15 Tuesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
yesterday daffodils were delivered as part of a cancer fundraiser that we’ve supported for a number of years…
this year we ordered a few extra bunches in memory of our colleague who died last year…
it was lovely to see them when I arrived this morning… brought back good and bad memories…
she was a lovely person and I think of her often… she loved orange and yellow too…
14 Monday Mar 2016
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Tags
. soup, basil, beloved, big girl pants, conversation, entertaining, garden, pictures, ReImagining, salad, St. Patrick's Day, widow, zucchini
had a wonderful day…
began with making my favourite zucchini basil soup for tonight’s dinner…
took the time to take pictures of each step in the process…
turned out great… as I worked on each step I thought of the people coming for dinner and how lovely it will be to see them and spend time together…
the hardest part of making this is finding the basil and zucchini at the same time… much simpler in the summer, lol…
had the screen door open as I was working on the soup… was so beautiful, decided to eat my lunch on the deck and read for a bit… the sun was so warm…
set the table and went for a walk…
planned the dinner with St. Patrick’s day in mind, thus the green soup, lol… enjoyed preparing it as I don’t do much entertaining these days…
made a huge garden salad and shredded a bbq rotisserie chicken to go along with the soup and some fresh bread… the salad reminded me of my beloved’s wonderful salads… have not been able to recreate them…
also set up our conversation spot to focus on lean-to/support to go along with a program one of the group had sent everyone…
took the last few minutes before their arrival to sit and relax…
dinner was enjoyed by everyone, and we had some thoughtful conversation…
13 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, flowers, foggy, hydropath, Kingfisher, moon, sauna, spa, Thermea, widow
had a lovely couple of hours at Thermea tonight…
a while before leaving the house all of a sudden it was very foggy…
could barely see on the drive over, but it was beautiful on the grounds… had a lovely view of the moon while we were sitting in the outdoor pools…
reminded me of the lovely hydropath at the Kingfisher Spa just outside of Courtenay, BC… tried to get there whenever I visited my daughter while she lived at the coast… have come a long way from the days when I could only stay in the steam sauna for about two minutes, lol…
today we spent the most time in the eucalyptus steam sauna… pretty hot and steamy… also really enjoyed sitting by the fire on this beautiful evening…
finally had the chance to go at night to see how it looked lit up… lovely…
a wonderful treat, thanks to the generosity of my colleagues…
final treat of the day were these flowers that jumped into my shopping cart…
12 Saturday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
happy to open the patio door and have the warm air flow through the screen…
first time it has been open since the fall I think… had the bedroom window open all day too…
spent a few minutes on the deck shovelling the snow off it… planning to sit out there for a bit tomorrow…
got a few pictures of the water in the pond… won’t be long before I am sitting out there beside it…
heat from the sun is melting the snow around the big rocks…
tonight all the solar lights are on… for the last few nights some have been staying lit until early in the morning… excellent sign of Spring…
streets were pretty dry so today when I headed out I wore my sandals…
now we are talking;-)…
11 Friday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
stunning start to the day… caught this glorious sunrise as I headed downstairs this morning…
really excited to see water in the pond when I arrived home tonight… melting like crazy… yay…
happy it is Friday and Monday is my day off…
only one more Monday off, as starting in April I will be working Monday to Thursday every week… hoping the change won’t affect my bottom line too much…
10 Thursday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, light, orchid, remembering, squirrel, touch, widow
got a great shot of a squirrel yesterday morning having a snack in the garden…
this morning I was up even earlier and watched a bunny crossing the street but didn’t get a picture… the exciting thing was that it was light out when I headed downtown at seven…
did take a few pics of the orchid which still looks pretty good… trying not to touch it which might cause one of the blossoms to drop off…
have spent a fair amount of time over the last few days remembering the day of my beloved’s memorial service… it was four years ago today…
all of us getting ready together was rather stressful…
making it through the gathering was painful and I was barely able to move as my body reacted to the distress of the day and my health issues…
