groups…

07 Monday Oct 2013

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begonia, big girl pants, groups, groups of women, regular basis, unique women, wisdom

after work I headed over to a friend’s for our group that meets more or less monthly… we’ve been meeting since 1998 on a fairly regular basis… we take turns hosting the gathering, providing the food and preparing the program… usually we meet from about five to nine or ten… we had a lovely home-made dinner with chicken and tomatoes, with rice and crescent rolls, followed by a delectable carrot cake made with a healthy flour that tastes just like white flour… sadly I like white flour…

tonight I only stayed for dinner and the check-in portion… our Monday night BS group was going to have everyone in physical attendance so I decided to come home to be part of that group…

we meet at my house at eight for a couple of hours… our friend who is currently living and working out of Saskatchewan was planning to be in town…

in the end she called and we had a short conversation over the phone as things are a bit crazy in her life just now…

it is always wonderful to gather with all of these women… there is deep wisdom and love in both groups, and as we have known each other for so many years, there is always safety which allows us to say whatever needs to be said…

begonia rooting in the kitchen this morning…

not many places you can find that sense of trust… I always feel blessed after spending time with these unique women…

geese…

06 Sunday Oct 2013

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Canada geese, fountain, hearing geese, Point West Auto Park

been hearing the geese quite a bit lately as they are flying about to get to the good feeding areas to fill up before their trip south…

when I was at the Point West Auto Park yesterday I saw lots of geese in the pond and took a few pictures on my way out…

most of them were resting on the grass…

geese on the grass…

although a few were in the water…

geese at the edge and in the water…

also saw a sandpiper (?) along the shore…

cute little water bird…

there was a little bit of play going on as well…

not sure if this was play or a fight…

surveying the area…

nice with the fountain…

apparently, there are way more first thing in the morning and they are all in the water then…

vroom, vroom…

05 Saturday Oct 2013

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big girl pants, Corolla S, first big purchase on my own, George's job, Nelson Gaspar, test drive, vroom, Woodhaven Toyota

so, today I really had on those big girl pants… was up and out fairly early, headed to Woodhaven Toyota to speak to Nelson about a new car, depending on whether they could give me a good enough deal.

Crystal and I had gone six or eight months ago and not had a positive experience, so left without a new car and I was prepared for that to happen again today…

had a good meeting with Nelson Gaspar and then we took out a Corolla S for a test drive… I have never been the one to drive out of the lot, that was always George’s job… I might have driven for a little bit when we found a parking lot, but my job was also to check out the passenger spots, front and back, while he did the major driving portion of the test…

was very nervous, but Nelson did a great job and before I knew it I was breezing down the highway and through the beautiful fall trees… George would have loved this car – you can use paddle shifters on the steering wheel like a race car driver and drive in Sport mode for faster turning… AND it has heated seats, lol…

after much finagling, the car was mine… looking forward to picking it up on Tuesday… leaving behind our current car will be difficult as we had it together…

later in the day Crystal, the little boys and I went out to celebrate with dinner at The Keg…

first really big purchase on my own…

technology…

04 Friday Oct 2013

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big girl pants, playing, Styles, Technology, Word 2013

spent some great time this morning working with Styles in Word 2013… learned some tips and tricks on Wednesday when we had training, and I got the time to play with it a bit this morning with another colleague…

so much fun to work on creating a template that is going to save huge amounts of time in the future… I’ve worked with styles before but never really understood them, but I think I’ve seen the light and finally get it… woo hoo…

on top of that, I’ve been using a new app that I found on App of the Day… It is called Saver… helps keep track of expenses in a simple, easy to use format… you add in items as you purchase them and can take a photo of a receipt or type in a note… shows you how much you’ve spent in a number of categories…

I use my credit card to pay for everything and then pay it off at the end of each month… found this a helpful way to be mindful of where I am in my spending…

really like this one…

feathered friends…

03 Thursday Oct 2013

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big girl pants, fall outfits, feathered friends, Grandpa, leaves, multi coloured trees, purple finches, raking

spent some time watching a family of purple finches as they stocked up on food before their flight to warmer climes… they are not nearly as bright as in the spring and early summer…

purple finches at the front feeder…

that same day I took some pictures of the leaves as the colours change… every day as I drive to and from work I see less leaves on the trees and more on the ground…

trees in their fall outfits…

also got a shot of a yard down the street that was filled with leaves…

leaves on the ground…

the elm trees haven’t shed yet, but soon when the boys come over they can do some raking and playing… it will remind them of doing that very thing with Grandpa I am sure…

sunflower…

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

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big girl pants, drying, seed head, sunflower

yesterday I brought the sunflower seed head in…

sunflower head drying out in the kitchen…

wasn’t really sure it was ready, but it felt like the right thing to do…

now it is drying in the kitchen…

sunflower as it filled in…

not sure how long to wait for it to be dry…

closeup of sunflower in the front flower bed…

four years…

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

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big girl pants, current job, efficient, four years, great interview, pretty darn lucky, tech guru

yesterday marked four years at my current job…

I had an interview with a church one evening, and then the next morning the interview for this position… I remember coming out to the car and telling George that if I didn’t get the job, it wasn’t that I was lacking, just that someone else was a better fit, as I had done a great job during the interview…

I can remember the first and second interview, and the first day on the job… it was a Wednesday and there was a staff meeting that morning…

tomorrow we will be gathering as staff for some computer training and I am excited and looking forward to that… I am considered one of the tech gurus at the office and am always happy to learn about a new piece of technology, or how to make something work better or more efficiently…

the job has morphed from the receptionist that I was hired as… talking with a colleague today she noted how the duties have changed as the organization understood my skill set and adjusted the position to benefit…

every year I have done something to celebrate and thank the members of the team, who have walked with me through some pretty profound events during this time … often it has been a rose for each person to enjoy… this year it was chocolates and nuts…

flower from the garden last year on Sept 30…

I love my job, the work I do and the people with whom I spend my days…

pretty darn lucky is all I can say…

the light…

30 Monday Sep 2013

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big girl pants, changing light, colour change, sliver of the moon, the light, virginia creeper

as I sit here looking out at the dark street after my friend has headed home tonight I think about the changing light…

sliver of moon in the morning…

this morning I got a lovely shot of a sliver of the moon in the sky and that was around 7:15 or so… it is quite dark when the alarm goes off in the morning… although I am usually awake ten or fifteen minutes before Michael Buble starts singing Everything, I always wait to hear it once through before getting up…

spent a few minutes taking some pictures of the virginia creeper by the garage and the trees down the street…

glorious colours in the virginia creeper by the garage…

you can see the colour change, but also the fact that one of the trees is already devoid of its leaves… there is a big heap of them on the lawn and in the street…

trees shedding leaves…

I had started taking vitamin D again as it helps me deal with the lack of light, but while I am on the antibiotics I am not able to take them… oh well, not too many more days of the pills…