21 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, memory stones, moments, nature, Technology, wearing, weather, widow
when I went to the Park Cafe for brunch on Thursday, I stopped to check out the memory stones that the Ottawa kids had purchased for me;-)…
I’ve visited them enough that it is easy to find them…
sadly, much of the wording on the stones is wearing away…
20 Saturday Sep 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park Zoo, big girl pants, blessed, doors, food, moments, plants, swag, The Leaf, training, weather, widow, zoo
I’ve been enjoying taking any training that I can to learn more about the Leaf and Zoo…
spent an hour Thursday morning to see how volunteering at the front of the zoo works…
afterwards I went to Volunteer Services and collected all the swag I have earned over the last four months…
what a haul;-)…
I was also able to purchase a volunteer hoodie which is going to be well used as the weather gets colder…
I’m thinking the entrance area will be chilly with the doors opening and closing all day…
lunch out, and then a shift at The Leaf…
it was a rather full day…
18 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
today I went out for a meal before my shift at The Leaf…
all
by
myself!!!
had the falafel breakfast, with tomatoes instead of hash browns…
it has become one of my favourites…
then it was off to The Leaf… way to go me;-)…
17 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in business, health, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, magnolia, Mediterranean biome, memories, moments, nature, scent, tree, widow
this magnolia seems to be blooming one or two buds at a time…
saw some beautiful trees filled with magnolia blooms in Courtenay, BC, more than fifteen years ago and I still remember how amazing the scent was…
unfortunately, this tree is too high up to be able to enjoy the scent, but it is lovely to spot new blooms…
16 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bee, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, fun, garden, moments, morning glories, morning glory, nature, pictures, shrivelled, Technology, weather, western honey bee, widow
fun with morning glories today…
as I was taking photos of this blue morning glory, a cute little western honey bee showed up looking for a snack…
happily, I got a few nice pics…
then, later in the day, the morning glories shrivelled up into themselves in a very interesting way, so took a few cool photos…
14 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
adventure buddy, big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, flowers, friends, gardens, heated, moments, nature, Park Cafe, roses, walk, water lilies, weather, widow
had breakfast with my adventure buddy at the Park Cafe on Friday… I hadn’t been for awhile, but it was lovely to be recognized by the waitstaff…
enjoyed the classic eggs Benedict with tomatoes instead of hash browns…
then we had a short walk through the English Gardens and a quick look at the water lily pond in the Leo Mol Garden…
the flowers were stunning and we were drawn to all the beautiful dahlias and and roses…
as always the water lilies were blooming in the heated pond…
the frogs do enjoy the warm water, lol…
lovely time;-)…
11 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, contaminants, fish, fish tanks, goldfish, koi, moments, pond, project, pumps, water, weather, widow
finally got around to filling the fish tanks yesterday…
the process took over an hour, as each tank had to be filled and then the pump was cleaned, plugged in and turned on…
I was pleased as after each pump was cleaned, it started up without any issues…
now the pumps will run for three or four weeks before any fish come inside, to be sure that the water has no chlorine or other contaminants in it…
happy this piece of work is done and I don’t have to think about the fish coming inside until much later;-)… woohoo…
10 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
applesauce, baked, big girl pants, blender, blessed, food, homemade, immersion, moments, nature, peel, pork, Technology, widow
made applesauce today…
tried a new recipe which I found online that baked the apples, with the peel on, in the oven…
the recipe suggested using a blender once they were completely soft, but I found the immersion blender worked perfectly…
measured out about a muffin cup scoop and bagged, flattened, and popped into the freezer…
I like to have applesauce when I’m eating pork;-)… and homemade is always a treat…
09 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, falling, fish, food, friend, friends, garden, happy, hibiscus, leaves, lunch, moments, nature, pond, soaking, wasps, water, weather, widow
another delightful day in the garden, especially after the last number of cool and overcast days…
spotted a hibiscus blossom, so that was a treat…
next, I went into the pond to clean out the pump… the leaves have been falling like crazy and there were a ton in the water… once the pump has been cleaned out, the waterfall always flows beautifully…
all the cushions went out and a dear friend arrived with lunch… we ate inside as the wasps are very busy in the garden…
we moved outside and had a lovely time by the pond catching up on life…
after she left, I read in the garden for the remainder of the day;-)…
soaking up every minute possible in this sanctuary…
08 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
barely, big girl pants, blessed, buds, friends, garden, moments, pond, summer, time, water, water lily, weather, widow
lovely afternoon in the garden…
spotted a new bud coming up on the water lily, even though the first flower barely opened due to the cold weather, sigh…
and then spent a great time with my buddies as we enjoyed the beautiful summer day;-)…
herbiggirlpants 