11 Saturday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
air conditioner, big girl pants, garden, hot, humidity, moments, nature, outside, Technology, weather, widow
it was hot and humid out there today…
I didn’t spend much time in the garden, although when I first got up and ran the irrigation system, I did put out the cushions, but didn’t sit out for too long…
even at 7 when it is usually quite pleasant, with the humidity, it felt like 42°C, sigh…
may have to leave the air conditioner on all night…
10 Friday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cushions, deck, decorative, garden, groupings, happy, moments, move, nature, pond, widow
even though I am alone in the garden, it makes me happy to put out all of the outdoor chair cushions as well as the decorative ones…
recently, I walked around the space and took photos of the various seating options…
there are lots of places to sit and many are little groupings…
during the day I tend to move from area to area depending on the weather…
this last one is probably the most used in the late afternoon and evening as it is in the shade by then…
I also spend a great deal of the morning by the pond as it is shady in that location in the earlier part of the day and a great spot to watch the fish😊…
09 Thursday Jul 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, continuous, family, garden, leak, moments, pond, waterfall, widow
last year on July 8th, the upper pond and waterfall were being taken apart to fix the continuous leak we’d had for a few years…
when I think about it now, it was a miserable summer as the repair took a number of weeks to complete…
and I came across this photo from July 2013 when the pond was being built…
as I sat out there yesterday morning I was so happy to have everything working and no leaks…
what a different summer it will be…
05 Sunday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, Hilda, Hilda the Gardener, moments, tidy, widow
always such a treat to have Hilda the Gardener in to tidy up the garden;-)…
everything looks neat and tidy when she’s done…
we were laughing about how the gardens looked when she first came… and how she kept taking before and after pictures of her work..
such a huge and delightful difference now…
04 Saturday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
arch, big girl pants, blessed, climb, garden, growing, moments, morning glories, nature, widow
the plants on the new arch are just taking off…
the morning glories have just begun to climb up along the deck side and I am hoping for many flowers before too long…
the other side has a number of plants growing… cucumbers and beans, including scarlet runners…
I am hoping they might invite the hummingbirds to the garden…
I may have planted too many🤪…
03 Friday Jul 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, garden, housemate, invisible, moments, nature, trimmed, virginia creeper, weather, widow
apparently, the virginia creeper is the happiest plant in the garden…
it is growing by leaps and bounds…
along the garage it has been trying to make its way back into the eavestrough and it also thinks it should get to the hot tub, lol…
the baskets were nearly invisible on the other side of the garden…
my housemate was able to get it all back under control in just a few minutes… looks so much better now…
it will probably look like that again in a few weeks😊…
02 Thursday Jul 2026
Posted in food, garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, growing, happier, lemon, lemon tree, moments, nature, new leaves, widow
the lemon tree is very happy outside…
it has new leaves sprouting all over… much happier than when it went out last year…
all this from a seed out of a kitchen lemon… I can’t, for the life of me, remember when it was first planted;-)…
01 Wednesday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blossoms, coneflower, driveway, garden, happy, nature, period, widow
it always amazes me how much better plants do in the place they like…
a perfect example is the coneflower…
previously we had tried one in the bed by the pond and it died off…
last year we planted one along the driveway, beside the chimney… it had two flowers, which made me very happy…
this year I counted at least a dozen blossoms… looking forward to seeing them as they open…
the blossoms are different sizes, so they should open over a period of time;-)…
clearly they like the strong sun in that spot and are very happy 😁
27 Saturday Jun 2026
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
was out for a hot tub a few nights ago… I had twisted my knee, woke up around 2, and went out to soak in the heat…
as I was preparing to slowly and carefully step out of the tub, I looked over and watched a chubby skunk toddle about two feet from me, on its way to the back lane…
using this old picture, I was kitty corner from where I am in this photo… the skunk came through the gate and was just a foot away from the bottom step when I saw it👀…
reminded me of an encounter with another skunk in August of 2015:
after supper last night at the campsite, all the boys and dogs went for a walk to the beach to catch frogs…
it was dark and nearly eleven when a skunk came to visit we three women as we sat around the campfire…
one ran into the tent, another climbed on top of the picnic table… I sat in my chair as the skunk came and sniffed my toes before moseying along to the next site…
was going to take a picture but decided not to in case it got nervous and sprayed, lol…
that was quite a memorable experience;-)…
26 Friday Jun 2026
Posted in business, garden, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
had a lovely walk to the English and Leo Mol Gardens, where I met up with my adventure buddy…
as I waited, I sat with the woman who spends all her time reading… I wasn’t able to see the name of the book, lol…
the gardens are looking much nicer than the last time we walked through them, although everything is still a bit behind…
after we’d been around both areas, we popped over to the Park Cafe and had the Berry Good Sundae, which we had enjoyed just the week before when we were there for a birthday celebration;-)…
tasted like a lovely treat after all that walking in the heat;-)…
then a walk home… and a nap😄…
herbiggirlpants 