01 Monday Feb 2021
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
always learning, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, family, fish, fish tank, lifting, moments, nature, widow
as I was cleaning the fish tank it made me think of how much I have learned over the past year…
I now can clean and replace filters and the other bits and pieces of the tank…
since my beloved’s passing, my son-in-law and grandson have done all the heavy lifting with the fish…
but, as they aren’t coming into the house, I’ve learned how to do the required maintenance…
30 Saturday Jan 2021
Posted in life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized
months ago the Nest smoke detector on the ceiling upstairs stopped connecting to the wifi because the password changed and I couldn’t figure out how to reset it…
a few weeks ago I decided to delete it from my app and add it again so that I could get the correct password installed…
after I deleted it, and tried to add it back, I discovered that I needed the bar code or serial number… I was so excited that I had the box it came in… but, no serial number… it was located on the back of the detector… so, I just left it alone…
while the ladder was in the house I took it upstairs, removed the detector from the ceiling, found the code, added it to the app, and got it up and connected again… then attached it back to the ceiling and took the ladder back to the garage…
glad I thought of it while the ladder was still in the house…
29 Friday Jan 2021
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cold, delivering, doorway, family, Indi, mask, moments, purple, shopping, shovelling, snow, weather, widow
my grandsons came by… one to shovel and the other to bring me a few items…
it was nice to see them both… the younger one stepped inside the back door where he warmed up his cold hands and drank some of the hot chocolate I made for him…
the older one stepped inside the front door and brought in the items he had picked up… we had a short chat, he in the doorway with a mask on, and me on the far side of the living room with a mask on… nice to have a short chat with him as well…
once the shovelling was finished, they headed off with a few treats I’d gathered up for them;-)…
it was nice to see Indi, even if she was dirty, lol…
24 Sunday Jan 2021
had the fireplace channel on while I was writing my blog last night and was reminded of all the lovely fires we have had over the years…
my beloved loved wood fires and would often fall asleep in front of the fire in the basement family room… it was always difficult to start but he would use the vacuum to get the smoke to start up the chimney…
I haven’t used it since he died and last year had to have the chimney removed as it was rusting from the inside… didn’t seem worth the cost of replacing all of the pieces..
sometimes I miss it…
24 Sunday Jan 2021
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, days, friends, garden, happy, meals, memories, moments, neighbours, normal, widow
today, as I sat in the living room looking out the window I spent a few happy moments remembering the wonderful neighbours we have had over the years…
our next door neighbours became our very good friends… when the girls were first born they would take them home so that we could eat our supper without interruption… the girls would go over to their house to see if “Uncle Buzz could come out to play?” and he did… we fed them on Wednesday nights and they babysat while we went bowling… at one point Ellen produced a cookbook for each of them with all of the recipes she made that we all loved…
the neighbour across the street made Barbie clothes and we shared many meals and coffee on the deck…
the neighbour a few houses down the lane would come and help my beloved with whatever project he was working on and they had such fun together…
the neighbour across the back lane shared their pool…
these days we aren’t quite as close to the neighbours, as all of those have gone, but they are all kind and caring in their own way…
made me think of today’s contemplating card;-)…
maybe, if the world ever returns to some semblance of normal, I will have them all over for a meal and time together;-)…
11 Monday Jan 2021
10 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, bunny, hoarfrost, memories, moments, nature, photos, remembering, trees, weather, widow
what a wonderful day yesterday… slept in, and when I got out of bed, saw hoarfrost on the trees out the bedroom window…
as I passed the window on the staircase, I spotted a bunny having a snack… first one I’ve seen on the deck this winter…
and the views out the window were wonderful… I even went outside a couple of times to get a few photos… some when it was overcast…
and some in the sunlight…
so beautiful, and a reminder of a day with my beloved when we took a drive to photograph hoarfrost…
09 Saturday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, calendar, Chihuly, daughter, enjoy, flowers, goddess, happy, memories, moments, nature, pictures, remembering, widow
for many years, since my trip to Seattle in 2013, I have had a Chihuly calendar… either my daughter or I have purchased them for Christmas gifts to one another…
this year that didn’t happen, so we were discussing how we missed it the other day…
she suggested that I make one using Vistaprint… I had gone online and found them on the Chihuly Garden and Glass website, but the shipping charge was more than double the cost of the calendar…
so I did… I used the photos from our visit in 2016… it took about an hour to prepare and order…
that was on Monday… on Thursday it arrived;-)… it is beautiful, the photos came out clear and crisp and it is just slightly smaller than the Chihuly ones…
I am very happy…
I had fallen in love with a photo of the garden goddess many years ago that was taken in Montreal… on one of my visits to see the kids in Ottawa, we planned a visit to see it… unfortunately the picture was old and the structure was not in the garden…
in 2015, my daughter sent me information about a goddess structure in Atlanta, and that there was a Chihuly installation happening as well in 2016… I was very excited and so away we went…
it was a special time… I am going to enjoy this calendar…
06 Wednesday Jan 2021
Posted in life, loss, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
and then, beautiful, big girl pants, craziness, moments, pray for peace, sadness, sunrise, Washington, widow
such a beautiful start to the day…
and then… craziness in Washington…
praying for peace everywhere…
05 Tuesday Jan 2021
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, doorway, family, first footing, friends, moments, New Year's Day, surprise, threshold, treat, widow
on New Year’s morning I was walking on the treadmill and happened to turn on the front camera to see if any birds were at the feeder…
there was a man standing there, so I ran upstairs to see what was going on…
it was a young friend with a gift in his hand… he said he was looking for coal… I had him step back, and put out a gift bag I had put coal and a scone into… anticipating that my middle grandson was coming over…
then he stepped over the threshold and put down the gift and gift bag and stepped back outside…
my daughter had sent a number of items to her friends and they had packaged them up and delivered them to my door…
for years we have done first-footing… this was by far the fanciest package, lol…
there was tea, charcoal shampoo, chocolate covered fruit, a Christmas cracker, little bottles of alcohol, sourdough chocolate, a delicious fresh banana chocolate chip muffin, an adorable tin with a cute gingerbread person in it and a fresh orange… and of course the chunk of coal;-)…
what a wonderful surprise… truly, I am blessed…
herbiggirlpants 