having the opportunity to speak with everyone who came to celebrate his life was awe inspiring and very comforting…
arriving home to discover that someone had hit a borrowed vehicle and driven away without even leaving a note…
can’t actually remember the evening…
such a painFULL time…
am pleased with how well we have come through these days/months/years… each of us is moving forward and supporting one another…
we talk about George/Daddy/Grandpa often… I don’t want anyone to forget him and his impact on us and everyone who he touched…
we are and have been blessed…
09 Wednesday Mar 2016
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Tags
big girl pants, daughters, ECCO, nervous, new, New York, pain, sandals, shorts, tree, weekend, widow
on Saturday I picked up these new shorts…
the ones from last summer aren’t going to fit this year…
and I will need them for our trip to New York City for a weekend mid April…
not exactly sure what the temperature will be but want to be prepared…
I’m going with my two daughters and one of their friends… looking forward to it…
have been looking through websites, Pinterest, and talking with people who’ve been…
we will be going early on a Friday and returning home late on the Monday… not too long but we are planning to see lots while we are there…
everyone I’ve talked with has said it is wonderful… been a bit nervous because I’m not very good in crowds and am worried that there will be tons of people everywhere…
I’m looking forward to dinner at a great restaurant, maybe seeing some cherry trees in bloom and walking in Central Park…
early in the winter I bought a new pair of ECCO sandals and will be happy to break them in on this trip… for a number of years my feel hurt all the time but once I started wearing these shoes they have been pain free…
all winter I wear my sandals at work… people laugh when they see me with bare toes but I can still remember the pain that I was in constantly before… these are the only shoes for me now… I can walk forever…
08 Tuesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
it was lovely out this morning and I stood outside waiting for my ride…
lots of melting yesterday…
on my walk from the corner tonight took a few shots of the creek which was filled with water… amazing because it was overcast all day, not a single ray of sunshine…
the solar lights in the garden are on tonight… very exciting that the sun is strong enough to light them up…
maybe spring is here…
07 Monday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, bright, busy, clean, cleaners, melting, puddles, snow, strong, sun, treat, widow
had to stop as I was backing out of the driveway this morning to take a picture of the glittering snow… so white, bright, shiny and clean looking…
lovely start to the day…
when I returned to the house I noticed two things… huge amounts of snow had melted throughout the day… here is the top of the deck just a few days ago…
this is the same spot tonight…
the sun shone with great strength all day… really noticed it on the drive home as there were many puddles and the snow banks had gone down a lot…
the final piece was in the bathroom… the cleaners come the first Monday of the month and they always fold the toilet paper like you are in a hotel…
I had prepared for them, but with the busyness of the day totally forgot they’d been here until I walked into the house and noticed how clean it was…
what a treat…
06 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, boat show, dimsum, errands, Grandpa, groceries, roast chicken, running, Spark, stuffing, widow
seems like it has been a crazy busy day, felt as though I was running from one thing to the next…
up early and headed out to do errands… went to three different stores and got home with groceries to put away…
made the stuffing for the chicken just in time to be picked up by the kids for a dimsum lunch… tasty…
the boys and I all fit into a picture, sort of…
then we went to the Mid-Canada Boat Show in the new portion of the RBC Convention Centre… the space is lovely… didn’t take a single picture…
there were many very big boats there… liked the look of a new model of seadoo called Spark… looks like it might be lots of fun… to drive one I would need a boating licence, hmmmm…
when we got home I stuffed the chicken and popped it into the oven… we visited and I prepped the rest of the food… eventually the chicken was cooked… had mashed potatoes with cauliflower; brussel sprouts with mushrooms and garlic; gravy, and cranberry jelly… and of course our usual Caesar salad, which all the boys love… topped dinner off with some apple pie to remember Grandpa… we talked about his favourite foods… he really liked roast pork, but always enjoyed a roast chicken dinner…
can’t really believe it has been four years since he left us and at the same time it feels like way longer that I’ve been on my own…
herbiggirlpants 