watching…

20 Saturday Jun 2015

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first thing this morning I moved a chair on the deck so that I could watch the bird feeder… I had seen the cardinal from the bedroom window and was wanting a closer view…

  
sat quietly while the kids slept watching for it… nothing…

after they were up I spent time finishing up the garden area…

  
cut down some small trees and cleaned out lots of weeds beside the cute little barn-shaped shed… the raised beds are looking very nice…

enjoyed breakfast, packed my bag and had a nap…

made a little lunch and sat on the deck for my last meal before coming home…

  
the female cardinal came by while I was eating… amazing because the first time I saw the male was when I first arrived… I’d been standing on the deck and he flew through…  never saw him again although I was watching… she sat at the bird feeder the entire time I was eating… felt like a lovely farewell gift…

bus to the airport and a goodbye wave from my daughter…

 
 

Montreal…

19 Friday Jun 2015

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up at 5 this morning to catch a 6:30  train to Montreal for the day…

began our day at Bota Bota for the water circuit… dry or wet sauna, plunge pool, hot tub, lounge chairs… which we repeated three times… very relaxing… sun was shining, we were on the water, and there was a slight breeze… great fun… they don’t allow pictures but we had permission to take this one by a cool art installation…

  
It is on a boat right on the water so you sit in a sauna or the hot tub and watch the waves lap up to the boat…

  
had a bit of trouble finding a cab, but eventually got one to Prohibition restaurant where we had a lovely lunch… the service was exceptional…

 
we heard from a friend that this was the place to go for food in Montreal… my salads lever du soleil was very tasty and my daughter’s French toast with fried chicken was delicious…

they called a cab for us and our final destination was the Montreal Botanical Gardens... I had been wanting to see the outdoor gardens as last year we only made it through the conservatories… the gardens were lovely…

the Rose Garden was amazing and we spent quite a bit of time in it…. there were some lovely water lilies in the Water Garden and a number of the ponds were filled with lily blooms…

 
enjoyed the Japanese Garden which is still under construction…

 

you could see the Olympic Stadium in the background…

after a lovely afternoon of wandering around and taking pictures to our hearts’ delight we headed back to the train station and into the Business Class Lounge…  well, this is the way to travel… comfy chairs and unlimited snacks as we waited for the train… plush, spacious seats with a table between on the train… alcohol, hot supper and chocolate to end the dinner, served on China with real silverware… 

wonderful end to a very memorable day….

  
 

cancer…

18 Thursday Jun 2015

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tonight my son-in-law and I went to the Cancer Survivors Park… 

I didn’t know where we were going until we got there…

  
it is small and very peaceFULL with lots of green living things and inspirational words for those walking around the space…

  
the husband of the couple who built the park overcame lung cancer…

it feels like a great place to get some exercise and see that it is possible to survive…

  
there were some giant tulips…

   
many places to sit and contemplate…

 

reminded me of my bout with the disease and how truly blessed I was that it was caught and dealt with so quickly…

not so easy for many others I know…

what a gift to have the opportunity to spend a few moments in this incredible location…

 

me walking through one of the many hoops needed to make it through the physical and emotional challenges… 

thanks kids for thinking this would be a good place to visit…

garden…

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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this morning the sun was shining outside my bedroom window…

  
the birds were singing and the woodpecker was rat-a-tat-tating on the pole at the edge of the backyard…

  
worked in one of the raised beds to get rid of the weeds and we walked over to Loblaws and got some veggies and herbs…

  
this is the before picture… after getting it cleaned out we went to another store and picked up soil to fill the bed… took a taxi home and my son-in-law put it into the bed… then I planted everything…

  
here’s the finished product when I was able to sit down and enjoy the view…

started to prep supper and came out to this…

  
someone has a cold and fell asleep…

great grilled salmon steak, veggies, salad, and rice for our dinner…

sat outside for a while and visited… now heading to bed…

water…

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

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woke up to this view out the window first thing…

  
bit rainy and damp…

we had breakfast, visited, and made plans for the day and week…

got a few pictures of our pretty toes while waiting for the bus… people around us must have thought we were crazy…

  
off to the mall to see Cinderella… excellent movie… “have courage and be kind”…

falafel in the food court with a bottle of water and then downtown for a boat cruise on the river… wonderful falls which I haven’t seen before as well as lots of other facts and tidbits from the tour guide…

  
this shot looks toward Gatineau Park where we went hot air ballooning last year when I was here…

  
the light was much better when we got off the boat so we retook all the pictures we had done on our way down beside the locks…

