13 Monday Jul 2020
Posted in life, moments, nature, Uncategorized, weather
the sky is very menacing tonight…
the light is very strange…
from the back it looks like there is an orange visor over the sky…
from the front the clouds are very threatening…
think we are in for a big storm…
28 Sunday Jun 2020
Tags
alyssum, beloved, big girl pants, garden, memories, moments, nature, plant, remembering, shed, softball, wasps, widow
today I was particularly missing my beloved…
as I still had to plant the last few alyssum and couldn’t find a container I liked, I decided to brave the shed and choose something from in there… it is a mess and needs someone to clean and tidy it up and that would have been something he would have done, likely tossing things I thought we should keep and keeping things I thought were junk, lol…
anyway, I moved the recycling bin and opened the door… it seemed to catch on the Virginia creeper, which needs to be trimmed, and I was waving the vines away from my head when I heard lots of buzzing… and as I looked up I spotted many wasps flying around my head… I stepped back and saw a softball sized nest on the inside of the door…
lucky for me, I wasn’t stung… yikes…
my beloved would have sorted that nest out no problem… I found spray in the house, consulted with my son-in-law on the best time to use it, but can’t yet as it is too windy… guess that door is going to stay open until tomorrow, lol…
I moved away and found a container in the garage and finished the last bit of planting…
for my lunch I had leftover pork and beans and because it was so hot, ate them cold… he often ate them that way… the other way he liked them was warmed up with a fried egg on top, euuuwwww…
funny what you remember;-)…
24 Wednesday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, cushions, flowers, friends, garden, lazy, memories, moments, nature, pond, weather, widow
this morning I was up and about fairly early so that I could get the garden ready for a visit with a friend…
I’ve been quite lazy lately and have only put out a few chair cushions rather than all of them, but today I brought all of them out, including a few decorative ones that have been living on the couch, lol…
the garden looked great, freshly mowed and whipper snipped…
the veronica is blooming and the bees are all over it… the daisies are mostly open and the dahlias have buds on them… the lobelia is thinking of trailing and alyssum is growing nicely and starting to scent the air…
baskets are doing well and both ponds are flowing beautifully…
on warm days, visits need to happen before noon as there is little shade for the remainder of the afternoon…
the weather was perfect and finches and squirrels dropped by… we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely;-)…
so nice to spend time with friends… going to organize some more of that;-)…
17 Wednesday Jun 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, cats, frog, garden, moments, nature, pond, quiet, sparrow, weather, widow
there has been lots of activity in the garden recently…
these critters were photographed over the last few days…
today the forecast mentioned thunderstorms and rain but I decided to put out all of the cushions anyway… it ended up sunny and hot for most of the day…
looks very quiet, lol…
but this morning there were red and gray squirrels, the frog, chipping sparrows, a bunny that shot across the garden, dragonflies and two cats, one that I haven’t seen previously…
and during that entire period a robin, that I couldn’t see, sang…
I am enjoying every moment that I spend here…
16 Tuesday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beforehand, big girl pants, bird feeder, birds, blessed, friends, garden, gift, moments, purple, retirement, weather, widow
this afternoon I had a lovely visit with a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time…
it was very hot in the garden and had rained for a short period beforehand, so I had to put all the cushions away and then bring them back out, lol… thank goodness it stopped as I am still not having guests in the house…
she brought the most adorable purple bird feeder and the sweetest card as a retirement gift;-)…
I have filled it with food for the finches and hung it next to the garage door… will see if it is too close to the house…
what a treat;-)…
14 Sunday Jun 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, blowing, chickadees, elephant ear, garden, moments, nature, pond, sparrows, toppled, trees, weather, widow, wind
the wind has been blowing a lot in the last few days…
today, it was so strong that it toppled the elephant ear plant in the pond… I had thought it was secure, but all of a sudden it blew over… dug out my water shoes, found some very large rocks, and climbed in and stood it back up, circled it with the rocks as well as adding a few on top of it…
