art…

31 Saturday Jan 2015

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had a wonderful day with a friend who came over and hung 15 framed water lily pictures on the stairway wall… we had a great time…

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makes me a bit proud to have my art up on a wall… a bit odd to think of my photos as art, lol…

part way through the process we had a lovely snack/lunch…

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happily there was no broken glass… a few close calls when the frames were on the hallway floor, lol…

but we realized that we needed more pictures… I have to find thirteen more photos and we have to pick up more frames…

we have already put in the nails so that piece is done… going to get sticky stuff to make sure the pictures stay square on the wall…

we also got the orchid to sit in the pot better… it was a bit tippy…

after she left I had a good nap… silly me, woke up at 7:15 this morning and didn’t go back to sleep…

it’s very cold outside so I have a yoga jacket on to stay comfy, rather than turning up the heat and being too hot at bedtime… I have always liked it to be cool in the bedroom and have the windows open at night… used to make George crazy…

there’s one good thing about being on my own, no one complains when I leave a window open, lol…

damn big girl pants…

goodies…

30 Friday Jan 2015

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had to take the car to work today so after I got off I decided to stop at the credit union to deposit a cheque and get some cash… traffic along Portage was brutal and I was worried I wasn’t going to make it before they closed at five, but I just snuck in under the wire…

next, went to Home Outfitters where I had a gift card from over a year ago… just found it last month… thought I would check out what type of goodies they had that I might need…

had a lovely wander around and chose a few fun things…

got a silicone oven mitt on sale, a new cookie sheet to replace one of the very stained and bent ones in the cupboard, a cute scarf hanger which might hold the scarves that are currently on three different hangers… and finally a purple mini food processor (on sale too)…

it was great fun…

had shrimp for dinner, went out for a hot tub and watched a bit of TV…

really needed to add some colour to my day so found this shot from the summer… I do love my morning glories…

morning glories...

morning glories…

orchid…

29 Thursday Jan 2015

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got a lovely surprise today…

my friend brought me a gorgeous purple orchid…

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it was a thank you for using my car… I’m happy to lend it to her… it always comes back filled with gas and freshly washed… I still don’t like to take it to the car wash…

during the winter I don’t take it out much so it is always happy to get a drive in, lol…

I was so happy because I’ve been trying to get out and pick an orchid up for the house… they are wonderful because they flower for a long time…

I do tend to treat flowering plants like cut flowers… enjoy them until they die off…

was particularly lovely, as I had spent the day at home… still wasn’t feeling well so gave in and climbed back into bed this morning…

had a hot tub in the afternoon and watched the squirrel come down through the trees like they were stairs… didn’t see any birds even though the sun was shining… it shone for a good portion of the day which was also very nice as it has been dull for ages…

hoping to feel much better in the morning…

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faces…

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

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I have a similar picture to this on my computer sign in screen at work…

orchid... do you see a face...

orchid… do you see a face…

recently a colleague had been at my desk and took a few moments to admire the picture and advised me that she felt it looked just like a face…

made me think of George, who was always bringing me orchids… for home and the office…

I was missing him tonight as I was sitting in the hot tub… not feeling that great and remembering how well he took care of me when I was sick…

I always felt I was a much better patient than he was, lol…

he nearly always knew what I would like to eat and would organize it… often fried egg sandwiches would be on the menu… he really made the very best ones…

this picture is from 2011… around this time that year a couple of us took a photography class… we had such fun… it is great to go back and remember some of the great things we have done…

snow on the deck in January 2011...

snow on the deck in January 2011…

a reminder of how blessed I am and have been…

daffodils…

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

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spent some time this morning getting a few shots of the daffodils I picked up on Sunday when Jeff and I went grocery shopping…

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so happy to have fresh flowers in the house… even took a few to the office today… brightened up my desk nicely…

had a wonderful call with a friend tonight… haven’t connected for a while so it was lovely to have the opportunity to catch up…

both of the kids here called me tonight to let me know about the boil water advisory in the city… made me think that they consider me fragile… and maybe I am, sigh… have heard from other friends by email and Facebook…

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bought this gorgeous cup when I went looking for a cream and sugar I had seen on Facebook… sadly they weren’t the correct colour but I was excited to see this cup… had first seen these pieces when we were at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights over Christmas…

usually I gravitate toward blues and purples, but this earthy tone took my fancy…

I find that drinking water out of pottery makes it taste better… still not that fond of water for drinking, but I am working at it and getting more down…

connecting…

26 Monday Jan 2015

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a while ago I finally read the manual that came with my blood sugar meter…

