Category Archives: travel

garden parties…

14 Monday Sep 2026

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started the garden parties with a visit to The Leaf…

after a private tour of the Biomes, with me as the tour guide, we had lunch at Gather…

we shared these…

I’d never had burrata before so was eager to taste it… it went nicely with the peaches and pistachios, but unfortunately, the peaches were under ripe… would likely have been delicious otherwise…

we had them put the blueberries on the side as neither of us really like them, lol, and I quite enjoyed this salad, which was different from what I had had on previous visits…

then it was outside to check out the Water Terrace and the Outdoor Gardens… had a lovely stroll and found monarch butterflies and happy bees everywhere…

had some fun picture taking… by this time it was getting rather hot, so we headed home…

next garden will be on Vancouver Island 😁…

travel…

14 Monday Sep 2026

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one of my favourite songs is by Willie Nelson – On the Road Again…

for years and years we would play it when we finally got into the car (after getting everything and everyone packed) for a trip…

before we left the driveway, my beloved would turn this song on…

I still play it when we are headed out on a road trip🙂…

it just means travel, snacks, and good times to me…

Ivy…

12 Saturday Sep 2026

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got a new toy😊…

it is a mini printer (Ivy, by Canon) that connects to the phone and produces a cute little 2 by 3 photo sticker… what a clever idea my daughter had…

we’ve started a little journal and have chosen a few favourites each day…we print them, collaborate on the wording, and then she hand prints a little story for each photo…

my main job is to get the sticky paper off each one and place them in our little book, lol… and let me say, it takes work🤪…

what fun 🤩…

sparkles…

11 Friday Sep 2026

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my daughter arrived from Ottawa recently…

one of the things we try to do when we are together is get a pedicure, and I was able to arrange one the day after she arrived…

we went to a local spot and had fun while we were being pampered… I hardly twitched or giggled through the process… she was proud…

I chose purple for my colour and she chose orange… we may be a bit boring, as we almost always choose those colours 😊… but I did get sparkles on mine, thanks to her suggestion…

and now we have pretty toes…

simpler…

09 Wednesday Sep 2026

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set the den up for company and was able to accomplish it in a much simpler manner…

rather than bring out the sofa table and turn the couch, I was able to set it up so the bed could be closed, but left in the same spot… often we bring down a mattress to put on top of the pullout, but this is a shorter trip so decided not to do that… the only thing that came out was a small roller cabinet…

once you are in the room and close the door the bed opens up nicely…

but I didn’t think about leaving the room in the middle of the night 😳… luckily, she was able to slip through the space between the door and edge of the bed, lol…

snake…

20 Thursday Aug 2026

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I spent a delightful five days with friends at their family beach cottage…

delicious food, great company, naps, lots of conversation, and I was in the lake, at least once, up to my neck…

spent lots of time on the beach, early in the morning, on my own, and all together on a few days…

we walked a good portion of the beach a few times with our newly prepared walking sticks…

and walked the road to the pump, which had a snake handle…

there was also a real snake😳… which had me stomping and speaking loudly as I walked along where it had been seen…

weather was nice, lots of sunshine, a bit of wind and some rainy/overcast times… so, a bit of everything…

my particular expertise is washing the dishes…

other than that it was all about reading…

we did play ladder golf, a new game to me, (although I may have seen my grandsons play a version of it a number of years ago), which was fun…

what a treat 😊…

trip…

13 Thursday Aug 2026

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my daughter recently sent me this postcard to remind me how close we are to our big trip…

for my birthday – the big 75 – I decided to take the train through the Rockies and visit gardens on Vancouver Island…

planning started last summer, and we had to book our train trip by December to be able to travel in September… crazy, lol…

next we searched for gardens that we would like to visit, besides the Butchart Gardens, which were first on the list…

then came looking at other spots in and around Victoria that we would like to see… we are going to have as many afternoon teas as possible, lol…

finding accommodations for our stay took a bit of work, but we found a lovely AirBnB close to the Butchart Gardens (and a Butterfly garden)… our second place to stay is a cute little hotel that faces the ocean in Victoria…

and finally, first class flights were booked back home… as I haven’t travelled for ages, the flights were covered by points… how cool is that;-)…

now to think about what I need to pack for a train trip and fall on Vancouver Island…

chocolate-covered…

25 Saturday Jul 2026

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my housemate was away on vacation and just returned…

I was treated to an absolutely beautiful kitchen towel that has a sea turtle on it…

a light and airy sarong…

and 3 boxes of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts…

Costco used to carry them in a big plastic jug, but they haven’t had them for ages…

talk about spoiled 😊…

driven…

31 Saturday Jan 2026

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I don’t think I’ve driven at all this winter…

since the snow started, I have been relying on my housemate and Uber to get me where I need to go… and my adventure buddy who always does the driving (yay to her!)…

my newest process is to volunteer at The Leaf from three until six… that way I can Uber there and my housemate can pick me up… seems to be working quite well…

recently I had a ride in a Tesla, which had the entire roof made of glass… I knew how to get in, from a previous encounter, although the driver automatically opened the door, but it took a while to figure out how to open the door from the inside to exit at my destination, lol……

I was thinking how cool it would be to drive out of the city and watch the stars or the aurora in comfort from the back seat without having to leave the vehicle, lol…