ravioli…

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had a bit of fun today decorating the house with hearts…

put them in the dining room, living room, bathroom, den and on the stairway…

I miss my beloved… he always made Valentine’s Day special, with flowers, treats and a delicious dinner…

I’ve been looking at meals from restaurants in an effort to support local, but they are all more food than I want, so I am planning on lobster ravioli with lobster sauce for my dinner with a salad…

should be fun;-)…

McDonald’s…

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had a wonderful treat this morning…

my grandson brought McDonald’s breakfast over when he came to pick up his youngest brother’s birthday present…

he sat by the door and I sat on the far couch… it was nice to have a meal and visit… don’t think that has happened since the summer in the garden… then he was off for the rest his day…

a bit later I went out and filled feeders while topping up the hot tub… lots of running up and down the stairs in the process, lol…

good exercise… for the heart and the body…

lifting…

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as I was cleaning the fish tank it made me think of how much I have learned over the past year…

I now can clean and replace filters and the other bits and pieces of the tank…

since my beloved’s passing, my son-in-law and grandson have done all the heavy lifting with the fish…

but, as they aren’t coming into the house, I’ve learned how to do the required maintenance…

twigs…

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as I was walking around the living and dining rooms today I had a good look at the hibiscus..

it has filled out with leaves and looks great…

it wasn’t that long ago that it was nearly just twigs;-)…

I dug through my photos and found this one from the end of September, after I brought it into the house… the leaves were starting to turn yellow and fall off… apparently I didn’t take any when it was bare, lol…

it did bloom for quite a while even as the leaves fell off…

looking forward to more flowers before too long…

smoke…

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months ago the Nest smoke detector on the ceiling upstairs stopped connecting to the wifi because the password changed and I couldn’t figure out how to reset it…

a few weeks ago I decided to delete it from my app and add it again so that I could get the correct password installed…

after I deleted it, and tried to add it back, I discovered that I needed the bar code or serial number… I was so excited that I had the box it came in… but, no serial number… it was located on the back of the detector… so, I just left it alone…

while the ladder was in the house I took it upstairs, removed the detector from the ceiling, found the code, added it to the app, and got it up and connected again… then attached it back to the ceiling and took the ladder back to the garage…

glad I thought of it while the ladder was still in the house…

doorway…

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my grandsons came by… one to shovel and the other to bring me a few items…

it was nice to see them both… the younger one stepped inside the back door where he warmed up his cold hands and drank some of the hot chocolate I made for him…

the older one stepped inside the front door and brought in the items he had picked up… we had a short chat, he in the doorway with a mask on, and me on the far side of the living room with a mask on… nice to have a short chat with him as well…

once the shovelling was finished, they headed off with a few treats I’d gathered up for them;-)…

it was nice to see Indi, even if she was dirty, lol…

ladder…

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today, I wore those big girl pants again…

it started late yesterday when the light blew in the den… I went and got the kitchen step stool, but when I stood on the second step it made me too nervous to take down the cover…

after I thought about it for awhile, I decided the small ladder from the garage would work, so I had my grandson put it beside the back door while he was here shovelling… I brought it in and left it to warm up, as it is metal and it was very cold out today…

finally, I climbed up, changed the bulb, and returned the ladder to the back door… tomorrow will be warmer so I will return it to its spot in the garage…

I am having to figure out how to do more things as I am not having anyone in the house these days… looking forward to the time when people can come and do jobs for me…

pouch…

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yesterday we had an online chocolate tasting in the afternoon… it was the gift I gave my four buddies for Christmas…

before it started I spent time preparing my space for the call… moved most of my orchids into the pass through and put fabric behind it so the light wouldn’t cause a problem… looked great;-)…

everyone received a package in the mail with a beautiful handmade pouch holding four chocolate bars… three were the same for everyone, and one was different for each of us…

besides information on how to taste, choose and buy chocolate, forms to use to describe tasting information on each bar, there were little treats included as well… a chocolate flavoured tea, hot chocolate, a cocoa bean and cocoa nibs…

we had a lovely time, learned a huge amount about cacao, its origins and how it is made into the chocolate that we enjoy… we were able to ask questions throughout and shared what we thought of each bar…

thanks to Cyndi (@CanadianChocoholic) for the wonderful experience…

one of us couldn’t get their camera to work, but was able to see us, even if we couldn’t see them… there was a lot of laughter and delicious chocolate eating, uh, tasting, happening…

what a great treat… as much a gift for me as my buddies…

fireplace…

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had the fireplace channel on while I was writing my blog last night and was reminded of all the lovely fires we have had over the years…

my beloved loved wood fires and would often fall asleep in front of the fire in the basement family room… it was always difficult to start but he would use the vacuum to get the smoke to start up the chimney…

I haven’t used it since he died and last year had to have the chimney removed as it was rusting from the inside… didn’t seem worth the cost of replacing all of the pieces..

sometimes I miss it…