Category Archives: Photography

sixteen…

10 Wednesday Aug 2016

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today my oldest grandson turned sixteen…

he is a lovely young man and we’ve been able to spend a portion of our Fridays in the garden over the summer… I have really enjoyed having this time together…


took this shot on Sunday at his birthday party… I’d got him the newest Harry Potter book… he enjoys reading and we’ve both been fans since the first book came out… looking forward to reading it once he’s done…

all of a sudden he looks like a man, not a boy… his grandpa would be so proud of the kind young person he has become… 

the day he was born changed my life… in two ways… 

being a grandparent is by far one of the most amazing things that has happened to me… grandchildren are such a gift to be enjoyed and we’ve been privileged to have our grandkids here and be able to spend time with them on a regular basis since they’ve been born…

it also brought my daughter and I together… before he was born I was not one of her favourite people… we were connected, but her daddy was much more important to her… well, that never changed, lol…

I hadn’t been invited to the hospital as they prepared for the baby’s birth, and was waiting at home with baited breath to hear results of how they were doing and when the baby would be born…

then the phone rang, and my daughter was calling asking me to come to the hospital… from that moment we have had a much better relationship… 

so, this young man has been a gift in more ways than one…

what a wonderful sixteen years it has been… and how lucky am I…

watering…

09 Tuesday Aug 2016

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last night my BS buddies came over and we had a hot tub while we caught up with one another’s lives…

although the wind had been whipping around the house not too long before they arrived, it calmed down and we had a lovely time…

we settled on the top deck to continue our visit…

I was admitting to not watering as much as I need to so the plants are a bit sad… been spending all my time in front of the tv watching Olympics, lol…

next time I go away, I will have to find someone to come and water, so the plants don’t give up on me…

so, tonight, while my supper was cooking, I went out and watered everything…


the Mandevilla is very happy with the heat and being a bit dry…

butterflies…

08 Monday Aug 2016

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this morning I was closing the curtains in the dining room and caught sight of a swallowtail on one of the hostas…

so pretty, but I didn’t move fast enough to get a picture…

part way through the morning my daughter texted me to see if I could FaceTime with her… very unusual for her to want to do that when I am at work, but I said okay…

she wanted to show me the Monarch that was just emerging from its chrysalis… she knows how I love them… a neighbour of hers had brought them a twig with some chrysalides on it so the family could watch the process…

around noon she sent me a picture of them letting it go in the backyard…

it reminded me of the August that I was on vacation and was able to document the caterpillars growing, turning into the chrysalides, and then emerging as butterflies… 

I made a wonderful PowerPoint of the experience and keep thinking I should make it into a picture book…

we didn’t see many butterflies last week at the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden, but did get a picture of this little one…

birthday…

07 Sunday Aug 2016

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quiet morning watching Olympics… just as well as I wasn’t feeling too great…

drove to my daughter’s after lunch for the birthday party for the nearly 16 year old… 

getting much better at making the drive around the Perimeter… of course, it helps that it was bright and sunny… 


beautiful day and we were outside, which was great, because there were a lot of people there, probably around 30…

they were everywhere, visiting and playing… caught a group of friends and cousins playing a water bottle game in the garage… kept them entertained for easily forty-five minutes…


always a high point when the cake comes out… no candles, as requested by the birthday boy, but we did get to sing, lol… he cut the first piece… a tiramisu cake from Baked Expectations…


he looks like a man now, and some say he looks like George…

when I got home I added water to the pond and spotted a baby fish… will have to sit out and see if I can spot more of them…


lovely way to spend a Sunday…

groceries…

06 Saturday Aug 2016

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woo hoo… the Olympics are on… I love to watch and have spent a good portion of the day glued to the tv…

they started early so I was watching rowing by about 6:30… enjoyed some of the men’s bike road race…

making potato salad and spinach dip for tomorrow’s birthday party for the 16 year old has certainly put a kink in my viewing, lol…

headed out fairly early to pick up potatoes at the grocery store and realized after I got home that I didn’t have any mayonnaise for the spinach dip… made the potato salad in stages, between the sports I wasn’t as interested in…

five pounds of potatoes… hope it is enough…

later in the afternoon I walked over to the grocery store and picked up the missing ingredient… also found fresh green beans and little cucumbers… so, for my dinner, had goldeye, a tiny bit of the potato salad, the beans and cucumbers…

