24 Sunday May 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
23 Saturday May 2026
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, friend, greenery, happy, items, moments, Park Cafe, update, widow
walked to and from the Park for lunch on Thursday…
happy to see the new design and menu items and so pleased to meet up with a wonderful friend and spend some quality time together;-)…
the place looks great, with more greenery and comfortable chairs that move much easier… the space seems more open… didn’t even realize that the kitchen was no longer visible…
the menu looked much classier than the previous version and my falafel plate was excellent, as always…
my friend had the eggs Benedict which was also tasty…
the fried potatoes with onions was not a favourite…
we watched adult geese wander the paths with their numerous babies as we enjoyed our meal…
I took this photo as I was crossing the bridge;-)…
lovely…
22 Friday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, double, family, garden, jobs, moments, nature, warm, water, weather, widow
got more done in the garden on Wednesday… thankfully the weather cooperated and the sun was out for most of the day and the temperature was in the double digits…
we figured out how to make the planters fit better around the deck and even used up some wood that we had saved from a bed;-)…
another piece of the bench got replaced which made me happy…
planters were moved and others brought out of the shed as I work on where to put them this year…
a few plants went into the ground and the rhubarb got moved to a much better location…
looking forward to some rhubarb crisp;-)…
21 Thursday May 2026
Posted in life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Technology, water, big girl pants, leak, widow, fish, moments, pump, lower
once I got up on Tuesday, I decided to feed the fish…
usually they get fed around 10:30, but it was just before nine when I got out the food and discovered that the water in one tank was way lower than the others…
it had been leaking out from the very top of the pump:-(… very unusual spot for a leak… I don’t think it had been spewing water for very long and set out to sort out the situation…
turned the pump off, used towels to mop up as much of the water as possible and then took out the filters and cleaned them… oddly, algae had blocked the bottom of the filter pack…
after cleaning the filters, they went back into the pump and everything seemed fine although it took a few hours to soak up all the spilled water…
whenever there is a leak, I am nervous for the next few days and constantly checking to make sure everything is fine, lol…
so far, so good 😊…
20 Wednesday May 2026
Posted in family, food, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
. soup, bbq, big girl pants, blessed, chicken, family, food, Glowy, grandson, homemade, moments, spatchcocked, widow
on Sunday we (well, my housemate) cooked a spatchcocked chicken on Glowy for dinner…
afterwards I took the leftover bones and meat and started chicken soup…
finished it in the morning and had a delicious cup of soup for lunch;-)…
19 Tuesday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, boards, cleaned, eavestroughs, family, garden, grandson, ladders, moments, sails, weather, widow
my middle grandson came over on Saturday to help with some projects…
it started with removing the virginia creeper from the house and garage eavestroughs which involved a few ladders, big boards, buckets, and a number of yardwaste bags, lol…
from there he worked with his brother on adding copper mesh to boards to go along the garage to keep the squirrels out… hopefully it works…
the final piece of work was helping with getting the sails up in the garden…
happy we got so much done, particularly since then the weather has been cold🤪…
18 Monday May 2026
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, healthy, hospital, mango, memories, moments, sick, wanted, widow
lately I’ve been using frozen mango in my morning yogurt rather than my usual raspberries…
it has reminded me of the six weeks I spent in St. Boniface hospital over fifteen years ago…
for five of those weeks I was unable to eat, or drink anything… feeding tubes and IVs…
finally, towards the very end of my stay I was allowed to drink something…
and, for whatever reason, I wanted mango juice… my family searched high and low, but were unable to find any…
finally, after I returned home, some was produced, lol…
so my yogurt with frozen mango in it has been a reminder of that time in my life…
these reminders make me realize how blessed I am…
17 Sunday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blocks, family, garden, moments, nature, pond, running, sparrows, waterfall, weather, widow
I can’t explain how happy I am…
Wednesday, after hours of work in and around the pond we got it cleaned, filled with water and the waterfall and second pump going;-)…
a hose was dug into the dirt and blocks tidied up from last year’s construction…
there were a dozen various sparrows snacking on the grass and clover seed that went down last Saturday, lol…
they have also been enjoying the water with baths and drinks…
the back deck is not quite set up, but I managed to get a cushion on one of the chairs and sat out enjoying the wonderful sound of the water cascading from the waterfall and over the rock…
and while we were working on the pond, Hilda the Gardener was tidying up all the flower beds, in the hope that someday we will be able to plant, lol…
16 Saturday May 2026
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, circulating, family, garden, moments, music, pond, prep, pumps, widow, working
started work on the pond…
first step was to empty out the water… that was done last Saturday…
on Wednesday, after using the wet-vac and vacuuming the leaves and other crud out of the bottom, the pumps were set in place…
then the water flowed in and the pumps started circulating… which also means the waterfall began making wonderful music…
what a treat…
15 Friday May 2026
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
arches, beans, big girl pants, blessed, cucumbers, family, garden, light, planter, plants, weather, widow, wire
next part of the project was to install two arches where I am hoping to grow cucumbers and beans and morning glories;-)…
they will be located between the pond and the deck…
I’m hopeful that the light will help grow more veggies and brighten up that section of the garden;-)…
now the arches are in, two planters from other areas of the garden will be placed under them to hold the plants, once the grass/clover comes through the dirt/compost/sand… fingers crossed…
we picked up some wire and fastened it to the arches using zip ties…
it will be interesting to see how long it takes to cover the arches with greenery…
herbiggirlpants 