for Christmas I gave friends a visit to The Leaf to see Voyage by Fleurs de Villes… it was fun because they got the card at Christmas, and then we got to spend time and have fun together during some very cold days in the city…
I was so excited when I saw that it was coming as I had gone to a similar show with my daughter in a mall in Ottawa and had been blown away with the amazing creations the florists had produced…
this was my favourite, but all the florists did a wonderful job…
I attended three times over the last week and every time I was there it was filled with many people (although I didn’t feel stressed) and the place was bustling… besides being a great exhibition, it looks as though it brought many new people to visit the space…
I had conversations with folk who had never been to The Leaf, members who had been many times, and others who had heard from friends and family about the show and decided to come for this special event…
seeing it in the biomes was much lovelier than in the centre of a mall, lol…
spending time in this wonderful oasis is like a little vacation in southern climes… well, for an hour or so, lol…
my membership, to both The Leaf and the Zoo, has been worth every penny and the cost of a membership for a senior is very reasonable and means I can visit as often as I wish all year round…
it was a wonderful treat and I enjoyed each visit… I had considered going for one last time this evening as I hadn’t been at night, but the tickets were sold out…
way to go Winnipeg… hope we get more shows like this;-)…
about ten years ago I got a new set of pots and hung them up on the kitchen wall…
over the last year I have replaced a few of them and the new pans fit well on the original screws…
except for the lid for one of the new pots… it was just a bit too close to the bottom of the largest pan… my solution had been to hang the lid on top of the pot it worked with…
yesterday morning I decided to move the screw with my new Christmas screwdriver…
it was a bit of a process, as I had to find the correct bit, and figure out how to reverse the direction on the screwdriver, lol…
took about ten minutes total and now the lid finally has its own spot again…
interesting how some days those big girl pants fit so well…
many people start their New Year’s Day with a cold plunge;-)…
I like to start with a hot tub… it was beautiful out, the sun was shining, there wasn’t much wind, and the chickadees were busy at the feeders…
a lovely way to begin the year…
I took out the fancy selfie stick and set it up to get a photo of me in the tub, even though Google told me it felt like -20° Celsius… which it didn’t, lol…
I did look at the plunge tub for a hot second as I walked past it, lol… if my housemate had been home I might have gone in…
New Year’s Eve hasn’t been a big deal for the last few years… in fact, I’ve slept through it a few times, lol…
usually I’ve had a dark haired person to first-foot the house on New Year’s Day, but this year no one with dark hair was available… currently my hair is gray but in my earlier days it was a dark brown;-)…
I did some research and discovered I could first-foot myself as long as I was out of the house before midnight…
I also learned about the tradition of opening the backdoor to let out any bad vibes and then opening the front door to let in the good…
so I packed up my little bag of goodies, opened the back door to leave the house just before midnight and left it open for a few minutes…
then I went into the garage and out the big door, walked up the driveway and watched some fireworks across the creek for a few minutes before entering the house through the front door… the doorbell camera caught me as I entered;-)…
the tradition is supposed to be a tall, dark haired man, but really, I have had a few women do this cause why not…
my bag held a candy cane, heel of bread, an orange, 3 pieces of charcoal, a little bottle of Baileys, and a cookie…
it was fun to have the actual charcoal, because that is what my dad procured just before New Year’s each year to add to the little bags that he distributed to family and friends just after midnight;-)…
I did laugh when I discovered that I did the same thing last year, although on New Year’s Day morning, lol…
on Thursday the blue screen of death showed up on the laptop…
apparently on Monday, when the camera kept failing during our video call, it was a harbinger of the computer’s end of life…
I spent quite a bit of time on Friday morning searching for the sales slip from January 2nd, 2020, when I purchased it in Ottawa, without success… I did find the record in my credit card statements, but after contacting Best Buy, discovered there was no extended warranty…
did some research and went to Best Buy… had a plan to purchase the same computer, but an updated version…
in the end I found a slightly higher quality machine and was happy they actually had it in the store… after consulting with my two computer geeks, brought it home and we spent time in the afternoon getting it filled with all “the stuff” I need…
the old machine fit beautifully into the box the new one came in, and will take a trip to my son-in-law to see if he is able to save anything on it…
I had some fun in the evening doing some personalization and making it my own, lol…
it will be interesting to see what I forgot I needed, lol…
yesterday morning the furnace people arrived around 8 am, just when they said they would… the temp had made it up to 18°C…
people came and went, bits and pieces were removed and then the new high efficiency furnace made it into the basement after tarps were laid down to protect the stairs… Harry worked all day, with helpers coming and going as needed…
it took two of them to get the heavy oldie out of the house…
I was out for the afternoon and when I arrived home the temperature was at a toasty 20°C…
the basement was perfectly clean, all of the bits and pieces which had gone into the backyard were gone and the vents had been raised so the snow shouldn’t be a problem in the future…
and this pretty thing was snuggled into the space… reminds me a bit of Barbie, the barbecue;-)…
I am very pleased with the whole process and would happily recommend M1 Mechanical for furnace replacement or repair…
herbiggirlpants 