  

then a walk through Byward Market and dinner at Luxe… delicious… had bone marrow for the first time and it was very nice… followed up with ricotta gnocchi on asparagus, porcini mushrooms, edamame, and tomato, with parmesan snow… oh my… if you get a chance you should eat there…

  
finally finished off dinner with a beavertail…  a bit of indulgence… only ate a little more than half…

  
lots of water in my day, lol…

great day…

travel…

15 Monday Jun 2015

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was up early, had a hot tub and breakfast…

finished packing my bag…

  
and there seemed to be lots of room left in it… wonder what I forgot!?

taxi to the airport and a short wait before boarding the plane…

  
nice flight…

  
landed in Ottawa, met by my daughter and we took a bendy bus to her house… there are many bendy buses here… at home there are two for the entire city…

  
then we walked to the local strip mall and had a pedicure on our way to pick up groceries for supper…

  
seems like I travelled a lot today using quite a number of modes of transportation, although I didn’t take a boat, lol…

glad to be here safe and sound and have a few days with these kids…

clouds…

14 Sunday Jun 2015

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weather has been interesting over the weekend…

yesterday morning I took these pictures of clouds looking in two directions…

   
 

and last night as I was walking home from supper out with the kids…

  
although it had been raining just a while before, in this shot it was beautiful…

today was a bit overcast early in the day and then the sun came out and lit up the garden as I worked in one section… happy with my work…

  
put out all the cushions and we had a lovely visit when the kids came for dinner… 

had supper on the deck, and just finished in time to move everything into the house and garage as the sky darkened…

poured for about fifteen minutes after they drove out of the driveway… left footprints when I went into the garden afterwards…

  
then this:-)…

  
certainly lots of variety…

deck…

13 Saturday Jun 2015

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recently I’ve been coming outside and sitting on the deck to write my blog post… lovely way to end the day and another opportunity to get outside…

today I’ve been on all three decks for some period of the day…

 
started the day with an early morning hot tub… turned the waterfall back on so got to hear the lovely water sounds… sat on the back deck and read and watched the various wildlife that visited…

  
besides the goldfinches there were squirrels, butterflies and a large dragonfly… I think the second goldfinch in this picture was a juvenile, not the missus…

  
went in while it rained, and then sat on the deck by the door to read… while there, a cute little bunny came by…

 
sat there for at least ten minutes before hopping away… 

lovely treat when my kids called and three of them met me for supper at The Captain’s Table… my favourite fish and chip place… luckily I walked there and back to help make up for the fried food I ate…

 
they headed off to wash the car andchauffeur one of the other kids, and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up salad fixins for tomorrow’s supper…

noticed the first clematis bloom when I arrived home… it is doing very well this year…

  

going to make some tea and read a bit more while I’m out here and the sky is blue… enjoying the moment…

exercising…

12 Friday Jun 2015

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was talking with someone recently about eating and exercise… they were noticing that eating and then going for a walk or doing any type of exercise is getting more difficult for them…

reminded me of when I really learned that lesson…

it was 2000 and I had travelled to Banff, Alberta to make a cd with a group of women from across Canada and the U.S… we had an amazing time… it was beautiful there, the studio was great, and the food was wonderful… we stayed midway up a mountain, walked, what felt like straight up, to get to the restaurant and then further up to the studio…

if we ate too much of the delicious food, we could barely make it up the hill to our destination… apparently your stomach needs to work after eating and your whole body is actively taking part in the process…

took us a while to figure it out and then we started to eat much smaller portions, lol… making the music was magical and something I will always remember…

this morning, after my smoothie, I walked around the garden, which, thankfully, is flat, and got a few pictures…

  

this is the last poppy with the sun shining through it…
 
this little sedge (I think) growing in the pond has a lovely “flower” on it… 

and the morning glories are just peeking through the soil… hurrah:-)…

  
the garden is moving along nicely…

stoup…

11 Thursday Jun 2015

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on our way home from work last night we stopped at Safeway and picked up the ingredients for Souper Thursday… my turn… found the recipe on Pinterest and made it without time to test…

  
interesting experience today as I brought the ingredients to the office, put them into the crockpot, and let it do its thing… usually I spend the evening preparing the parts and often getting the soup ready for the next day and then reheat it at the office…

I doubled the recipe and in the process may have put in an excessive amount of tortellini… so we ended up with stoup… a cross between soup and stew… it was good… and easy… certainly the simplest soup I’ve made…

  
been very happy with the irises I took into the office on Monday… last couple of blooms opened up this morning…

  
all in all a good day…