very tasty, and easy, as I wanted to keep watching swimming and tennis…

finished the spinach dip and everything is ready to go…

present is wrapped, which took about half an hour to finish… 

and now I can focus back on the games…

bye…

start…

05 Friday Aug 2016

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this morning the sky was stunning… it started with white clouds, then dark clouds, and finally sunshine, all within what felt like minutes… 

then it was off to the Park for breakfast and a walk through the Gardens with my friend…

as I walked there, the sky continued to provide a variety of views…

once inside the Park, came across a huge tree down on the pathway…

great meal and stroll as we caught up on one another’s lives over the last few weeks…

the Gardens were at their absolute best with blooms bursting out everywhere we looked…

clearly the gardeners have been working nonstop…

and there were others hard at work in amongst the flowers…

this morning the Boy and his Boot were dry, but there were some new plants in the pond and they were lovely…

took a turn around the Riley Family Duck Pond and got a few shots of some mallard babies… not so little anymore…

nice view of the Pavilion and Lyric stage…

sky continued to change on my walk home… bit of darkness off in the distance as I crossed the bridge… and the wind started to pick up…

by the time I reached the corner of my street the temperature had probably dropped five degrees…

and it was very dark… but it all blew over and was sunny for the remainder of the day…

was sure to have my supper organized and eaten before six, when the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies started…

firmly ensconced in front of the tv… happily won’t have to get up in the middle of the night to watch as the time zone is so close to ours…

going to be busy for the next seventeen days, lol…

downloaded from the internet…

zoo…

04 Thursday Aug 2016

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right after work was picked up by the kids and headed to the Assiniboine Park Zoo for a special member only evening…


especially nice to get to spend time there in the evening, as the zoo usually closes at 5…

we finally managed to check out the dinosaurs…


all of the food was half price so it made for a very reasonable option for dinner…


and treats;-)…

we saw a couple of bears, one of the horses and finished at the Butterfly Garden…


checking out the variety of chrysalis… not too many butterflies to see today… likely because it was cooling off and the sun wasn’t out…

always manage to find a flower to get a picture of, lol


great way to end my week…

Pokémon…

03 Wednesday Aug 2016

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today my kids met me at the Millennium Library Park over the lunch hour…

my daughter has given in and downloaded Pokémon Go on her phone so both little boys can help search for Pokémons, PokéStops and gyms… daddy had downloaded the game before we left on our vacation, so they would either take turns or share the phone…

the boys wandered all around the Park and found a PokéStop and two gyms… apparently they fight in the gyms, but the boys tell me they aren’t fighting others… they know how I feel about fighting, so I’m not sure about that…

while we were camping they would go for walks to hatch eggs and searched wherever we were to see if there were any Pokémons in the vicinity… then there would be great excitement as they described what they had caught…

it has been interesting to see how many people are playing and how there seems to be lots of cooperation where one person will suggest to other hunters where to search…

we chatted with many people we wouldn’t normally have spoken to, as it was clear they were also playing the game… appears to be a bit of a family game for our family and it is nice to see them playing it together…

since the first day my oldest grandson showed me the game, with great excitement in his eyes, I have been interested in how it has entertained them… 

they are often sharing what they have accomplished with their walking around and about…

such fun…

screenshot of my daughter’s game…

sounds…

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

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thought about our vacation and what were the most special moments for me…

three things came to me… the mesmerizing sound of the loons on the water…


it is such a haunting and amazingly beautiful sound…

the second sound that stood out for me was the rustling of the birch tree leaves… it often sounded like a gentle rain…


and finally, the sound of water rushing up into my face when I was trying to stand up on the wakeboard…


all water sounds, lol…

15,193…

01 Monday Aug 2016

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today marks 46 years since we were married…

did the math and it has been 1,609 days since my beloved died which means we were married for 15,193 days…

spent my day recovering from our camping trip and remembering many of the special times during those 41 plus years…

was in the garden for the morning… we moved into this house three years after we were married and have spent many hours in the garden…

it has changed from a lawn to a playground, to a garden filled with ponds and decks… when I spend time in the garden it feels like he is close…


this morning Mr and Mrs Goldfinch stopped by and I caught a picture of him… she flew off before I took the shot… thought it was cool that they came as a couple on this day…

for the rest of the day it rained and was overcast so I took it very easy, did a few chores and thought about many of the special moments in our life together…

and so it began;-)…


memories, light the corners of my mind...