Category Archives: nature

bricks…

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

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another lovely quiet day…

so happy to know that my shovellers will be by whenever it snows… Saturday it was the partner who did it all with a shovel… there was a lot of snow out there…

when it wasn’t snowing or blowing it was beautiful…

last night the city plowed the street and built some good sized windrows in front of the sidewalk… they did a great job cleaning out the end of the driveway though…

I texted my shovelled and he was by within an hour to clear out the bricks of frozen snow…

think this process is going to work well for both of us… him, not having to dig it out when it has frozen back into one large clump and me, having a clear walkway for my company…

slightly…

17 Friday Jan 2020

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I’ve been waiting for a slightly warmer day to top up the hot tub…

it has been running low since I got home and I haven’t been out to sit in it because when it is low it sprays all over me which isn’t that nice…

around noon I removed the dryer vent and put the hose through it… then I went outside and slid between the hot tub and the pergola so I could reach the hose and put it into the tub…

back downstairs to turn the water on and then seven long minutes out in the cold as it filled up;-)…

actually the seven minutes went by quickly and I was able to pop back into the house to turn the water off, return to the outdoors to remove the hose from the hot tub and get back into the basement to collect the hose and replace the vent in the hole in the wall that was letting in a fair bit of very cold air, lol…

now for the waiting game… it will likely be a few days before it warms back up to 103, my favourite temperature… it takes so long because the tub is only plugged in using a regular outlet…

maybe a Sunday hot tub…

enjoying…

16 Thursday Jan 2020

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saw the most amazing sky tonight as I was walking through the house…

it always amazes me when I just happen to look out and see a gorgeous sunset or sunrise… there are so many moments that we miss because we aren’t looking, lol…

here is one of the photos that I took, just before my camera advised me it was exhausted…

I am feeling that a pattern is appearing in my days… I am getting up around eight or nine and then having a relaxing breakfast… today I had some chicken soup I’d made a few days ago in the Instant Pot… I hadn’t tasted it when I made it so was pleased with it this morning… I’d woken up with a stuffy nose, so chicken soup seemed like a great start to my day…

for my lunch I had some of the Mexican Chicken Soup I’d made at the same time…. I will make this again as it is very tasty…

a bit later I spent some time working at cleaning out a kitchen drawer… even went as far as putting a liner in as well… took a while for everything to dry and be ready to go back into the drawer and a number of things hit the garbage and pass-me-over box…

reading, watching tv, tidying, napping and cooking take up the rest of the day…

so far I am enjoying the relaxed quiet days…

decluttering…

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

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had a very productive and enjoyable day…

spent time in the morning decluttering, deep-cleaning and reorganizing a rolling cupboard that my beloved built many years ago…

felt very pleased with the outcome… got rid of some stuff and made space for the Instant Pot;-)…

then had a delightful visit and some treats with a dear friend…

followed by some reading and a few phone calls… caught this sun dog as I looked out the window;-)…

enjoying the moments in this new portion of the journey;-)…

hosts…

10 Friday Jan 2020

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recently I flew home from Ottawa… I spent the majority of the trip with my eyes glued to the window… it was like the entire sky was filled with a sunset for the entire flight… what a gift…

I had the most wonderful visit with my daughter and son-in-law… also had a fun time meeting and getting to know his mom…

it was quite a different Christmas for me… flew out on Christmas Day and celebrated New Year’s there as well… his mom was with us for a week and then I spent another six days with the kids…

had so much fun… the kids are wonderful hosts* and offer up all kinds of interesting things to do… I stayed in their AirBnB room which was very cozy…

while I was there we ate great home cooked meals, fed birds out of our hands, went to see butterflies, had afternoon tea, went to the Market and restaurants, spent a day at the spa, had a photo shoot, and two chocolate tastings…

and enjoyed great conversations…

now I am home and able to begin retirement living…

*AirBnB Cozy Blue Room Ottawa

spa…

09 Thursday Jan 2020

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for my last full day in Ottawa, we went to Nordik Spa in Chelsea… it is the parent of Thermea, where I was, just days ago…

but it is so much bigger… there are whole sections for quiet activities, as well as silent ones… every time I go they have added something new… this time it was Quonset hut saunas… the light reflecting on the ceiling was gorgeous…

we started in one of the warm glass beds and moved to warm pools, saunas, hot pools, had scrubs, and sat around fires in huts…

we drank tons of water and had a delicious lunch… we chatted with strangers, just ourselves, and we spent time in silence…

they don’t allow photos on site so these are a few I took: leaving home as the snow fell, the view as we stood in line to get our bracelets, and a picture my daughter took as we were leaving…

it was a wonderful relaxing and rejuvenating day, and a great way to end my visit…

we drove home in the dark, after watching the moon rise from various pools, and had a simple supper before all three of us watched a movie…

we didn’t want to go to bed because she had to work the next day and I would be packing and flying home;-(…

village…

02 Thursday Jan 2020

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last night we went to Upper Canada Village to see the lights…

the weather was balmy, with a bit of wind blowing now and again…

we wandered around and admired the hundreds of thousands of lights that lit up buildings and trees, had two horse and wagon rides, ate cookies with hot chocolate, sang Christmas carols in the church and had a wonderful train ride around the property…

unfortunately we couldn’t ride the carousel because you had to weigh less than 100 pounds;-(…

an excellent way to get in some walking…

eventful…

29 Sunday Dec 2019

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what an eventful day yesterday was…

in the morning my daughter and I headed to Bulk Barn for bird seed and then on to Mer Bleue where it was way too slippery for a walk but we spent a lovely time feeding the birds from our hands… such fun;-)…

chickadees came and went from the surrounding trees… we saw blue jays, two types of woodpeckers, a nuthatch and maybe a partridge…

it was great fun… my daughter took the picture of the chickadee looking at me, lol…

then we picked up my son-in-law and his mom and went to the Canadian Museum of Nature where we saw exhibits about the arctic, the earth and Canadian birds… and we spent some quality time in the butterfly exhibit…

here are a few of my favourite photos…

birds AND butterflies…

finished the day off with a BeaverTail;-)…

those were for sharing, I only had half of one;-)…

fastener…

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

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I’ve had this cute little bag since a visit to Alaska in 2013…

I usually use it to protect my camera in my purse… sometimes I’ve worn it cross body when I’ve needed to carry my phone, without using my hands, or if I don’t have pockets…

a few days ago I figured out how to wear it around my waist…

added another fastener to it which makes it much easier to clip on and off…

in these last few years, being on my own, I have felt it more important to have my phone close at hand in case I trip, fall, or need help for some other reason…

going to be much easier now…

solstice…

21 Saturday Dec 2019

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it was beautiful inside and out…

currently the temperature outside feels like -11C at 6 pm…pretty darn warm;-)…

saw the most stunning sky to welcome the Winter Solstice early this morning…

had breakfast with my grandson, prepared potatoes for tomorrow’s dinner, made stuffing and had a wonderful visit with a dear young woman…

I also got all of my Smart pieces of technology working correctly;-)… did laundry and brought up the suitcase…

I’ve watched some horse jumping and almost had a nap…

sounds crazy busy, but there were lots of breaks sitting in front of the tree listening to Christmas music…

blessed;-)…