the rocks were so big, it raised the water level and a few of the lily pads went back under the water, lol…
I didn’t spot the frog, but a number of house sparrows and a few chipping sparrows stopped by to drink and have a bath…
the chickadees have returned and two of them were really looking around… I was wondering if they were searching for a spot to nest as I hadn’t seen this particular behaviour previously…
11 Thursday Jun 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, BS, campfire, car, drive, food, friends, memories, moments, nature, Outing, physical distancing, pictures, treat, weather, widow
just home from a wonderful gathering with my best buddies… we haven’t been together since my birthday in April, when they came and wished me a happy birthday at a distance with signs and a card…
this was the first time that I have left the house, and driven the car, since mid-March…
everyone brought their own dishes, silverware and mugs, and I even brought my chair, which worked out really well as it has a little table attached where I could put my tea and camera…
we sat – physically distancing, of course – around a lovely fire in our host’s backyard, celebrating another birthday and enjoyed a visit while eating lemon cake with fresh raspberries which she had baked for us… (cake photo from the chef)…
we talked about birds, celebrations, family and wind chimes… and we learned that wind chimes can have different sounds attributed to them… the ones we were listening to were the song of a meadowlark…
it was cool, but we all brought warm clothes and were quite comfortable… a bit crazy that gloves were needed…
it was an excellent first outing and I felt good about getting out for the first time since the pandemic began, although I did wash my hands as soon as I got into the house, lol…
my clothes smell like a campfire… what a treat…
08 Monday Jun 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, elephant, elephant ear, fish, garden, moments, plants, pond, shopping, warm, widow
the fish have finally come out from the bridge… I think they are happy that the waterfall isn’t running…
and the water plants arrived… yay…
two white water lilies, elephant ears and parrot’s feather…
they turned up on Monday, but I left it until yesterday to put them into the pond…
the temperature was only 15° C but the sun was out so it was quite nice… I think they are all firmly settled in…
and the fish are happy as well… one little guy came out from under the bridge while I was in the pond and then couldn’t get past my legs to get back under the bridge… finally I moved both legs to one side and it returned to safety…
31 Sunday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chinese food, dredged, family, fish, frog, garden, grandsons, leaves, lunch, moments, mowing, nature, pond, supper, treat, visit, water, widow
sitting by the pond after my visitors have left and enjoying the last bit of sunlight…
my water shoes are on the deck because I went into the pond once again and dredged up another pailful of leaves… the fish are still not coming out, but I did see the frog hop by earlier in the day…
all three of my grandsons came by just after noon… I made them grilled cheese sandwiches with the wonderful La Belle Baguette whole wheat sourdough that was delivered yesterday…
the oldest left, the middle one mowed the grass, front and back, while the youngest watered plants and pulled weeds…
some days it is hard to realize he is eleven and can reach and do more things…
after the work was done, relaxing happened and visiting took place…
this was the first time I’ve had people in the house and the system was they had access to the basement for cooling down and using the washroom and I had the main floor… worked perfectly…
we ordered Chinese food for supper and it arrived just before the daddy, who had been at work all day… afterwards my downspout got fixed, a stair board tightened and then off they went…
it was a treat to see them and I enjoyed every minute… I missed my nap, but plan on making it an early night;-)…
30 Saturday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, clematis, cold, flowers, garage, garden, mandevilla, morning glories, nature, plants, poppies, weather, widow
took this photo of one of the poppies that is growing in the garden…
I am hoping that all of these buds will continue to grow and bloom although the temperature has been a bit crazy the last few days…
Thursday night I brought some of the plants into the house and covered those around the deck…
last night I put all of them into the garage, except for a couple of heavy ones just outside the kitchen… happily, the clematis seems to be doing fine…
I left them there all day because the temperature is going down again tonight…
I think the weather is going to be improving so they can all move back outside tomorrow…
herbiggirlpants 