goosebumps…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

got a message today from someone who I had given a recommendation of places to visit on Vancouver island…

I had suggested Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park… they thought it was amazing…

it is one of my favourite places ever…

within steps of the highway all traffic noises are gone and the walk through the giant trees is meditative and soul filling…

these pictures are from a visit with my beloved in the summer of 2011…

still gives me goosebumps when I remember what a special place it was…

wrangled…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

out in the snow again today…

after clearing a path to the back lane, I wrangled the garbage bin to a spot just outside the gate…

the drift there was about a foot deep so it took me a while to make a spot for the bin…

sure hope they empty it on Friday…

vents…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m trying to laugh at the snow… it is that or cry, lol… laughing seems more sensible…

when I was out shovelling the sidewalks a few days ago, I walked up the driveway to check on the furnace vents

and found them nearly covered with snow…

took a few minutes to get them cleared by tossing the snow into the middle of the driveway as I don’t need to get a car in and out of it… and there is nowhere else to throw it…

I was getting out of my jacket and heard a sound… when I turned and saw that one of the amaryllis had fallen off the table… there was mud on the carpet so I quickly picked it up… only to discover that the stalk had bent over and the blooms were hanging down… I got scissors, cut it and put the blossoms into a vase… after sweeping up the dirt I got a few pictures…

I guess it was getting too heavy to hold its head up;-(…

lots of activity… after that I had some time reading in the sunshine…

and, of course, more snow has fallen since then…

red…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

today I wore a red sweatshirt that my beloved bought for me many years ago on a trip to Banff…

I also wore my leggings that have maple leaves down the side for our team members…

I’ve enjoyed a few treats over the last few days and for lunch finished the charcuterie board that came on Saturday… the board itself is lovely…

for supper I made a steak using a method my daughter recommended… no barbecuing as I haven’t cleaned the path to the garage yet and there is a big drift in front of the door, lol… baked a potato earlier in the day and heated that up to go with it… finished with a cucumber salad… a nice treat as I haven’t had steak for a while…

missing my beloved, but as I sat in the sun, listening to Michael Bublé, enjoyed lots of wonderful memories…

what a great guy;-)…

tea-to-go…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a number of months ago, on Mother’s Day, I had a tea-to-go from the Velvet Glove at the Fairmont Winnipeg…

it was delightful and the presentation was beautiful…

recently they posted on social media that they were having another for Valentine’s Day… I was quick to check with my grandson to see if he would be able to pick it up for me, and once I received his confirmation, I called and ordered it…

upon arrival it looked just as good as last time…

the sandwiches were delicious… I enjoyed each one, but my favourite was the cream cheese and cucumber;-)…

next were the desserts… little bites of delight…

the tea I had was Flora’s Berry Garden and there is some Earl Grey to have later…

it was lovely to enjoy this lovely lunch, watching the Olympics, as the snow was falling again…

I was so full, I couldn’t eat the last few bites of dessert, but I devoured them after supper, lol…

my beloved was a great romantic and special treats like this bring back so many wonderful memories of previous Valentine celebrations…

I have been, and continue to be, blessed

flown…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day… from getting flowers from my beloved, to making heart shaped sugar cookies for the girls’ classrooms for years, to taking roses to my colleagues…

in later years, once the girls had flown the nest, we would have a special dinner… often steak and lobster…

this year I ordered a charcuterie board from Oak Hammock Marsh, one of our local not-for-profits, for my dinner tonight…

it was delivered to my door and looked festive…

there were cheeses, olives, crackers, cold cuts, fruit, nuts, herbs, even a bit of chocolate… and it came on a nice wooden board…

tonight I enjoyed half of it, and will finish it either tomorrow or Monday…

was thinking of my beloved as I enjoyed this treat…

highlighting…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

enjoyed some lovely time in the living room this afternoon with the sun shining in, highlighting the amaryllis flowers…

the first one started blooming around January 17th and right now has four blooms on its second stalk…

the three that arrived and were planted on January 21st are doing well… of them, one is down to its last bloom and one is just thinking of opening…

happy they have stretched out their growth… they have brought much joy and I have spent time with them every day…

placement…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

it snowed again this morning, sigh…

it made me decide to take down and put away the snow people… just in case they were causing all the snow, lol…

the bin they live in was in the den closet, filled with the pottery that had come off the shelves… it was way too heavy to carry downstairs…

after setting all the pieces on the table, I packed up the snow people and took the bin to the basement… much lighter…

I went through the pottery and was able to let five pieces go… will have to see if anyone wants them, or else they will go into the donation box…after that I spent a rather long time choosing where to set each one…

I didn’t put them in the same locations and was missing my decorator friends as I worked on the placement, lol…

seeing my beloved’s printing always brings a smile to my face;-)…

stuck…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

yesterday it rained… crazy eh…

I went out before it really got going to clear the snow in front of the patio door…

for the last week or so it has been stuck and only opened about six inches…

seemed like a good plan to deal with it before the rain, in case it freezes into ice back there…

took quite a while and a lot of effort to get the snow moved… it was much heavier and had more chunks in it… the hill next to the deck is high again, so I’ve had to walk along the path before throwing the snow into the garden…

but, got it done… there is still tons of snow on the deck although the rain and wind and warmer weather have certainly melted some of it…

it will be interesting to see how it is going to melt, or whether there will be more than one pond in the space..

combined…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

had some fun this morning changing out the decoration on the front door…

last night I found the hearts that I wanted to use and brought them to the dining room…

got a last photo of the swag before I removed it…

then I combined two hearts together and hung them up… I have finally figured out how to get them to hang at the right level before tying them off…

I think they look good from both the outside and the inside…

a few days ago I put the L O V E letters on the stairway;-)… had some fun with the lighting…

also ordered a few treats to celebrate Valentine’s weekend on my own;-)…