this morning a memory came up from our night at Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island…
it was the cherry on top of our trip that took us on a cruise to Alaska; visiting Chihuly Gardens and Glass, and blowing glass in Seattle; tea and a carriage ride at the Empress Hotel in Victoria; and a morning taking photographs in Butchart Gardens in Brentwood, BC…
it was delightful and we enjoyed every minute… delightful times…
yesterday my memories reminded me that eleven years ago, we went on a cruise and ended up in Seattle where we took a glassblowing class… it was great fun…
we had to wear cotton, which explains my delightful outfit, lol…
I made a purple float for the pond and it came out very well…
later I took a photo of that same float in the pond… oddly, it sat lower in the water than the others, so I got it out and discovered it had water in it…
I couldn’t figure out where the water was getting in so brought it into the house and set it on a yogurt container on the counter, hoping it would drain out…
somehow I moved and knocked it off the container… and it broke into many pieces…
this morning the mandevilla and Japanese Maple made their annual hiatus to the garden…
the mandevilla is probably four or five years old… it started out on the deck and has come in each fall and lived over the winter in the living room like any other houseplant… it has grown quite tall, but always loses a ton of leaves so I spent time pulling off many brown crispy dead bits, lol… it now has a very tall obelisk in the pot and most of the growth is at the top… looks good now that it is cleaned up…
the Japanese Maple travelled by car from Vancouver island about ten years ago, when it made the trip with the kids as they moved from Courtenay to Ottawa, with a short visit here on their way… it had done well over that time but hasn’t grown much… today I repotted it in a bigger container with some fresh soil… hope it likes it;-)…
they will be in the shade for a few days and then move to their summer locations…
I decided on sarongs in each square and then books from various trips for me to enjoy during this birthday month…
ran the sarongs through the wash to get rid of any wrinkles and then filled in the squares… went with purple and orange… purple for me, and orange for my daughter, with whom I went on many of the trips, lol…
looks bright and fresh and I have lots of special moments to enjoy;-)…
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;-)…
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…
I found out in the morning on Christmas Eve that we were going to have lunch on Christmas Day between trips my grandson was making between his various family clans;-)…
it was a quick trip to the freezer to pull out a beautiful chicken and get it thawing… I had been planning on a Cornish hen, with all the fixings, so it wasn’t a lot more to do to cook the chicken;-)…
a turnip was peeled, cut, boiled (so that the water would be available for the chicken gravy), and mashed…
mashed potatoes were also prepared and put into the fridge which helps with making a resistant starch…
stuffing was made and packaged, ready to go into the chicken…
took most of the day to thaw the chicken, lol, but it was ready for the oven in time…
everything turned out beautifully and we had a delicious Christmas lunch…
herbiggirlpants 