26 Friday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, flowers, garden, happy, moments, nature, never, pond, water lily, weather, widow
the first water lily flower never did really open since the weather had turned cold and rainy…
the second bud came up and opened… this picture was taken yesterday when it was completely open…
today this looks to be about the last of that one…
there is still another bud coming up… hoping for warm, sunny, weather…
25 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
I finally picked up a loaf of sourdough bread today…
when I arrived home I took out a few pieces of bacon from the freezer and microwaved them… I like crisp bacon;-)… when bacon arrives home, two pieces are folded, two of them put into a ziplock bag, and into the freezer so it is easy to get pieces out to use when needed…
it was difficult to cut the bread as it was so fresh, but eventually I managed to get two slices…
then I cut up the gorgeous large tomato that a friend had given me which was perfectly ripe…
finally, a good amount of miracle whip, bacon, tomato, and pink salt between two slices of bread…
oh my… yum…
24 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, deer, little red truck, moments, nature, pumpkins, squashes, water terrace, widow
met a lovely deer as I was walking towards The Leaf early yesterday morning… I think we were both surprised, lol…
I also got to check out the little red truck in the Kitchen Garden… this first shot was from the newly opened Water Terrace;-)…
then I got closer;-)…
it looks very cute, filled with pumpkins, other squashes and mums…
22 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, carpet, family, grandsons, moments, nature, project, replaced, weather, widow
since the spring, we’ve been working on a few projects outdoors and one of them involved removing a rusted out planter from the front steps…
next was to be removing and replacing the carpet which has been on those same steps for thirteen years…
I remember a friend of mine coming and replacing it while I was in hospital, not long after my beloved’s passing… it was such a treat to walk up the tidy steps when I returned home…
over the last few winters the carpet has been breaking down, particularly from my shovelling I think, lol…
we emptied the rusted out planter and dumped it right into the garbage can, kind of in pieces… we had a new one all ready to go but planned to wait for the carpet to be removed and replaced before putting it on the top step…
we picked up carpet and glue… next we planned a day when we had help to remove the old carpet and lay down the new one… unfortunately, it rained for most of that day, but during a break my housemate was able to remove the old layer…
that was on July 21st… it looked dreadful but we anticipated that it would happen soon…
every single time we planned to get the job done, it rained… I was starting to believe my grandson is a rain magnet…
well, yesterday, September 21st, it finally happened…
scraping, glueing, and laying down the carpet took a good portion of the day and there are a few bits that need to be trimmed…
can’t walk on it for a few days, but it already looks a thousand percent better;-)…
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;-)…
herbiggirlpants 