17 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized
was just in the bathroom and was thinking about how blessed I am…
the fixture has an odd bulb which I can usually remove when one burns out, but for the life of me, I cannot install the replacement…
this is just one of many things that my son-in-law and grandson help me with on what feels like a fairly regular basis…
I am learning and doing more on my own, but it seems there are always things I need them for…
such a gift;-)…
15 Saturday Aug 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, caterpillars, garden, grandson, home, moments, monarchs, plants, thirst, water, weather, widow
happy to check out the garden after being gone for a short time… enjoyed walking through and seeing what was about to bloom, what had just about finished and checking for caterpillars… unfortunately I haven’t found any more monarch or swallowtail babies…
I had asked my grandson to come by and water it while I was away and was very happy that he did…
the front flowers were a bit sad, as he hadn’t remembered to water them. but a quick dose of water and they all revived…
the ability of most plants to recover from thirst is quite amazing, lol…
13 Thursday Aug 2020
Posted in life, loss, moments, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
flashlight, friends, herbiggirlpants, landline, phone, pictures, shower, solitaire, speak, survive, talking, widow
I was without internet and cell service for five days… just to be clear, in case you were worried, I did survive;-)…
all my phone could do was take pictures, act as a flashlight and let me play my solitaire game on occasion… if you wanted to speak to someone who wasn’t there you had to use the landline…
as I was preparing to leave for the trip, I would think of things like – oh, I can change the lights in the house occasionally so it looks lived in, or I can text my daughter with information she would need, or I can call my grandson to remind him about watering the plants, or I can add my meals to MyFitnessPal, etc. etc… nope, no, I could NOT…
when you don’t use the phone, you don’t need to carry it around so much though… although it was handy if my camera wasn’t close by… there was a good deal of reading of paperbacks, doing newspaper crosswords and talking with one another…
while there, the discussion arose as to what was more needed – internet access or a shower… I mean, the lake is right there, so clearly the answer is the internet;-)…
it was like the old days, lol…
on the return trip, all of a sudden, the phone started to beep and buzz and ding as it came into cell range and emails and messages starting downloading… it was funny…
10 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beach, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cooks, cottage, delicious, dinner, fed, food, friends, happy, memories, moments, treat, treats, vacation, widow
for five days I have been fed by others… what a wonderful treat… the majority of time I am fine with cooking, but some days I particularly miss my beloved, because he would often take a turn preparing our food…
the variety and complexity of meals was amazing… we had crepes, with freshly made blueberry sauce; spatchcock chicken with potato salad, pan stuffing and green beans; sausages and toast; hot dogs with onions; steak, baked potatoes and salad; bacon, eggs and toast; pork tenderloin, rice and roasted cauliflower; homemade enchiladas with guacamole and homemade sour cream; and the most tasty almond bars and Rice Krispie squares… plus many snacks…
my friends are both excellent cooks and they had nearly as much fun preparing the food as we had eating it…
my contribution was dishwashing, lol… and they use Dawn, which makes bubbles if you squeeze it;-), which I did, numerous times… I may have to switch to Dawn because the bubbles bring me such happiness…
I am glad to do dishes because it doesn’t involve any complicated activity and saves the cooks from cleanup after all their work to produce a meal;-)…
07 Friday Aug 2020
Posted in business, health, life, loss, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, foaming, grandson, habit, personal shopper, shopping, soap, widow
I was so excited when I got a call from my personal shopper (oldest grandson) asking if I still wanted the soap that we’d been looking for since March… I had just started using another brand of foam soap which I was finding had an overpowering smell, lol…
I am a creature of habit and found this particular foaming soap quite a few years ago… it is light and doesn’t really have a scent… which makes it perfect for me…
he picked up three containers so that I will not run out…
hurray…
01 Saturday Aug 2020
Tags
anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, fifty, flowers, George, Locals, memories, moments, remembering, special times, widow
fifty years ago today at 4:30 pm I married the love of my life…
I have been without him for the past nine… below is a photo of our last anniversary together… we had a wonderful dinner at Locals in Courtenay;-)…
those were quite the amazing and wonder-filled forty-two (less four months) years…
I wandered through various files and binders in search of our wedding invitation… it was kind of fun to look at all of these memories… came across a few anniversary cards in the process…
on our fortieth anniversary he brought me forty roses to the hospital… we were supposed to have flown to Courtenay for our vacation just a few days before…
they were amazing and the scent was delightful, although each night they had to be moved into the hall because the perfume overpowered the entire room and it was difficult to sleep, lol…
I have so blessed…
29 Wednesday Jul 2020
Posted in business, garden, life, loss, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, contractor, garage, garden, Indi, roof, shingles, tidy, widow
had someone come by and look at the garage roof…
when the house was reshingled a few years ago, they felt the garage would last for another five years… not!
