22 Thursday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
barbecue, Barbie2, big girl pants, blessed, family, food, happy, moments, rain, steak, surprise, weather, widow
went out to barbecue a steak for our dinner before the rain was expected and when I removed the cover, I found Barbie;-)…
knew exactly how to use her, lol…
the steak came out perfectly, and it never did rain…
21 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in family, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cottage, daughter, family, fisher, happy, health, memories, moments, nature, sky, solstice, summer solstice, sunrise, sunset, time, vacation, walk, weather, widow
on this Summer Solstice, the day began just after 5:30 am… watched a fisher, and many, many pelicans, bringing in their nets as the sky lightened…
then celebrated the Solstice with water, rocks, fire, and a few thoughts on this auspicious day…
went for a walk in the heat of the day and found a few beach options…
ended the day watching a gorgeous sunset;-)…
I am blessed to be able to spend this day with this delightful young woman…
20 Tuesday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
yesterday, the day began with tea on the top deck in the garden as everyone else in the house slept…
it ended with tea on a completely different deck with a view of the mouth of Lake Winnipeg…
very nice…
19 Monday Jun 2023
Tags
beefsteak, big girl pants, blessed, butternut squash, cucumber, food, garden, growing, moments, nature, pictures, squirrel, strawberry, tomato, vegetables, widow
I am so pleased with how the garden is coming along, even with this rather changeable weather…
there are teeny little cucumbers starting to grow… at least one butternut squash has started, and there is a lovely beefsteak tomato…
the beautiful strawberry got eaten… and not by a human;-(… not sure if it was a bird or a squirrel, but I’m leaning towards squirrel, lol…
18 Sunday Jun 2023
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cushions, dad, dressed, family, fish, flowers, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, pond, remembering, water lilies, widow
spent a beautiful, quiet day in the garden…
I always start with putting all the cushions out so that the space feels dressed…
I watched baby house sparrows, at the pond for drinks, flutter as they learn to use their wings… one tried to have a dust bath on the table, lol…
a few nearly flew into me…
the fish are enjoying the shade of the water lily leaves and spent lots of time out and about the pond…
and the two water lily flowers opened slowly and looked so pretty…
yesterday I spotted another bud and this morning I found a fourth one…
heard the drums at the park as the marathoners went through and thought of my dad and my beloved…
it was a lovely day;-)…
17 Saturday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, cacao trees, chocolate, dinosaur trees, family, flowers, food, gather, grown, happy, happy place, magical time, moments, nature, plants, quiet, The Leaf, waterfall, widow
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent hours at The Leaf in Assiniboine Park…
things have grown and been added since I was last there…
there was mist rising from the ground and there are now three cacao trees…
it was very exciting to see them in flower and with pods on one…
Tuesday we were there in the morning and came across some school classes and quite a few other visitors… we had a delicious lunch at Gather and went back into the biomes for a last look before heading home…
on Wednesday we went in the evening… I had hoped the lights would be on but they weren’t until after we left, lol… there were few others in the space and ample opportunities to sit quietly and reflect on the beauty of nature…
thanks to a very knowledgeable volunteer, we found the sugar cane and the dinosaur trees…
we did enjoy dessert at Gather before a quick walk through the Diversity Gardens… one treat was sitting by a fire in the Indigenous Peoples Garden…
looking forward to another visit in a few weeks… cheers;-)…
16 Friday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bloom, excitement, flowers, garden, moments, nature, pond, shock, sunshine, treat, water lilies, weather, widow
great excitement around here…
two water lilies are going to bloom at the same time… don’t think this has happened before;-)… what a treat…
this was one of them yesterday afternoon…
and this is how they both looked today…
I think if the sun had come out they might have both been completely open…
maybe tomorrow;-)…
15 Thursday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, busy, family, fencing, garden, grandsons, happy, helpers, moments, project, son-in-law, widow, working
the latest project around the house has taken a little while… we began discussing it in February, lol…
the actual work started on Thursday, June 8th, when my grandson and son-in-law took down the back fence as well as the small one in the front yard…
it involved hammering, using the car jack and a great deal of muscle… once it was down, all the pieces were loaded into a truck… then we moved soil, cleaned up the leaves from the cedars and Virginia creeper, and filled many bags of yardwaste…
midway through the day the lumber was dropped off, but had to be brought onto the driveway a few pieces at a time, and by the end of the day we were worn out, lol…
on Friday, my grandson met our handyperson at the hardware store where they rented an auger and picked up a big bag of screws and nails…
they used more muscle to get the old holes redug and finished the day with all posts installed…
Sunday, the oldest dug up excess dirt around the shed while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive, including one of his brothers…
they worked well together and got the back fence 99.9% finished, with a nice wide gate and the framework up for the front portion of fence…
on Wednesday and Thursday my oldest grandson put the finishing touches on the fencing and both sections look great…
so pleased with the final result as well as how smoothly the process went and what great help we had from everyone…
14 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
back lane, big girl pants, blessed, building, family, fence, garden, gates, goldfish, happy, interest, moments, neighbours, pond, tour, waterfall, widow
it has been fun watching neighbours check out the construction of the new back fence…
from stepping into the lane to see what was happening, to offering advice and tools to aid in the process, to checking out the ponds when they were easy to see without any obstacles in the way, to sweeping up some of the final debris…
I met a few that I hadn’t known before and enjoyed a tour of one of their gardens… wow, it certainly puts mine to shame, lol… flowers everywhere and dear little wooden items they build to add to the beauty of the garden…
it is quite amazing what can be found behind garden gates;-)…
13 Tuesday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, flowers, garden, moments, nature, overwinter, plants, pond, shock, surprise, treat, water, water lilies, weather, widow
Saturday morning I was surprised and amazed to spot a water lily flower popping up in the pond…
the reason I am surprised is that this water lily was in the pond all winter…
when I closed up the pond in the fall, just before I put a tarp over it, I was only able to bring out two lilies… this one was so stuck in the bottom I couldn’t remove it…
when I uncovered everything this spring, before I put water in, it had already started to sprout a bit, but was purpley-red…
it stayed that colour for weeks and only recently turned green… some of the leaves still have the purple colour around the outside edges…
and there is a second bud now… two buds at once has never happened before;-)…
what a shock…
so this fall I am going to leave all of them in the pond and see what happens, lol…
herbiggirlpants 