23 Tuesday Feb 2021
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
on Sunday I took out a couple of little bacon wrapped steaks to barbecue, being as it was so warm out…
earlier in the day I baked a potato and then cooled it in the fridge so the sugars would be better…
moved Barbie into the middle of the garage and got her going…
the steaks cooked nicely and the potato warmed up just right…
I had a few Brussels sprouts which I cooked with garlic…
it turned out delicious… the steak was exactly the way I like it…
getting more used to using the barbecue…
22 Monday Feb 2021
Tags
beautiful, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, blue jay, grandson, moments, widow, wood, woodworking
my middle grandson brought me a beautiful picture that he made in woodworking class at school last year…
it is a blue jay made from different woods… he did a great job… my beloved would have been very proud…
I’ve put it on the credenza in the dining room… will need to decide if I will leave it there or not…
21 Sunday Feb 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, change, garden, hearts, memories, moments, pictures, purple, squares, table, widow
spent time today putting away all the hearts and refreshing the living room table…
often at this time of year I would be filling it with rocks and shells, but that seems a little early…
I gathered up all the silver and purple ornaments and took them downstairs…
then I put some Chihuly calendar pictures in the four squares and added a few other items… one square has my gardening books as I’ve been looking through them to work on the garden design for the summer…
another has a few of my favourite children’s books in it, and some cards with fun pictures of time on Maui…
the third one holds my new pouch and postcards…
the last one has items to read… magazines, my tablet and kobo… and some butterfly things…
looks good and makes me happy…
20 Saturday Feb 2021
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
chocolate bar wrappers, fun, her big girl pants, Instagram, Instagram Live, keep learning, laptop, live, Soma Chocolatemaker, widow
this morning I learned something new… well, a few things, lol… I wanted to watch my daughter in a Live on Instagram, and thought I would watch it on my laptop…
searched the internet and discovered I could download an app from the Microsoft Store so that I would be able to…
downloaded it, but of course there were no Lives happening in my feed and the time to watch was getting closer… by then I had both my phone and the app open, to be sure I wouldn’t miss it… just before she was to come on, someone else started a Live and I could see it on the computer screen… yay…
happily watched the presentation and then decided that I would follow the directions to make a pocket for the back of my Chocolate Notebook…
went to my chocolate bar box and looked for a wrapper to use… I don’t have many bars just now and no empty wrappers because I send them to my daughter who uses them for a number of things…
I found a Soma Twinkle Bar that I love and decided to use the back of the wrapper… it has the saying “travelling without moving” which seemed perfect, especially these days… I enjoy everything from Soma and not long ago put in an order with a friend to help with the shipping costs…
I put the washi tape into a regular scotchtape dispenser and it worked perfectly…
used mountain scape washi tape to go around the wrapper on the three sides, following the directions provided by Genevieve and then I added tape across the top, on the wrapper only, so that it looked framed!
it was fun to find a new way to see Instagram, although a bit stressful with the timing… and fun to make something…
19 Friday Feb 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fish, fish tank, goldfish, moments, nature, pond, suspended, watching, widow
I’ve been watching the fish more lately and have come to realize that they have favourite places to rest…
one little one looks like it is stuck under a rock on a regular basis… makes me think of how they always rest under the bridge in the garden…
it is interesting to watch them suspended in the water, often for quite some time…
18 Thursday Feb 2021
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunny, creative, fire pot, flowers, moments, nature, roses, teapot, time, widow
I’ve been trying to do something creative most days…
today I cut back all the roses and made a few different arrangements with them…
I liked the look of this Japanese teapot…
this is a fire pot so it was fun to use it in a different way…
here is what they looked like before the rearrangement…
lots of fun…
on my way out of the kitchen after doing the flowers I spent time walking on the spot and watching a bunny on the deck snacking at the saucer where I had just put some seed…
it was nice to see that the sparrows came right up to the feeder, even when the bunny was there… the squirrels always chase everyone else away… they are greedy, lol…
17 Wednesday Feb 2021
Tags
avocado, big girl pants, flowers, garden, Japanese Maple, mandevilla, moments, nature, plants, repotting, transplant, widow
recently I had fun repotting a few plants…
used soil from a dead plant that was in the basement…
first up was the avocado… it has been looking a bit sad and after doing some research it seemed like time to increase the size of the container… good thing because it was root bound…
it is also getting leggy, and I am trying a technique to get it to bush out a bit more… we shall see…
next was the Japanese Maple… the kids brought it from BC when they moved to Ottawa so it has been in the same pot for eight years…
it took a lot of muscle to remove it, and for a few minutes I thought I’d have to cut it out, lol… no rocks, so I used coffee filters for the bottom…
it has many tiny roots and it took a knife to scarify it so that it will grow better in the new container…
finally, I planted a piece of the mandevilla which had accidentally been cut off and put into water to root…
it looks cute and we will see how it does;-)…
16 Tuesday Feb 2021
Posted in business, food, health, life, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, moments, pancakes, photos, purple, roses, sunlight, widow, wool
had a relaxing and productive day…
after finding another skein of wool, I finished (again) my little throw, lol… it is a good size now and will keep me warm on cold days in the den…
followed by pancakes and chicken livers ordered in for my lunch (and supper)…
then I had a lovely time taking photos of some of the roses…
ended the afternoon reading in the warm sunlight in the living room…
15 Monday Feb 2021
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, doughnuts, family, flowers, grandson, heart shaped, lobster, moments, painting, SuzyQ, treat, widow
had a quiet Valentine’s Day…
my daughter called early as she was in a line waiting for heart shaped doughnuts in Ottawa, lol…
I watched sports and a movie, and spent a little time playing with watercolours…
my grandson stopped by with a few groceries… and he brought me flowers;-)…
what a treat…
made a delicious lobster sauce which I had with shrimp and crab ravioli for my supper…
a good day…
14 Sunday Feb 2021
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
I’ve been spending a lot of time watching all the critters in the front yard and garden…
it is amazing to watch them fly through, under, and around… they sometimes hover near the feeders if there is a lineup…
other times they swoop between the bench and deck on their way to the saucer under the table…
today I tried to catch a photo of them flying, but that didn’t work, lol…
still, it is a treat to be able to watch and enjoy their antics…
herbiggirlpants 