11 Sunday Oct 2026
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, dining car, family, food, meals, moments, options, train trip, widow
I’ve been thinking of the great meals we had on the train… the first morning we didn’t know where the dining car was and made the best of what we found in another car,,,
then we discovered where the dining car was, and had excellent meals from then on, lol… at each meal you got to choose between three options…
and at each meal we ended up sitting with people who we hadn’t met before…
10 Saturday Oct 2026
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
2 seats, big girl pants, blessed, extra, family, first class, moments, snacks, Technology, WestJet, widow
because I had many, many, WestJet points, we flew home from Victoria first class…
happily it meant that our bags were free to check so we didn’t have to worry about them, and there were two seats instead of three, which meant we had more space…
the first flight was early in the morning and our Uber driver got us there in ample time…
we left a few minutes late but had excellent service, lots of snacks and real glasses for our beverages;-)…
the mountains looked stunning as we flew over them and landed right on time in Calgary… then, we had to literally run all the way across the airport to the gate for the final leg of our journey… I was very worried we wouldn’t make it and we arrived with just a few minutes to spare, and we were the last to get on the plane…
I was a little bit peeved as I had paid extra to have the WestJet person on the phone make all the reservations so there wouldn’t be any problems… not only did they get the birthdates wrong for both of us, but they booked 45 minutes between the flights which is too close to move from one end of the airport to the other… a rather exciting end to our trip…
but, we arrived home safe and sound and with our luggage😥…
06 Tuesday Oct 2026
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, fascinators, moments, Pendray Tea House, rainbow, relaxing, seafood, West Coast Afternoon Tea, widow
our final tea was at Pendray Tea House… it had a few options and we chose the West Coast Afternoon Tea… seafood was the focus of the savouries…
these people are serious about tea…
when our tea arrived, so did a timer for the perfect tea…
the sandwiches and dainties were tasty and filling…
my favourite was the Dungeness crab cake…
we enjoyed watching other diners enjoy their tea, a few even wore fascinators😊…
and a rainbow wandered around the room as the evening approached…
04 Sunday Oct 2026
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, family, flowers, giant trees, Hatley Castle, Japanese Garden, meadow, moments, nature, paths, ponds, Royal Rhodes gardens, vistas, widow
we took an Uber across Victoria from our hotel to Royal Rhodes University… it also is the location of Hatley Castle…
we weren’t interested in the castle, and had a bit of trouble finding the gardens we were looking for, lol… eventually we found a gardener and they set us on the correct path…
we were headed toward the Japanese Garden and did find it… there was an upper part and a lower part, with big trees, a few buildings, and peaceful vistas…
it had a lovely pond as well as some creeks…
we had fun getting some lovely shots in the garden next to the castle where it looked like you were in a beautiful meadow 🙂…
02 Friday Oct 2026
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
Abkhazi Garden, big girl pants, cane, family, garden, hummingbird, moments, nature, support, volunteers, widow
had a wonderful time at the Abkhazi Garden after we had our tea…
this garden is basically run by volunteers…
they had a few canes available and lent me one, as I forgot my monopole, which has worked out well as a bit of stabilization for me…
it is a lovely space and the highlight for me was sitting under a tree with my daughter while a hummingbird visited and sat in the tree above us… my daughter took both of the above pictures…
found a few ponds with turtles and goldfish…
I was also impressed with the methods they used to support the trees…
amazing what a group of volunteers can accomplish…
01 Thursday Oct 2026
Tags
Abkhazi High Tea, allergy, big girl pants, family, favourite, garden, moments, shade, wasp, weather, widow
we arrived at the Abkhazi Tea Room just in time for our reservation… our Uber driver had a little trouble finding it, lol…
which was fair as it looked like a house on the street…
it was my favourite high tea spot… more relaxed, but also set in the garden…
I wore my fancy hat, but it caused problems with taking pictures as it put my face in the shade…
the umbrella over our table had me in shade and sun, so I ended up moving my tea items into the sun for photos…
once again we had a wasp visitor, but not quite as serious as the one at the Butchart Gardens, lol…
our server was very attentive and quick to change out one of the items that could have caused an allergic reaction for my daughter…
a delicious and very relaxing tea😊…
30 Wednesday Sep 2026
Posted in family, life, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
Beacon Hill Park, big girl pants, ducks, family, flowers, giant trees, moments, nature, roses, Terry Fox, walking, widow
we wandered through Beacon Hill Park… it is huge…
we saw giant trees, flower beds filled with flowers, roses, numerous ponds and creeks, and lots and lots of ducks…
and, the moss lady… once we found her, I was reminded of the Earth Goddess, which we visited in Atlanta in 2016… at that time I slipped under the fence and got a close up with her…
did the same thing with the moss lady, although I did not touch her…
from the bus we saw the mile zero monument, and the Terry Fox memorial…
clearly, you could spend days wandering through this park😊…
29 Tuesday Sep 2026
Tags
Beacon Hill Park, big girl pants, ducks, Empress Hotel, family, Fan Tan alley, flowers, giant trees, hop on hop off bus, moments, nature, ponds, widow
we decided to take the hop on, hop off bus and to do the whole loop to see what we might want to do the next time we took it…
the tour started at the Empress, so while we waited to board we visited the gardens there… we stepped inside the lobby to admire the beautiful arrangements and then wandered the lawns and gardens…
we found lovely flower beds and a few giant old trees…
we decided that the next day we would visit Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park…
after we’d been around once we walked to the Parkside Hotel where we saw the koi and had a snack beside the pond…
we went back to one of the stops and hopped on, and hopped off, just a few blocks from our hotel… very handy…
the next day, after I’d put on just about all the clothes I’d brought because I’d been cold the day before, lol, we caught the bus by our hotel and hopped off at Beacon Hill Park… it is very large…
we hopped on and hopped off again at the Empress and walked up a street to check out the shops… after lunch we walked to see Trounce Alley and Fan Tan Alley, which is only 3 feet wide!!! after buying a few treats, we caught the bus and hopped off at the stop which was close to our hotel;-)…
the hop on, hop off bus was worth every penny as we used it from around 1 pm the first day until around 5 pm on the second day…
28 Monday Sep 2026
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cafe, koi fish pond, moments, Parkside, Parkside Hotel, relaxing, widow
we went to the Parkside Hotel to visit the koi pond, which I had seen on an Instagram post… I was not disappointed…
as you walked up to the hotel there were a number of outdoor ponds with goldfish and water lilies in them…
inside you walked across the koi pond on the way to the front desk… part of the hotel was a cafe, that opened onto the street so that the neighbourhood could stop by for goodies…
I had hummus and some lovely bread to enjoy as I sat beside the pond…
every day at a certain time, they divide the food for the fish into containers, which the hotel guests can take and feed them…
a quiet and serene place for a break from all the busyness of the city😊…
26 Saturday Sep 2026
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Bonsai Garden, family, Japanese Garden, moments, nature, relaxed, serene, sleeping mermaid, The Gardens at HCP, widow
after spending time at the Butterfly Gardens, we Ubered to the Gardens at HCP…
these gardens seemed much more relaxed than the others we’d been to and the first few spots we walked through weren’t very exciting…
but then we found the Japanese Garden which had a creek flowing through it with light, shady areas, and ponds… it was quite large and was lovely with little surprises along the way, such as the sleeping mermaid…
the Bonsai Garden had a small building to rest in and was a lovely serene place…
it had close to twenty trees that ranged in age from a few years old to over 150…
it was a quiet place to stop for a few minutes before continuing on through the Japanese Garden area…
well worth the visit 😊…
