar this morning… so happy I was able to get a 2016 one…
every picture reminds me of the amazing visit we had to Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle…
this morning it was very light and I took a few pictures of the fish through the glass…
they kind of posed for the photo…
ended the day with some fabulous pho that we picked up after aquasize…
it was delicious… and a lovely treat…
was very good all day to be sure I could manage the special meal…
29 Monday Feb 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
up and about fairly early for a day off…
ran some errands and picked up my hemmed jeans… my girls will be so proud:-)…
found a few pairs of socks and a nice white t shirt to go together with the jeans…
stopped in at DAVIDsTEA for the free cup that I heard about by email… really enjoyed the Mom’s Apple Pie flavour… and came away with this, lol…
it is a gorgeous shade of purple and keeps things hot or cold… also collected some tea that I had earned…
my shoveler came after school and cleaned up all the snow… it was really cold out and he had to come in midway to warm up his hands…
we had supper – the red lentil curry – and he headed home on the bus, with curry, chicken and dumplings, and pistachios in his bag…
always enjoy spending time together…
28 Sunday Feb 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Academy Awards, big girl pants, chicken, comfort, dumplings, mom, recipe, simmering, smell
decided this morning to make chicken and dumplings for supper…
daughter isn’t feeling well so they didn’t come for dinner…
I think what I like about this meal is that it takes a while to make, but most of the time it is simmering on the stove so you don’t have to work away for hours, but that is what makes it comfort food for me… and the smell is delicious throughout the house…
I put chicken legs and thighs in a large pot with onion, celery, carrots with salt, pepper, bay leaves and water… brought it to a boil and then turned it down to simmer for a number of hours…
then I strained it, and while the chicken cooled down, put chopped carrots, peas, corn and barley into the broth…
took the meat off the bone and slid it back into the pot…
left it to simmer for awhile and then made dumplings using my mom’s recipe… today I included cilantro…
simmered for another half hour and then enjoyed it…
scrumptious…
was careful with my food intake earlier in the day so that I could have two helpings…
now to watch the Academy Awards…
herbiggirlpants 