over the winter I was able to see light through a couple of little holes when the sun was shining…
recently I realized that water was leaking in whenever it rained…
so, Monday, Brian, the contractor, came… he removed the old shingles and put them into his truck without leaving any mess… certainly much cleaner than the folks who did the house… there were shingle bits and nails everywhere when they were done…
after he made a trip to the dump, he picked up shingles that match those on the house, then removed every nail still in the roof and used a cool magnet that picked up any loose ones… then he swept the entire roof before placing down plastic sheeting over the entire surface… I was mesmerized with the light patterns when the shingles were off;-)…
Tuesday he returned and laid the shingles… there were a few problems including both roofing nailers jamming and having to remove all of the Virginia creeper that has grown into and over the eavestrough…
and then – it was done… and it looks wonderful…
Indi will be happy when she comes home;-)…
17 Friday Jul 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Captain's Table, dinner, fish and chips, flowers, food, garden, grandson, lightening, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, purple, weather, widow
busy day…
my middle grandson was dropped off to mow the grass and do a few other pieces of work for me…
he mowed, whipper snipped, pulled weeds, moved furniture and the new umbrella, filled bird/squirrel feeders, and cleaned up patio stones…
it was a hot day for digging around the stones, but it looks so much better… still have more to do the next time he is here… he is a lovely young man and I enjoy the time we have together;-)…
the front yard and garden look tidy and fresh… I sat out for a while after he left but then came in as rain appeared to be on the way and arrived with thunder and lightning…
a most amazing woman brought Captain’s Table fish and chips over (one of my favourites) for supper and we ate inside… the downpour had finally stopped, but it was cool outside… eventually we were able to take a tour of the garden and visit on the deck…
I am so blessed with all the special people who are, and have been, in my life…
07 Tuesday Jul 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, caterpillars, family, fish, flowers, friends, garden, grandsons, memories, moments, nature, pond, purple, stronger, sunshine, widow
another busy day…
up early, put out all the cushions and had my breakfast in the garden… lots of visits from the house finch couple and the chickadees…
went into the pond to clean the pump and filled half a pail with string algae… waterfall is looking better now and the flow is much stronger…
then a good friend came over for a garden visit and we had a lovely time… the garden is looking nice and there are still five or six caterpillars to search out on the milkweed…
she had just left when the lawn mowing service (the middle grandson) arrived… we had a visit before he started and just as he was done the chauffeur (oldest grandson) arrived with a new umbrella which will provide shade in the afternoon sun… we couldn’t put it up as we are waiting for the base to arrive…
then, before I knew it, they were all gone and I was back in the peace and quiet;-)…
lots of reading and nature watching for the rest of the day…
03 Friday Jul 2020
Tags
attach, big girl pants, blessed, family, friend, garden, grandson, hot tub, ladder, moments, process, siding, virginia creeper, widow
my grandson and one of his friends came over yesterday afternoon…
they were here to finish trimming the Virginia creeper and put the piece of siding back up…
it was quite the process as a door was put onto the hot tub, then a ladder on top of the door and then one would climb up and remove bits and pieces of the vine… then they worked from the driveway side to finish… once the vines were removed, they had to do some fancy work to get the siding back up and properly attached…
eventually it was all done and the area cleaned up…
we had a laugh as this particular friend had also helped with landscaping work in the front yard a number of years ago;-)… nice to have him back and helping…
it looks much tidier and more spacious now… after they left I finished cleaning the hot tub and filled it with fresh water… it takes an hour to get it to the top…
it took until around noon to heat it up, although I’ve set the temperature at 99℃ to see if that might be a nice temp for cooling down in this very hot spell we are dealing with…
herbiggirlpants 