prepared the last five solar lights that my grandson had picked up for me…
I’ve put them all into a flower pot until the weather settles down and the ground is frost-free… at which point they can go into various areas of the garden…
the cap on one wasn’t closed and it took me a while to figure out how to fasten it… once I had it fixed, I went and found one that had seemed to have a similar problem from the first batch I received…
unfortunately, that one didn’t work, but I dug out some duct tape and got it connected…
duct tape was one of my beloved’s favourite things;-)…
this morning I participated in my first Zoom call… it was with an April birthday friend… we usually meet for lunch between our birthdays, but seeing each other’s face was a nice treat…
shortly after that, a box of Callia flowers arrived with a bouquet called Magnificent;-)… they are just beautiful…
I had a call with the giver of the flowers and it was wonderful to catch up…
much as I don’t mind being home, I do miss visiting with such special people…
I finally got a new set of photos on my digital display and chose the ones from our Maui vacation two years ago this month… that really was a once-in-a-lifetime trip which brought me great joy and wonderful memories…
I have spent the last month planning how I would mark this special event, so there were, and will be, a few surprises for others…
I’ve been hearing about birthday weeks, so to start that off, on Monday I ordered Chinese food… it was lovely as I haven’t had any for a long time and I had leftovers for the next two days, which was a wonderful treat…
a number of parcels and envelopes arrived in the mail, which had to be set aside until today… this morning there were sparklers and singing;-)…
had a lovely gift opening time with the kids and received some delightful presents… paintbrushes, paint, a cool pad to make art pictures with, and a gorgeous window bird feeder;-)… my daughter is encouraging me to find a hobby… maybe it will be bird watching and then painting pictures of them… not likely, lol…
looking forward to trying all of the goodies… will need to wait for warmer weather to attach the feeder to the front window…
made poached eggs on potato patties, with bacon and asparagus… and I had it on my confetti plate… ended breakfast with half of a delicious pistachio cupcake which a friend dropped off for me yesterday…. nice start to the day…
texts, posts and phone calls have made the day extra fun… watched a cooking competition marathon…
lunch was cold shrimp with cocktail sauce… as I peeled them I was remembering fun times on the lanai in Florida, many years ago, with a dear friend…
moved orchids and flowers to set up the den for my video call with my BS friends and we had a great time… there was singing, tea, snacks, toasts, and lots of laughter… what a wonderful group of women…
there were more phone calls as the snow began to fall again… decided to order beef bones instead of barbecuing, as it was cold and windy…
that worked very nicely, it was delicious, and there will be enough for tomorrow’s supper…
what a ride these seventy years have been… truly, I am blessed and look forward to a year focussed on gratitude and living in the moment;-)…
I’ve been spending a bit of time with my Olympus camera, getting to know it again…
it had been sitting on the shelf for a long time because I had misplaced the charger…
my son-in-law was able to find one online for me and I recently received it…
I dug out the manual, read through it and have started to take more pictures… I never thought it worked as well as my Nikon, but maybe I didn’t give it a chance, lol…
the adjustable brackets have arrived, the adjustable brackets have arrived;-)…
we’ve had our garden reclining lawn chairs for longer than I can remember…
they are just right in the space and have the ability to recline… a great place for an afternoon nap in the shade…
over the last few years I’ve replaced the cushions, but the brackets have been wearing out and breaking… I had no idea what to call them so wasn’t able to find replacement parts…
I even looked for new chairs, but there don’t seem to be any that recline nowadays…
I mentioned it to my son-in-law and he found the parts online… I ordered them from a business in the States, hoping they would work and they arrived yesterday…
today, I went out to the garage to see if they would be just a simple screw into the tube or whether we will have to drill some holes…
they fit;-)… one hole is in the wrong place, but I think only using the other two holes will be perfect…
I am so happy… now to clean off the deck and wait for some nice weather…
anyone who follows me knows that I am trying to keep my diabetes in check with diet and exercise only…
when I started I absolutely gave up any type of sugar… that was hard, and also included potatoes, one of my favourite foods, lol…
over the years I have loosened up my diet to include some of the things that had been removed… always done in consultation with my doctor, so that my life was less focussed on the fear of my A1C number…
at my last appointment, my number had gone up to the edge of needing meds…
so, I cut back all sugar once again, which meant that I wasn’t having any chocolate;-(…
I was excited a few days ago to learn about Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers (through Patreon)… it is a monthly subscription that will send me an envelope of goodies each month… all chocolate-themed, but no actual chocolate…
a great way to soothe my chocolate craving, without any of the sugar content, and provide support for an artist…
there is even an app for Patreon so I can see any items going up about Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers (also on Instagram @happymailforchocolatelovers).
looking forward to see what will be in my first envelope;-)…
those big girl pants are fitting more comfortably all the time…
yesterday, in the early evening, the power went out… it was still light so I sat in the quiet and finished a book… then I went in search of flashlights and candles in case I needed them… found both and had them set out in each room so I would be ready when it got dark…
after about forty-five minutes the power came back on… Google turned all the lights on and the fish tank pump started burbling…
I turned on the tv which came on and after a few seconds would say the connection was lost… same thing for the one upstairs…
I decided to go to bed and see if it was more cooperative in the morning… unfortunately it wasn’t…
so instead of freaking out and calling my son-in-law, I went down to the router, turned it off, once I figured out which plug to use, and waited… plugged it back in, and waited…
and then turned on the tv which was now perfectly happy…
I also put a label on the plug for the next time this happens…
I gathering all the documents to send off to my accountant… this always reminds me of my beloved who really disliked dealing with income taxes…
I am very careful to put all of the pieces into a tax folder throughout the year so that it isn’t too hard to produce what is required, although a number of donation receipts weren’t ready as I had an issue with my printer…. it did take a bit of extra time to gather those up, lol…
had it all done last week, but then received an email with slightly different instructions… so I had to take everything out and remove items and add others, lol…
this first year of retirement there were a lot more T-things to collect… amazingly they were able to download all of those, so I didn’t need to include them in the envelope…
but then, off it went… glad to have that done…
just found out that my finance guy got the numbers right to keep me in the correct tax bracket and I will be getting a refund…
herbiggirlpants 