I discovered that there was a cable that could connect the meter and the computer and with a piece of software you could download all the readings… which I had to get…

of course you have to call the company between nine and five on a weekday to order the cable…

finally got through and had to give them all my information and the meter’s serial number before they could arrange to ship the cable…

gave them my work address for delivery as there is always someone able to accept a parcel there…

but I did find the parcel hanging from the the doorknob on my front door…

then I had to download the software and appropriate drivers…

eventually I was able to connect the meter and the computer and get all of the readings…

this is wonderful as I have been recording the readings three times a day in a note app on my phone…

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lots of hooking things up to get the required data…

looking forward to printing out the reports next time I see the doctor…

frames…

25 Sunday Jan 2015

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mostly a quiet day…

watched tv and then worked on the picture frames to go on the staircase wall…

been planning and thinking about these frames for a number of months…

purchased the frames from IKEA and they have been sitting on a shelf waiting…

while the kids were here at Christmas, we decided to use water lily pictures which I have taken over the years… took quite a while to come to that decision because I have taken many flower pictures and couldn’t decide which ones to choose…

in the end the water lilies called to me as they are in water – one of my favourite things, and have beautiful flowers…

then I had to choose fifteen… well I think I ended up with about twenty five, lol…

was going to have them printed at Staples but decided a few days ago to print a few at home and see how they looked…

this morning I finally dug out the pliers so that I could open the back of the frames and put a couple in…

slow process, as I had to move each picture around to see the best view… then I had to print them a few at a time…

eventually I chose five pink, five white and five purple…

finished them just before the kids arrived…

next step will be to hang them…

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hope that doesn’t take as long as the previous part of the process…

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maybe one day I will put this one up on the wall…

water…

24 Saturday Jan 2015

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lovely day… woke up fairly early and watched a bit of TV…

did some chores around the house and then was picked up by my daughter and a friend and went to Thermea (a Scandinavian-type spa)… it just opened this month and we wanted to check it out… packed a bag with robes, flip flops and a toque…

one of my favourite places is the Kingfisher, on Vancouver Island…this spa reminded me a bit of their hydropath…

one nice thing about Thermea is that you can spend the whole day moving from the saunas to the hot tub and cool tub and the cold pool and waterfall…

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there were dry and wet saunas (a eucalyptus one and an orange one)… usually I don’t last long in them, but found it much easier today… must be those big girl pants…

even encouraged the girls to try the polarer pool… name kind of says it all… the temperature in that one is 10 C… just a bit refreshing…

we had a lovely snack and even had a mimosa before we hit the water…

the relaxation spaces were lovely… one had heated marble benches which were very nice… we also sat around a fire in a roofless log cabin… my hair still smells like a campfire, lol…

hardest part of the day was not talking… all the sauna and relaxation areas are quiet zones… after a while hearing people talking was a little irritating:-)… we did pretty well…

I do love the water… it was a lovely treat…

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glad I was talked into going…

sky…

23 Friday Jan 2015

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the sky has been outstanding the last few weeks…

tonight, as we left the office, it was so pink and blue that it was hard to take my eyes off it…

when I got home I dropped my stuff at the front door, turned and got this shot…

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just stood and enjoyed the beauty… it was also ridiculously warm so it was easy to stand and watch the sky…

then, when I got upstairs and looked out the window, I had to take another picture…

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to top off the day I brought home my beautiful flowers and put them on the coffee table…

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think the fish like them as well…

life is good…

presents…

22 Thursday Jan 2015

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I love presents… I’ve always loved them which anyone who knows me knows, lol… George would always be bringing them home…

yesterday I received the beautiful bouquet of white hydrangeas and purple mums…

today I got two presents…

a friend gave me a gorgeous scarf…

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it was from she and her sister to thank me for something I had given them, which they are both enjoying…

the second was supper from my swimming buddy…

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not sure what the official name was but it was a stew of chicken with chickpeas and potatoes and it was delicious…

it was perfect as I had struggled with a sad tummy all day and was wondering what I might make for dinner…

should have gone to Aquasize but just wasn’t up to it…

went out for a hot tub… it is plus 3 right now… bizarre for the third week in January… but lovely…

the final treat was to discover my solar dragonflies were lit for a few hours… they haven’t been on for a couple of months and I was thinking maybe they were broken…

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this is a sure sign that the sun is shining longer and stronger every day and that it shone today… we have really been suffering from lack of sun this winter…

I really am blessed…