expedition…

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

went out on a shopping expedition today with a friend…

checked out the Fromagerie Bothwell on Provencher… I thought it was just a cheese store, but it isn’t… it has all manner of other locally produced goodies as well… I picked up some De Luca’s pasta sauce, a pepperoni and cheese snack, soft goat cheese, and some of their marble cheese…

from there we went along the street to Chocolatier Constance Popp where I picked up some coconut dark chocolate macaroons (delicious), a sugar-free bar, a coconut and lime bar and finally a Manitobar to send to my daughter… that was fun…

back to St. James to check out Winners/Homesense… found a number of items which had been on my shopping list for a while… a cute little backpack, thermal socks, salt for my grinder, a soap dish, a lemon squeezer and a small container for my bedside table…

great fun…

cupboards…

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on cupboards…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

spent some time reorganizing the container area in the kitchen cupboards…

still trying to figure out the best system, lol… thought I had a perfect plan…

also made a few things in the Instant Pot… mashed potatoes worked well…

sadly, the pork hocks and cabbage didn’t turn out, but then I used the crockpot feature and got it done;-)…

more learning and experimenting required…

happiness…

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in health, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

one of the reasons I went shopping on Sunday was to get flowers…

it is that season again when I really need them to brighten the atmosphere in the house… it is also a time when I particularly miss my beloved…

he always made sure I had flowers all the time during these cold and dreary months… and all over the house…

I can see and smell them in every room;-)…

I hope you have something in your life that brings you happiness…

keychain…

26 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on keychain…

Tags

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

Friday I received a parcel in the mail…

in it was the cutest handmade keychain…

a gift from my daughter… she is planning to send me something regularly throughout the year — instead of an Advent calendar that just comes in December;-)…

how lovely is that…

I love all the pieces it is made of, but the little bird is a reminder of the wonderful morning we spent at Mer Bleue feeding the chickadees…

my goal for the Spring is to train my chickadees to eat from my hand… this is a wonderful reminder…

I am very excited to get working on this…

drought…

25 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

for the last few days I haven’t been eating all that well…

not sure exactly why… there is food available, but I’ve been uninterested in eating it…

I’ve been kind of eating out of the fridge… had leftover spaghetti and meat sauce, made fried rice with leftover chicken, spinach and scrambled eggs…

last night I had bacon and mushrooms… it was a meal that we had when I was young… always on toast… I rarely have bread in the house, but last night I tossed some croutons in… it was a perfect addition;-)…

today I made a lovely wonton and mushroom soup for lunch, and roasted chicken with cauliflower, sweet and baby potatoes for supper…

hopefully I am over the eating drought…

jungle…

24 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday I wandered around the living and dining rooms taking photos of the plants in the sunlight…

it was shining so beautifully on the jungle of plants that are filling the space… the furniture and even the purple snowflakes in the window were just beautiful;-)…

I’ve being paying close attention when it is shining to be sure to enjoy the light…

what a glorious time… sunshine is so energizing…

composting…

23 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in business, family, life, technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been trying to be a little more caring of the planet…

while in Ottawa I was reminded of their recycling programs…

garbage is only put out every second week and cardboard and other recyclables are collected on the other… composting happens every week…

my daughter has been green for many years and she is an example for me to follow…

she has been composting and using cloth (not paper) towels for years… hers snap together and roll up like regular paper towels…

I am going to stop using paper towels… I’ve watched a few programs recommending ways to accomplish this… going to give it a try…

I’ve gathered some face clothes and dish towels that weren’t being used much… I have the clean ones on top of the microwave, ones I am still using on the counter, and a bin for the ones ready to be laundered…

already I can see that I am reusing them more even before putting them into the bin…

bricks…

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in health, life, moments, nature, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on bricks…

Tags

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

another lovely quiet day…

so happy to know that my shovellers will be by whenever it snows… Saturday it was the partner who did it all with a shovel… there was a lot of snow out there…

when it wasn’t snowing or blowing it was beautiful…

last night the city plowed the street and built some good sized windrows in front of the sidewalk… they did a great job cleaning out the end of the driveway though…

I texted my shovelled and he was by within an hour to clear out the bricks of frozen snow…

think this process is going to work well for both of us… him, not having to dig it out when it has frozen back into one large clump and me, having a clear walkway for my company…

trivets…

21 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on trivets…

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Monday is our usual night to gather… we have been doing this for years… last week we got to talking about Chinese food and decided to have supper together this week… Monday evenings are already blocked off in everyone’s calendars, lol, so changing the time was fairly simple…

we each offered up our favourite dishes, a menu was circulated by email, adjustments were made and a person chosen to order and pick up the dinner… times were chosen and rides were organized…

we had hoped that my grandson would join us as he was expected to be here to collect Indi to use on Tuesday… unfortunately things changed and he couldn’t join us…

it was wonderful to have the time to prepare for dinner… I had fun digging through my dishes and finding tea pots and cups; a variety of chopsticks and stands; and various trivets to put the food on when it arrived…

we had a lovely dinner and tons of great conversation… it was a wonderful treat to share a meal… finished the evening with more conversation, coffee and a lemon cake…

life is good…

 

frozen…

20 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in food, health, life, moments, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

a few days ago I cooked chicken thighs from frozen (just took thirty minutes) and then white rice in the Instant Pot… both came out nicely…

had a lovely dinner and visit with a dear friend… good to catch up…

was laughing to myself because I completely forgot to take a picture of my plate as supper was later than expected…

earlier in the day I tidied two drawers in the dining room…

hope this desire for tidying and reorganizing continues…